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Monks in Mormonland (and their honey)

ByJohn Brown

We just visted the Abbey of our Lady of the Holy Trinity this week with my family. It’s nestled on over 1,800 acres of some the most beautiful country in Utah.

I think almost every religion demonstrates virtues we can all learn from. The dedication of these good men to their beliefs and vows to God is one such example.  As is their decision to live simply. And their creamed honey blends, which you can order from their website, are delicious! So far the maple honey is my favorite. Here’s a 2 minute National Geographic video about this abbey.

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    I need your insight!

    ByJohn Brown

    R-moviesLast year I posted about a service I’m working on to get ratings on books for sex, violence, and language. I posted similar thought about YA books in “Since When Did Young Adult Become The Cure For Cancer?“.

    I’m back.

    I did lots of customer discovery last August in an effort to see if book ratings is a problem worth solving, i.e., are there lots of avid readers who would love content ratings and sign up? All my interviews were very positive, but I didn’t finish validating our ideas because I had to stop to get books out and because we discovered some things that made us change some of our assumptions. I started up again a few weeks ago, this time with a team.

    To continue the project, we need to interview 20-40 avid cleaner romance readers. Folks who probably read just such a book last month.

    Why?

    The biggest problem startups like this have is assuming they know what the customer values, being wrong, and building something nobody wants. So before we build anything, we need to first understand exactly what readers are doing today to solve this problem and where (and if) they are struggling. If we can validate the need, I think a lot of folks will be very happy having popular clean reads delivered to their email every week.

    If you know someone who fits the bill, please send this post to them. They can shoot me an email by clicking the contact link in the menu bar.

    If you fit the bill, please contact me.

    It would be incredibly helpful to me to hear about how you approach this and ask you a few questions. It won’t take more than 20 minutes, and there’s no need to prepare in advance.

    Hope you had a great 4th!

     

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  • The 2009 BBC version of Austen’s Emma

    ByJohn Brown

    Emma BBC Romola GaraiYou read some reviewers because they regularly set you back in your chair with keen insight. You read others because their phrasing and voice are so delightful that you find yourself unable not to read, even when they venture forth into exciting areas like soup cans and lug nuts. I, alas, fear I cannot occupy either role when I tell you about the BBC’s 2009 mini-series production of Jane Austen’s Emma.

    I cannot because have no keen insight into acting or film-making or film adaptations. I am not an expert on the late 18th and early 19th century England.  I am not an Austen junkie (although you can be sure I intend to become one shortly).

    Surely, as a writer, I could come up with some kind of amazing assessment. But I cannot because I am speechless. I am filled with a fine joy. I have spent nearly four hours with my wife and two of my lovely daughters watching a delightful tale unfold about the fates of a number of characters–some foolish, some arrogant, some quirky, but most of them splendidly human and noble.

    This. THIS is what I go to story for. To be transported. To laugh. To cry. To hope and fear and feel suspense for another.  To spend time with wonderful characters.  To have lived just a little more while under the story’s sway.

    Gush, gush, gush.

    Such an unmanly thing to do. But to hell with that. I am a man who loves Jane Austen and shoot ’em up thrillers both.

    And if you enjoy Cranford or Pride & Prejudice or Downton Abbey, then you will love this production of Emma too. You will want to own it.

    Romola Garai plays the star role of Emma. I enjoyed every minute she was on the screen. I didn’t know who she was, but it appears she was in the 2006 Amazing Grace with Ioan Gruffudd. I might have to watch that one again just to see more of her work. Mr. Knightly, Emma’s lifelong friend, is played by Jonny Lee Miller who starred in Eli Stone, one of my favorite TV series. I loved watching every minute with him equally as well. There were some other familiar British actors; and more I hadn’t seen before. I thought they all did an excellent job.

    As for the story, it’s about Emma, who believes she has an amazing ability at match making and prognosticating and very soon runs into to trouble because of it. It’s also about kindness, and generosity, and, most of all, love. Of so many varieties.

    If you’re wondering what to watch this next week, order this one now.

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  • Audio book is on the way

    ByJohn Brown

    This last week I listened to the reading of Bad Penny by Mikael Naramore on our trip down and back to Panguitch (and the forest fire from hell) and then later here at the house and was so happy I hooked up with Naramore. He’s done a wonderful job. He nailed the voices of Frank, Sam, Pinto, Carmen, Ed (ye slimy villain), and all the rest and delivered excellent sound. And the process was so easy.

    Right now ACX is doing its quality control on the production. When they clear it, it will be posted for sale on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon.

    I’m very excited to bring Frank to the audio market. I think he and Naramore are going to please a lot of listeners.

    Here’s the final cover for the audio book.

     

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  • Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, Rumbi Island Grill

    ByJohn Brown

    Toy Story 3

    It’s interesting that two of the most enjoyable films this year are both animated. The first is Toy Story 3. We all know how awful sequels can be, and, in fact, I didn’t like Toy Story 2 all that much. But Pixar defied the sequel slump with this one.

    Andy has grown up and is going to college. From a toy’s point of view, that’s tantamount to death because Andy has to clean out his room, and what is he going to do with all that junk anyway? The last few remaining toys barely miss the garbage truck and get sent, by accident, to the local day care instead. Sounds great for a toy, right? They’ll get played with every day forever. But things are not as they seem at the day care, and our crew of toys is put on the fast track to an early death. Will they be able to escape when the other toys there are ruled mob-style by a big pink teddy bear that smells of strawberries?

    I laughed and cried and cheered in this movie. There are hilarious scenes featuring Barbie and a Ken who’s gone over to the dark side. More gut busters with Buzz Lightyear when he’s put into Spanish mode and Mr. Potato Head who has powers we never would have suspected.

    But the movie goes beyond toys and action. It’s not just a cartoon. It’s about loyalty and friendship and heroics and love and family. Because my oldest will be leaving the nest next year, the final scenes carried extra power for me. But I think they will be effective for almost anyone because Pixar does in this movie what all great art does—it reaches into themes we all share. And in that moment, we identify so strongly with the characters that their situation becomes our own.

    How to Train Your Dragon

    Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon, based on the novel by Cressida Cowell, is the movie I should have seen for my birthday. Instead, we went to the mind-numbing Clash of Titans. I still cringe at some of the massive plot holes in that one, even though Medusa rocked. Which only proves, once again, that cool effects can’t save a bad story. How to Train Your Dragon, on the other hand, delivers cool monsters, but never once did the writers make the mistake of thinking that cool monsters is what the story was about.

    The movie is about a young Viking named Hiccup who wants to be accepted, wants to become one of the burly defenders of his city, like his dad, Stoik the Vast. But Hiccup isn’t brawny. However, he is resourceful. And during a dragon attack, he brings down a mysterious Night Fury dragon with his invention. However, when he finds the dragon, he can’t bring himself to kill it. Instead, Hiccup and the dragon begin a friendship. But will Hiccup be able to save the dragon that everyone wants to kill? Will the Vikings be able to see the truth about the dragons before they’re destroyed? Most importantly, will Stoik be able to accept his son?

    I enjoyed the superb animation in this story as well as the dragons. But it was the characters and humor that made this movie so good. There’s Stoik who just can’t relate to his son, but tries to bond with a very interesting use of his dead wife’s brassier, Hiccup, the son, with his dry wit, and Gobber, a peg-leg family friend who has some of the best lines in the movie.

    Go see this show. You’ll laugh, and then you’ll wish you had a dragon of your own.

    Rumbi Island Grill

    The Rumbi Island Grill is a restaurant chain that started in Salt Lake City in 2000. They serve fast, casual tropical food at incredibly good prices. My favorite is their rice bowl. It comes with your choice of sauce, rice, and meat with sautéed vegetables. In the Netherlands I learned to love Indonesian food and the spicy-sweet peanut sauce that often accompanied it, which is why I can’t get enough of the Bali Island bowl with brown rice and shrimp. You might find you love the sauce so much you ask for two servings to pour over your bowl (oh, and add a dash of the hot sauce). The food’s great, but they’ve paid attention to the Hawaiian atmosphere as well. So even though it’s fast food (you order and they bring it out to you), you feel like you’re sitting in a casual dining restaurant.

    I always look for a Rumbi when I travel down to Salt Lake City or Provo. Now I don’t have to go so far–a restaurant has opened up in Logan right across from the Wal-Mart on the south end of town! I took Nellie there recently. The staff was friendly and the food was delicious–just what I’d come to expect.

    Now all we need is a Cheesecake Factory!

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  • Awakening by Christy Dorrity

    ByJohn Brown

    Art is a huge part of what draws me to science fiction and fantasy. I still have the Hildebrant LOTR calendars I got back in the early eighties.

    On the web you can browse awesome work on DeviantArt.com and CGHub.com. But something that’s been around for much longer is Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. It’s an art annual released each year that highlights the best art produced that year in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and the Surreal.

    This year will mark the 21st year of publication.  Spectrum has become the broadest distributed art annual in the world. Having art included in Spectrum is top honors for artists around the globe.

    So why am I telling you this?

    Well, Devon Dorrity, the guy who helped me pull together my covers,  not only had his sculpture “Queen of the Seas” included in a past annual, but he’s just won a spot in this year’s annual with the cover he created for his wife’s book, Awakening. It’s a big honor.

    Here’s the description of how he put it together.

    For the book cover for Awakening by Christy Dorrity, Devon Dorrity selected the cover model, Shelbilee Lee, from hundreds of local models.  Jason Morrison, a photographer friend, was hired to do the photoshoot.  Devon purchased the wig, fingernails, and props from Amazon. Then Dennis Dorrity, Devon’s brother, did an illustration of the photo selected from the photoshoot.  Devon then composited the illustration and the photo together blending the two to emphasize the best of both pieces.  After applying various effects and custom color, the piece was finished.

    After the book’s publication, Devon submitted the cover to Spectrum with Dennis Dorrity listed as the Artist.  Dennis did the illustration that plays such a heavy role in the finished piece.  Devon was listed as the Art Director/Designer.  Spectrum announced in the end of March that the Awakening book cover was selected for inclusion in The annual.  Spectrum 21 will be released in November 2014.

    Awakening: Book One of The Geis is itself a clean young adult fantasy filled with Celtic mythology, magic, romance, and mystery. And it’s been getting great reviews.

    “Dorrity invites her readers to a céilí that will quicken the pulse of anyone with Ireland in their blood! AWAKENING will draw you deep into the mysteries of the Celtic worldview—and leave you wanting more of McKayla and her fascinating Aunt Avril!”
    – KERSTEN HAMILTON, author of Tyger Tyger and the Goblin Wars books

    “I thoroughly enjoyed AWAKENING, a captivating and unique debut novel that creatively integrates Irish dance.”
    – CHRIS NAISH, Riverdance member and Creative Director of Fusion Fighters Irish dancers.

    5 Stars! “AWAKENING is an exciting mashup of fantasy, action-adventure, and mystery, with a touch of romance thrown in for good measure.”
    – KATE MCCURRY, top 100 Amazon reviewer

    How many authors do you know who have unlocked the achievement of having someone from Riverdance plug your book? Awakening right now is free. If you like YA fantasy with a bit of romance, this is the perfect time to give this new author a go.

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