Recent reads

I finally found a stride of more than one post per month, so I figure I should keep it going.

Two recent reads to discuss;


Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

This was a free pre-order on the Kindle. It's a short pep rally. It tangents off Pressfield's War of Art and deals with fighting--what he calls--Resistance. All that intangible fear, laziness, procrastination, etc, that keep you from doing what you need to as an 'artist' (writer, painter, entrepreneur, etc.)

I do like Pressfield's "foolscap" method - any story (or idea) should breakdown to a single sheet of yellow lined paper. For a tale that would be - sentence first act, sentence second act, sentence third act, theme written across the bottom. Take that skeleton and run. (also how this short book is presented, and it's a nice mirroring effect.)

Good pep for free, not sure I'd want to spend too much if you already have War of Art, though.

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(Classic) Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalyse by Javier Grillo-Marxuach / Carlos Rafael

I mostly liked the revamped SciFi Channel Battlestar Galactica, but I'm still a child of the 70s, and camp or not, the original still appeals as well. This graphic novel popped up for $5 at the comic store, so I figured, "why not"?

The book opens with an especially enjoyable introduction, where Grillo-Marxuach describes pitching an unaired treatment to Glen Larson in 1979 - only that's not how it really happened because Grillo-Marxuach was only 9 yrs old and living in Puerto Rico at the time.

The story revolves around the Cylons experimenting with biological components and things go very wrong. It is a boon for the 'rag-tag fugitive fleet'. Or is it? Will they be as genocidal as the Cylons if they turn the biology experiment into a weapon?

It delivers on the nostalgia and it was fun to see a 'new' episode in the style and cast of the original series.

I don't know if I would have been fully satisfied had I paid full list price ($15) but for a bargain, it was just the dose of space opera remembrance I needed.