by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 21, 2011 | Blog
My dear friend, Peter Beagle, left a comment on my post about pitching. In his message he said “I couldn’t go home a broke failure.” As if Peter S. Beagle could ever be considered a failure. This is the author of A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, and THE LAST UNICORN to mention just a couple of his works. But I understand exactly how he feels. Right now I feel like an abject failure. My return to books was a bit of a fizzle. Not all my fault, but...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 18, 2011 | Blog
No official word yet on the project. The downside of pitching late on Thursday. There’s only one day to try and get the snowball rolling downhill and it didn’t happen today. I’m trying to remain Zen, go on with my life — buying a few necessities for the condo — and not become disheartened, but it’s difficult. My experience in Hollywood is that yes comes very quickly, and when time passes no becomes more likely. I’m hoping this...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 15, 2011 | Blog
I’m in Los Angeles getting ready to pitch a movie tomorrow. For those of you who don’t know pitching is how things get sold in Hollywood. It’s odd, but initially you are rewarded for how well you talk rather than how well you write. Pitching is one reason why I tell people who are shy and retiring that Hollywood is not for them. You’ve got to be able to go into a room full of strangers and be completely at ease and tell them a story without rambling,...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 8, 2011 | Blog
My story in Fort Freak, The Rook, is posted on Tor.com. Do check it out if you want an early jump on getting to read the book. My story is the first one in the book so there won’t be any spoilers. Enjoy.
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 6, 2011 | Blog
Okay, there are going to be SPOILERS in this post so stop reading if you don’t want to find out anything about this movie. ******************************************************************************** Went and saw X-Men First Class this afternoon and I really enjoyed it. I liked the fact it was tied to real world events in their alternate history Earth. I adore James McAvoy so I was a very happy camper. Michael Fassbender was great as Erik aka...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 5, 2011 | Blog
Went to the movies last weekend and saw Kung Fu Panda 2. I had really enjoyed the first movie, and this sequel was equally beautiful and charming. I especially loved the use of the peacock villain’s tail as a fan. Another wonderful moment was when the Panda is declaiming stirring speeches from the roof of the house, but what the evil peacock is hearing is just faint mutterings because Panda’s so far away. It was a nice real world touch, rather like a scene...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 22, 2011 | Blog
This is my last delaying tactic before I start rewriting The Edge of Darkness. I know where I’m going to start. I think it’s the right place. Only this time I’m going to trust my training and instincts. I have been a professional writer for nearly 30 years. I have a tool box filled with tools. I just have to trust that I still know how to use them. That said you can always add a new tool, and one of my associates at Rio Hondo gave me a...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 21, 2011 | Blog
I’ve been at a writers workshop/retreat since last Sunday. Overall it’s been a wonderful experience. Incredibly talented, funny, smart people. The Sangre de Cristo mountains surrounding the lodge, snowfalls, hikes, and amazing gourmet dinners. What wasn’t so wonderful was realizing that the experiences of the past few years had affected me far more deeply then I had realized. I knew I had struggled with the second urban fantasy novel...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 18, 2011 | Blog
Okay, so I’ll just tell you that Fort Freak is going to be available in June, and it’s an awesomely cool book, and one of our best Wild Card volumes. It has a really great cover too, but I’m a computer illiterate and I can’t get anything to upload and insert in any reasonable size and form using Joomla. I’m sure it’s very simple — If I Weren’t an Idiot! If you go to George’s blog you can see the incredible cover. Maybe...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 14, 2011 | Blog
I held off writing my impressions of THOR until it had been open at least a week. But be warned. There will be spoilers in this analysis. If you haven’t seen the film stop reading now. Or if you’re like me and don’t mind spoilers go ahead and read. ...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 8, 2011 | Blog
I’ve been reading C.J. Cherryh’s amazing Foreigner series, and I just finished DEFENDER, which is the fifth or sixth book in the series. I confess, I’ve lost count. I’m just chewing through them very happily. The books focus on language, culture and diplomacy rather than action though most of the books have had a short action sequence near the end. In this book, however, the climactic scene was a dinner party, and Cherryh was amazing because the scene...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 4, 2011 | Blog
I just finished reading the wonderful book, ALL CLEAR by Connie Willis. Because of life and deadlines intruding I hadn’t been able to go right from BLACKOUT into ALL CLEAR, so now I want to go back and read them both back to back. That aside, I want to talk about the ending of the book(s) (It’s really one long book) without giving away any details for those of you who might not have read them. I got to the end of All Clear and I was weeping. There have only been four...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 2, 2011 | Blog
While the Republicans are tying themselves in knots trying to somehow, anyway give the credit for Bin Ladin killing to George W. Bush let us not forget the former President’s attitude. “I don’t know where he is. I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.” President George W. Bush March 2002.
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 30, 2011 | Blog
Because of my friend George’s marvelous HBO series I once again subscribe to HBO. Which means that I can watch movies while I’m cooking or cleaning up the kitchen. The other day WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT was on. I’ve always liked the movie, but now I have a far greater appreciation of how closely to the noir formula the writers hewed, and what a wonderful job they did. I’d never read Chandler or Hammett, I’m embarrassed to admit. Oh,...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 28, 2011 | Blog
I’m linking to several articles in this post because I never thought it would again be acceptable to present such blatantly racist views. Oh, these people don’t use the N word, but it’s breathtaking how offensive they are, and apparently they don’t think there will be consequeces. First there is the Speaker of the House in Missouri who said he would rather see Cairo Illinois — impoverished with a population that is 2/3rds African-American —...
