Hi, everyone. I am a semi-established writer of fiction and non-fiction. I live in Rockland County, NY, where I ply my trade and occasionally get paid for it. You can see my full website, with links to published work and my blog, at www.casanders.net
Here is a great article by Chuck Sambuchino titled “5 Mistakes Writers Make (and How To Avoid Them).” The title is a bit of a “bait and switch,” as it’s about the business instead of the craft. Still, it’s something that all writers–indie or traditional–should read.
Its main thrust: YOU GOTTA HUSTLE
It took me a while before I realized this. With the help of my publisher, Damnation Books, we were able to craft an extraordinary novel in Song of Simon. The support I received from them has been excellent. I foolishly believed that the book would sell by itself. That’s far from the truth.
The problem is that there are millions of books out there, and unless you do something to stand out, you’ll disappear. I’ve tried a bunch of promo techniques in the past. What I’ve realized is that if you write about stuff you love, people that love the same will join you (that’s you guys). I love writing about geeky stuff. I assume that you love reading about geeky stuff. I hope that some of you read my fiction, but I don’t get shameless about it.
If I’m going to do this, I’m going to have fun doing this. I’ll even get out my 20-sided dice.
Ooooh a dual Star Wars/D&D meme. Critical Hit!!!
Anyway, I’ll leave you to read the article (if you’d like). If you’d rather geek out with me, you can always contact me.
That reminds me: I have a blog about Dungeons and Dragons coming up sometime this week. D & D is my truest, sexiest love. Ok, not that sexy (it’s more anti-sexy), but I still love it.
Like my posts? Follow my website or “Like” my facebook fan page and/or follow me on Twitter. You can also purchase my debut novel, Song of Simon, at any online bookstore or a real one (they both exist).
Welcome back. This is a continuation of a previous post. I suggest that you read the first part before this one, just so you know where I’m going with it.
Superman and Clark Kent as an Anomaly
Superman poses an interesting contrast to the traditional mask in that he doesn’t wear one. It’s a constant joke among fans that no one recognizes him. I mean, how can anyone be that stupid? I’ll explain below, but first I want to talk about what makes Superman unique.
Both Clark Kent and Superman can be called his “true persona.” He was raised Clark, and until his powers manifested, he was an ordinary boy and unaware of his lineage. This parallels the classic stories of Hercules, Moses, Harry Potter, Jesus, etc. But when he comes into his power, Superman leaves Clark Kent behind. He still carries much of his personality and morality, but they are not the same. He smashed that shell like the many buildings he’ll smash in the future. When you can look at the Earth from a dozen miles up, you never look at it the same way again.
I want to find who said this, but the writer is wearing a mask.
But Supes wants to be Clark Kent again. He doesn’t have to lead a human life, but he chooses to. The “new” Clark Kent is Supes fantasy of what his life would’ve been like if he was a human, not a Kryptonian. In the movie Kill Bill, Bill claims that Clark is an example of how Supes see humans: weak, bumbling, and awkward. I say that it’s a mask, but the one Supes wears to experience some of his old life. Through his upbringing, he is neither human or Kryptonian, but a little of both.
I wish they focused more on this in the recent movie, or at least the next one.
As for nobody recognizing him, it’s because people don’t see the man, they see the mask (or uniform). Last year, Jimmy Fallon did a bit where he had Mets pitcher Matt Harvey ask people questions about what they thought of Matt Harvey. No one recognized him out of his uniform, and hilarity (sorta) ensued.
People didn’t recognize Harvey–even though he was the hottest thing in New York–because he was out of uniform. It makes perfect sense to me that they wouldn’t associate Clark with a red and blue blur (Smallville reference).
In my serial (and forthcoming novels) The Watchmage of Old New York, masks and disguises play an important part of the setting. The Dwellers–mythical creatures drawn into our world through people’s dreams and beliefs–all wear magical disguises in order to survive in the city. They know the cruelty of humans, and they understand the danger if they were discovered.
When I devised that, I drew on a few scenes from Maus, where the jewish mice wear (polish) pig masks to move around the ghetto. Maus always had a strong effect on me. Most of my family immigrated before the Holocuast, but still.
If you haven’t read Maus, start.
I know that in real history, some Jews were able to hide their ethnicity, and even do it in America. Here, Jewishness (and all ethnicities) is in danger of being assimilated by the larger culture. They’re–if you will–being thrown into the melting pot. It’s tragic to immigrate and save your life, only to lose your identity.
The Watchmage has to hide his identity as well. At the time the serial begins, he’s already 150 years old, and has lived several lives. Each time he has to build a new identity, but he doesn’t have the luxury of leaving and starting again elsewhere. He will spend all of eternity taking new identities, living many lives that are never his.
Everybody Wears a Mask: It’s Called The Internet
I’m not the first person to point this out, but we all wear masks. You are not the same person at work as you are at the bar. You’re not the same around children as you are around the elderly. That’s normal. A person is not a piece of paper. A person is a gem with a thousand facets, and each facet shines with its own light. People are way too quick to judge another as “fake” when they see a facet they’ve never seen before.
If we were to approach the world as a simple paper, it would surely tear us apart. The masks that we wear protect us from the world. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the world is not a pleasant place.
I’m wearing a mask right now. So are you. You’re reading this through an interface, where you can use any avatar you want and reply as any persona you want to be. Hell, you can be Batman for all I know. We live in a world of masks now: Twitter, Facebook, blogs, they’re all masks that let you deal with the world around you.
Don’t be sad. Don’t be ashamed. When Spiderman or Batman dons the mask, they become something greater than what they were. There’s no reason why you can’t too.
Excelsior.
Like my posts? Follow my website or “Like” my facebook fan page. You can also purchase my debut novel, Song of Simon, at any online bookstore or a real one (they both exist).
Is it time for SummerSlam already? It feels like just yesterday, Daniel Bryan launched a Busaiku Knee Kick into John Cena’s face for the title. The subsequent screwjob led to one of the best written storylines in the Reality Era: The Yes Movement.
The Yes Movement was brilliant because it encouraged the Internet Wrestling Community to come together and “force” The Authority to give Bryan a shot. As if HHH wasn’t head over boots for Bryan in the first place. The IWC didn’t have any true impact (If HHH didn’t think Bryan would be a great champ, he would’ve buried him), but for a while, it felt like we did.
Can we get a One Man Rock Band movement for Heath Slater? Come on, IWC, make it happen!
With apologies to Al Snow, Barry Horowitz, and The Brooklyn Brawler
Anyway, here are my predictions for tonight’s SummerSlam:
RVD vs Cesaro: Cesaro has to win. They made him job all month. If he loses, he’s buried.
Brie vs Steph: I think this’ll be a better match than people expect. Steph is in very good shape these days, and Brie is an excellent performer, probably the second best on the roster behind AJ.
Bray vs Jericho: This is another do or die moment. Creative already squashed Bray’s momentum. If he loses, consider him buried. He has to not only win, but he has to do something horrid and disturbing to get his heat back.
Swagger vs Rusev: Swagger does not deserve to win.
AJ vs Paige: I expect a very good match from these two, with Paige hitting the Paige Turner (instead of the PTO) to keep the rivalry hot. They could conceivably feud till Survivor Series and I’d be happy.
The Miz vs Ziggler: I think this is the beginning of a good 3 month feud. Ziggler is a great worker, and he deserves the belt. Also, he used to bang Amy Schumer, which is pretty cool.
Orton vs Reigns: I think Orton will win with outside interference. I don’t feel like this feud is ready to end just yet, but a lot of that depends on whether Reigns can work for a full length singles match. I don’t think he’s done a 20 minute match yet.
Ambrose vs Rollins This will be the Match of the Night, and no matter the victor (I can’t decide) we all win. I think it’ll be one of those matches that elevates both wrestlers to the top, one that we’ll be talking about for years. At least I hope so.
Cena vs Lesnar: Cena is going to win by dq, but end up a broken and bloody mess. This is why: They can’t put the belt on Lesnar, because he only wrestles four times a year. Cena can’t beat Lesnar clean, because then Lesnar loses all his “Conquering the Streak” heat. The only logical way for this storyline to end is a huge, bloody beat down. It’ll satisfy the Cena-haters and it’ll keep the belt on Cena for the kids.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” –Oscar Wilde
It’s a long-standing tradition in comic books for the heroes and villains to wear masks. Everyone from lone rangers (but not Tonto, for some reason) to secret squirrels (But not Morocco Mole) don the mask. The mask is the symbol of the genre. But why?
Different Secret Squirrel
The logical reason is that they need to protect their true identities from the public. They give rationale like “protecting their loved ones,” and there’ve been enough “women in refrigerator” incidents to give this validity.
Less spoken of is the less virtuous “freedom from repercussions.” They act in anonymity, not unlike the horrible comments at the end of every internet article (but that’s a different issue).
I think there’s more. There’s a psychological aspect to it, where the small and helpless can take on a new identity, free of their former self. Like the Oscar Wilde quote above, once inside the mask, they can be their true selves, or at least the self they want to be.
Which One’s Real, The Man or the Mask (Spiderman and Batman)
I’m going to use Spiderman and Batman as examples, because 1) everybody knows them (who would get it if I talked about Atom Smasher and Moon Knight?) and 2) they are great representations of what I’m talking about. Both heroes are one man with the mask on, and one off. The difference is which one is the true self (or is either?)
My friend, Dr. Osvaldo Oyola, (whose website The Middle Spaces has just about the best comic analysis on the Net) recently wrote an article that talked about Spidey, responsibility, and identity (among other things). Part of the article was born from a conversation we had about The Superior Spiderman storyline and a post I wrote. He noted how when Peter Parker regained his body from Doc Ock, Green Goblin noticed it right away from Pete’s wisecracks.
What Osvaldo notes is that Spiderman is a joking, obnoxious, free spirited hero, but Pete is not. Peter Parker is quiet and shy, always picked on by guys like Flash Thompson and ignored by girls. He grows out of this somewhat over the years, but there’s no doubt that they’re two separate personalities.
Stupid Sexy Spidey…
In this case, the Spiderman mask gives Peter the strength and confidence to be the person that he always wanted to be. He went from a shadow in the back of a classroom to a bright red and blue dynamo that won’t be ignored. Remember, when he first got his powers, the first thing he did was try his hand at Pro Wrestling. He wears a loud costume of primary colors. He wants people to SEE him. He wants to be noticed.
As Spidey says on the cover of his very first appearance, Amazing Fantasy #15: “Though the world may mock Peter Parker the timid teenager, It will soon marvel at the awesome might of Spider-Man.” He couldn’t state it any plainer than that. The mask makes him the man he wants to be.
Batman is a bit more complex. He underwent a psyche-ripping trauma as a kid. He’s obviously insane (people seem to gloss over that). I would say that unlike Spiderman, who affects a strong persona to hide a weak one, Batman is the strong persona that wears a weak mask.
Bruce Wayne is the mask. Batman is the real person. Bruce Wayne is a role that Batman made up so that he can interact in society. His real psyche is so destroyed that he can’t handle the real world without some buffer. He can only handle the world of madmen criminals and two-bit thugs.
Sad Batman is Sad
This damage even bleeds in under the mask. Look at how he treats his Robins, or how he acts around other Justice League members. Hell, he devised methods to kill every one of his friends in case he needed to. No sane man would do that.
But Bruce Wayne would never act that way. He’s just a rich playboy with not a care in the world. There’s no way Bruce Wayne could be Batman, right?
Maybe Bruce Wayne is the man Young Bruce wanted to be before Joe Chill shattered his world. Batman is living out a fantasy through his alter-ego. It’s the fantasy of a normal life, one that he’ll never have.
Like my posts? Follow my website or “Like” my facebook fan page. You can also purchase my debut novel, Song of Simon, at any online bookstore or a real one (they both exist).
I got back from my road trip sunday evening. I am overwhelmed with things I want to talk about. I don’t know where to start. I think it’ll take several posts to get it all out.
I also want to redo this website. I plan on adding categories, maybe a new color scheme, and a way to contact me personally. I might even start a mailing list and offer free stuff to the subscribers. I just have to learn how to do all of that. I wish I was better with computers.
I love you all very much and must express that in puppy form:
I’ve been trying to improve SEO (search engine optimization) for the site. I added a few links to other writers, and they did the same for me. It’s made a huge difference so far in search engine clicks.
I hate promotions and marketing. I just want to write and let everything else take care of itself. That’s the main reason why I submitted to publishing houses instead of self published. I don’t have the inclination (or the money) to do all the little things a self-published book needs.
Despite the promotion that I get from Damnation Books (my publisher), I still have to do a lot on my own. I’m not good at it, but I found that exchanging links with other bloggers is very time-effective.
For no reason, here’s a cat meme.
I like how his tie matches his eyes. Snappy dresser.
So if you are a writer, contact me if you’d like a link on my site. I can’t promise that I’ll add everyone (i’d prefer speculative or literary fiction, check out the writers I’ve already linked to). The only thing I ask is that if I link you, link me back. Together, we can float above all the crap in this pond.
Also, if you don’t have a website, you should start one.
Go Team Writers.
Like my website? Join my Facebook fan page for more awesomeness (and silly memes). If you like dark fantasy, check out my debut novel Song of Simon. It has no memes, but lots of music references and dick jokes. According to the reviews, Simon is pretty cool. There’s also my FREE webserial, The Watchmage of Old New York, which is at JukePopSerials. You can also find me on Twitter, where I tweet about whatever I feel like (but mostly geeky stuff).
I enjoy reading about philosophy. I think it’s a writerly thing, especially speculative fiction writers like me. After all, it’s our job to ask “what if?” “What if a great power is awoken, and the only way to stop it is by throwing his ring into a volcano?” “What if there’s a secret wizard society, and children go to a special school to study magic?” “What if there’s a world where the seasons can last for decades?” You get the idea.
I found this page very interesting. It’s almost a crib sheet to the major schools of thought, explained through art. Of course, you don’t have to follow one school exclusively. I find myself shifting from one to the other. Such is the nature of a thoughtful mind. Debating yourself is one of the best ways to learn.
I’ve been thinking about the “Brain in a Jar” theory lately. To summarize, we may be brains within a jar and our reality is nothing but an illusion (like The Matrix). Maybe we are avatars in some virtual reality game, or characters on a TV show? We have no way of proving or disproving this, since we are prisoners of what we can perceive, existing in our own private universes. If we can’t perceive something or perceive it’s effects, then we can’t prove or disprove its existence.
Dammit, I am!
Sometimes I wonder if this theory pertains to fiction. What if we aren’t the brain in the jar, but the ones who put the brain in the jar? When the aliens create The Matrix, are they creating a true reality for us to exist within?
The answer I keep coming to is that maybe it’s not real as we define reality, but it does exist. To exist, something must be perceived or it’s effects perceived. This chair exists in my reality because I see it. The wind exists because I feel it and see it blowing leaves around. That damn jackhammer outside exists because I hear it and see it shattering the sidewalk outside my goddamn apartment (sorry, just frustrated at the construction crew that’s been outside for over a month). Thoughts exist too because others can perceive or be affected by them.
Fictional characters may not be “real,” but they do exist. They affect our thoughts. They make us laugh and cry. They empower us or bring us despair.
We may be characters in someone else’s book or video game or whatever, but maybe not. Regardless, this reality is real because it’s real to me. I exist because I think. Would I exist if someone else thought of me? If a tree falls in the woods…
So if aliens have our bodies hooked up to weird tubes and created a virtual reality or not, I have to assume that it exists either way. We all do. Except for Keanu Reeves. He’s the One.
Like my posts? Follow my website or “Like” my facebook fan page. You can also purchase my debut novel, Song of Simon, at any online bookstore or a real one (they both exist).
In some of the most bad ass news I’ve heard all day, Daniel Bryan captured a burglar in his house and choked him out until the police came.
This is not a joke. It might be kayfabe, but I don’t think so.
Apparently, he came home with Brie to find burglars in his home. They dropped the loot and scattered, but Bryan ran one down and “subdued him.” Remember, he just had major surgery on his neck, and still has little strength in one arm. Without knowing if the thieves were armed, he dove in there and took one down. That’s some hard core shit.
I hope he sat on top of the guy and yelled YES! repeatedly.
Maybe something like this.
In addition to getting beat with chairs and 2 by 4s, Bryan spent many years training at Randy Couture’s gym. When he says he’s a submission specialist…
Maybe something like this. 
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