by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 1, 2013 | Game/Writing
I can’t bear to think about the disfunction in Washington and the nihilism and lack of empathy of the Republicans so instead I’ll go back to game world, and bring up a point that occurred to me about the jarring tone set by Citadel when it has to fall in the middle of this life and death battle for the galaxy. There is a brief interaction with Zaeed (one of my favorite characters) where he is cursing a blue streak as he tries to win a stuffed toy for a little boy who is crying....
by Melinda Snodgrass | Sep 30, 2013 | Blog
Is it a lack of empathy? An inability to ever put yourself in another person’s place? Fear? I’m trying to understand the actions of the Republican party. The food stamp vote was breathtaking in its pettiness and cruelty. Yes, there are a few cheaters, but the majority of people on food assistance are children. You’re going to take food out of the mouths of hungry children? Really? The other large block of people are the elderly. Talk about letting Granny die. And...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Sep 17, 2013 | Blog
As some of you may know I had major surgery last week. There was a strong possibility that I had cancer and the only way to be sure (an attempt to do a biopsy had failed) was to remove the offending organ from the body. I spent a night in the hospital, and I have very good insurance through the Writer’s Guild of America. But I started getting letters already from the insurance company trying to weasel out of covering me. I’m grateful I’ve got what I have, and that I have...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Sep 16, 2013 | Blog
Oh Holy Fuck! If this works the world changes. Go and check this out. Skunk Works Fusion
by Melinda Snodgrass | Sep 15, 2013 | Blog
My friend Eric Kelley came out to N.M. to visit and to attend Bubonicon. He’s a very fine writer, but also a gaming geek and fellow Mass Effect fanatic. He’s the Garrus to my Shepard, and a real BFF. While he was visiting he played through part of Citadel and that spawned an interesting discussion and Google search to compare notes on the romances we had selected. Eric romanced Ashley, and said that there is very little interaction with her aboard the Normandy. She holds...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Sep 15, 2013 | Blog
I know, I know. I’ve been a real stranger at my own blog. Blame it on the surgery and trying to work while recovering from said surgery. If I’m going to write it ought to be on a book that is due February first and a proposal for a new space opera series. I’ve also got a graphic novel to write, but that has to wait a bit. Certainly until the artist has been hired. I want to work closely with the artist while I’m writing the book. What have I been up to other than...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Sep 7, 2013 | Blog
I’ve been gulping down the first season of PERSON OF INTEREST. I discovered the show over the summer between seasons one and two, got hooked and watched all of season two. Then I had to go back and see how it all started. How did Harold and Mr. Reese become partners? How did they start to construct their Scooby Gang? What is it with The Machine? I had expected the usual straightforward Hollywood approach, but no, this show is so clever and so brilliant. Warning: There Will Be...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Aug 20, 2013 | TV & Movies
Okay, I said I would try to organize my thoughts, and explain why I found Forbidden Planet to be less then thrilling when I saw it again at the grand opening of George R.R.’s wonderful, refurbished Jean Cocteau. Let me start by saying that I don’t think the nineteen-fifties overall were a golden age for film. In some ways it felt like a lot of the movies — Doris Day, Rock Hudson, I’m looking at you — were designed to convince women that they really didn’t want to be Rosie the...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Aug 20, 2013 | Blog
I’ve been following the outrage over A-Rod’s use of performance enhancing drugs, and I still don’t get it. They keep saying that the records are “tainted”, and this is not a true test of athletic prowess. There is this sense that The Babe didn’t need no stinkin’ drugs. But time passes and technologies improve. Modern players had the benefit of vaccines and vitamins and a vastly better level of nutrition then players in the past. Are those advantages also considered to have “tainted” the...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Aug 14, 2013 | The Craft of Writing
So Library Journal has weighed in with a very nice review of BOX OFFICE POISON. I am baffled by the reaction to these Linnet Ellery books. Is it just because I broke the urban fantasy trope by having the supernaturals be in positions of real power and authority instead of hiding in the shadows? Because I had my protagonist be a professional woman who doesn’t have a stiletto up her sleeve? I have joked to my editor and my agent that when we reissue the Edge books I ought to have them put...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Aug 8, 2013 | TV & Movies
While recovering from food poisoning, and with a completely whacked out sleep cycle I ended up watching all the banked episodes of the TNT show FALLING SKIES. I’ve liked this show from the beginning. Yeah, it’s another alien invasion story, but it looked great, I thought Noah Wyle was good as the history professor father, and I really liked his three sons. Every time you thought you knew what the aliens wanted something would surprise you. “A ragtag band of humans fight...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Aug 8, 2013 | Blog
“An Olympic boycott might not be the best way to go. Instead, let’s turn the Winter Games into the gayest games in history. Let the Russian police, if they want, arrest every athlete, every coach from Europe, North American, Australia and other forward-looking countries — that includes you, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. The teams should march during the opening ceremonies brandishing rainbow flags, holding hands, proclaiming that every one of them supports equal rights...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Aug 1, 2013 | About Writing
Speaking of covers — Tor is going to be re-releasing the first two EDGE books but with brand new, more contemporary covers. My original covers were beautiful, but they didn’t give you much sense of what the books were about. My editor, Stacy Hill, and I have had fun picking out several artists who have the right look and feel for the books. I’m really excited. I think the first two books will come out as trade paperbacks, and maybe the third book as well. I’m...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Aug 1, 2013 | Blog
I’m fortunate to be in a couple of upcoming anthologies out this year. DANGEROUS WOMEN will be released December 3rd. I don’t have a date on OLD MARS yet, but I’ll let folks know. My story in Dangerous Women is set in my space opera universe. The Old Mars story is a stand alone and very Bradburyesque which is odd considering my love of Burroughs. I do love the characters so much that I may have do more with them. In fact, I’ll probably read that story at...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jul 26, 2013 | TV & Movies
After Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into Darkness I went into this movie with very low expectations. Which meant I enjoyed Man of Steel more then I expected. Henry Cavill was superb as Clark/Kal-El. The didn’t try to find a clone of Chris Reeves, but he looked very much like Superman from the comics. Amy Adams was an inspired choice as Lois Lane. She is so appealing and David Goyer did a good job of updating that character to make her a modern woman I was rather dreading this film because it...
