This morning I finished reading Dune. A book I never thought I would get around to reading. I’m really not sure why it has taken me this long to read it as I’ve loved the story since I was a kid. I think it was mostly because I expected it to be something less than I wanted it to be.

See, when I was around twelve (at a guess). I got my hands on a computer game called Dune. With it’s great story, soundtrack and gameplay, It quickly became one of my favourite games. Starting out as little Paul Atreides flying around in an Ornithopter gathering up spice and talking to fremen then going on to organising an army using telepathy. Great fun.

I knew it was a book then, and I knew my father had a copy of the second book - Dune Messiah, I think I even read a few pages, but who wants to read the second book when you haven’t read the first?

It was a couple of years later, long after I’d completed the game, that I saw the David Lynch film. I wasn’t exactly sure if I liked it or not. There was the story that I remembered and loved but… It just wasn’t the game. I haven’t seen it since that first time, maybe I’ll watch it again sometime and see something in it that I didn’t see before.

Then, a few years later, I came across a box set of video tapes titled: Frank Herbert’s Dune. Unfortunately, much more expensive than I could afford… Not much later though, as video tapes were leaving the stores forever, the box set dropped in price to an easy $15. I snatched it up. And again I revisited Arrakis, now with glowing blue eyes and better (comparatively not relatively) special effects.

Onto the present: A few weeks ago I finally picked up my very own copy of the book. Though, I was still weary that it would be less than I wanted. This was the source material for one of my favourite childhood computer games. (They don’t make games like the ones I grew up on any more.)

How I was wrong.

I had not been so immersed in the world of the fremen since those days I spent hours in front of the computer. I flew through the book, enjoying Paul Atreides’ rise to power all over again. It had been enough time since I had seen or played any of the Dune’s that I couldn’t recall everything about the story but there were elements that came to me time and again. When Paul met Chani and vaguely remembered meeting her before, in a dream, I vaguely remembered meeting her before, in a game.

And now, I’m starting on Dune Messiah. Which, ironically enough, now that I’ve come to read it my father no longer owns it. - But, don’t fear (Because fear is the mindkiller), I picked up my own copy on Saturday.

It’s been almost a whole month now and I’ve done next to naught.

And there’s only one person I can blame for not getting anything done.

Travis the alien. He arrived in our solar system around the beginning of the month and so, most of my time has been spent in an intergalactic battle. The stakes were high, real high. I had already lost five bucks to him and now the stakes were double or nothing. This was life or death stuff.

Darn you Travis!!

It was that and because I did extra shifts at work last week and the fact I bought a Wii… And because I hired out a few movies.

The work alternated between mind-numbingly boring and so busy you slip into automatic and your brain switches off.

The Wii is great. I love playing the tennis on Wii Sports and I downloaded ‘My Life as King’ from the Wiiware and got addicted to that for the last week or so. All in all though - a great purchase (especially since I got it for about half the price it was at the store due to a staff discount and a work bonus in the form of a gift card)

Then, once I’d finished playing My Life as King, I thought I’d finally get down to business with my writing… So I went out and hired some movies. It was dollar tuesday so I hired out five movies. Four of them sucked. The one surprise - Doomsday. I hadn’t heard about it before but the guy at the shop recommended it. Turned out to be pretty awesome with all you could want for a post-apocalypse action movie - Blood, Viruses, A ticking clock, Car chases, gun fights with high-tech battle-wear, a medieval style gladiator fight, a mad max style gang and one hot chick that’ll kick your arse sooner than look at you.

Fun!

Also, somewhere in there I did some spring cleaning and I bought a new video card for my computer. (Although the video card turned out to be incompatible with my computer but for some reason all the screwing around with the video cards made my old card start working right again. So, score!)

I have some more stuff but I’m going to split it onto a seperate entry. Do you know why?

Neither do I.

After work today I was walking past Angus’s. And, as usual, I couldn’t resist the urge to walk in. I can never seem to pass a book store without going in.

I told myself the same thing I do everytime I enter a bookstore - “You’re just LOOKING, you have a long TBR stack at home already, You DO NOT need more books… Just yet.”

So, I look around for a while. There are a few books I’ve come across on my internetting recently that I’d like to read, so I thought I’d see if any of them were in stock… Abandoning my ‘do not buy’ decision as soon as the first whiff of published pages hits my nostrils.

I’m having a look along the shelves when I notice that they now have a couple of Neil Gaiman’s books stocked. And as I recently read and loved The Sandman, I’d been thinking about giving one of his books a go.

But which one??

As it turns out I had a choice between two books - American Gods, which was over 600 pages long, or Stardust at a slim 200 odd pages.

Guess which one I chose…

That’s it, the short one. Maybe if I enjoy Stardust I’ll have a go at American Gods. It does sound pretty interesting.

I saw the movie of Stardust not too long ago and thought it half decent. So I’ll at very least have a half decent read in front of me.

The odd thing, though…

When I was paying for my book, the guy throws in a ’special gift’. I’m not sure exactly what it was promoting or why we’re getting such odd gifts from book stores nowadays, but I got an itty bitty little tub of Anti-aging cream.

Oh well, I thought, Momma always said Free is as free does.

So I gave it a go, I tried a little on my cheek. But I think I got a dud batch because now I have a little mutant sticking out of my face that keeps yelling ‘Quaid…start the reactor!”

In the previous entry I was talking about the lack of places to buy cult graphic novels and such. While this is true for the most part (in fact there was a couple of years there where I didn’t even have a local bookstore), I got a pleasant surprise yesterday when I wandered into my local Angus’s.

I not only found a copy of Volume One of The Sandman - Preludes and Nocturnes, I found it in the 50% off box. Score!

Also missing from my previous entry, which has been pointed out to me with a vengeance (and a belief that this blog reaches more than two people), I am working on plans for a comic/graphic novel of my own. I can’t tell you much about it just yet, as I’ve only come up with a backstory for the main character and a few faint ideas for plot so far, but I can tell you this - It will be awesome and everyone will be wanting a copy, so get in early and order it now… years before it’ll be ready!

I will be doing the writing and… (what was her name? the one that pointed out this was missing from my blog? Oh, I can’t remember… Let’s just call her - Franky Neener) will be doing the artwork.

First things first - Check out my site now bitches!! Yes, Yes it does rock. - www.JeremyBoland.com

It took a lot of fiddling and code writing and screwing around, and a couple of days, but I finally have this new kick ass looking site up and going. My site and my blog, which were once two separate entities are now one and the same, and all my old pages are here too. I’m not sure if I’m going to leave it opening onto my blog or make a front page but that can all come later.

My old site still exists, at least for the moment, at www.jeremyboland.com/old/.

Doug of the Darkness has reached the 10,000 word mark, and it’s still going strong-ish. If your not up to date with Doug of the Darkness or haven’t even read Doug of the Darkness, you should head over to the Doug of the Darkness website and start reading Doug of the Darkness now. You won’t be borry.

What else, What else, what else? Isn’t it always like that. You go into writing a blog entry thinking ‘how will I fill it all in?’ and then halfway through you forget all the topics you wanted to go over.

The other day I came up with a completely new idea for a book. What I mean is - Most of the things I’ve worked on in the last (I don’t know how long) have been rewrites of old stuff, working on old ideas or it was based on two old ideas put together… so on and so forth in that fashion, you get the idea.

I mentioned it in passing in the last entry but that was only when it was an inkling of an instigating circumstance. But slowly it grew in my head and at the worst possible moment, while I was at work, more and more ideas hit me. Between customers and fixing a cupboard door that fell off it’s hinges I wrote a whole synopsis of a back story for the novel in my moleskine.

(I’m very excited about this)

I’m not sure if it’s going to be one persons stories (probably in first person) or a series of interrelated stories that encompass the whole events… I’m leaning toward the latter. Just know, I have some great ideas for it either way and I can’t wait to get started on it.

But first, my workspace could do with a bit of a tidy up…

Also excited about - Act One of Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is released today. I’m a big Whedon fan, Fillion fan and Doogie Fan, So this is just Awesome.

In other news, I just finished reading Hal Spacejock 4: No Free Lunch, and I recommend it to anyone who likes fun and light scifi about interesting characters with quite a few laugh out loud moments. Not only is this a great series, by the way, but they work as stand alone novels as well, There are references to previous novels but nothing that would confuse a new reader.

At the moment I’m reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury and I’m loving it. My favourite section so far is ‘Night Meeting’… with ‘And the Moon be still as bright’ coming up second.

Anyway, I think that’s all for now. In the mean time check out this hilarious clip of Patrick Stewart in Extras

P.S. - Do people actually buy these things?

Holy Crap, I loved this movie.

As a dollar Tuesday at the local video rental place and a day off work for me, I was at the video shop early. My only problem: Trying to find something that’s not crap. I find it terribly hard to find movies that aren’t entirely predictable. I mostly hope to get a few surprises along the way before reaching the obvious end.

I grabbed a few dvds off the shelf that I hadn’t heard too much about. One was Gabriel, a thoroughly disappointing film about archangels fighting for control of purgatory. It seemed like it could’ve been something special but it wasn’t. Maybe some more research and a few more script drafts first.

The second was Tin Man. A mini-series “based” on the wizard of oz. There wasn’t a great deal to it but it was a bit of fun. Unfortunately the video shop clerk forgot the second dvd. I’ll have to watch the final part tomorrow, after bruising some skulls.

The third was Southland Tales. I saw the cover. The words - “Sarah Michelle Gellar” slapped me across the face. As a long time Buffy fan, I immediately picked it up.

“I think I heard something about this a while back,” I thought to myself. “Doesn’t Buffy play a porn star?”

And so, without closer inspection of the cover of the dvd, I paid my three dollars and took my pile of plastic home for an afternoon of entertainment.

Later that night, after being thoroughly pissed that I couldn’t watch the end of Tin Man, I grumpily threw the Southland Tales dvd into the machine.

Four seconds into the movie I got my first surprise.

I paused. “Did someone say my favourite phrase - The end of the world?”

I immediately perked up. I have a penchant for end of the world stories.

Then came the cast. A number of familiar faces popped up all through the movie. One in particular was Christopher Lambert. I had only yesterday been thinking about an old movie of his called Nirvana and wondered to myself whether he’d made anything recently. Well, I got my answer.

Then, around the time that Jon Lovitz arrived on screen and did his dirty deed, I knew I loved this movie. I watched as the strings that would soon intertwine each revealed themselves.

I wondered, “Who came up with this Hilarious and brilliant piece of work?”

I found out on the imdb that it was Richard Kelly. Writer of another favourite of mine - Donnie Darko. Another movie I had picked up knowing nothing about, except that it starred “that guy from Bubble Boy”.

I watched on and began to notice several similarities between Donnie Darko and Southland Tales. For instance - They both feature a character with a bullet wound to the eye.

Also, much like Donnie Darko, When the credits rolled I sat fixated on the screen.

Four, if you include this blog entry…

Due to a long afternoon nap yesterday and a few too many coffees I wasn’t getting any sleep, or even attempting it. At around one o’clock I finished editing some photos of me in my spanky new glasses and uploaded them to my various sites as profile pics.

With my procrastinating finally done, I was free to go back to writing the next Doug update. I had been, well not blocked but… stalling, for the last day or so because I wasn’t sure where I was going but suddenly - Inspiration struck me like a cricket bat wrapped in tin foil - And I was off and writing.

I finished the entry two hours later and uploaded it - Check It!!.

I think it’s one of my favourite scene’s for a while now.

Also, as I mentioned a blog entry or two ago, I finished a new short story. I’ve finally given up editing it and Have uploaded that too. It’s called Alterations. It’s gotten a little bit of good feedback so far over at writing.com, but some have also complained of it’s ambiguity. Maybe I’ll turn it into a novel sometime, but not just yet.

There was also the short story I finished a couple of months back. I finally got around to rewriting it and I’ve finished editing that as well. It’s called Dah’min. So that’s posted on my site too now. Read, enjoy, have a coffee, pat a kitty.

In other news - I’ve entered Icy Dead People into a contest at Writers Cafe, where the winning prize is being published in an anthology! Do I think I’ll win? Not a chance, unless no one else enters. Cross your fingers for me?

And here’s the bonus… for me… I’ve finished one of my New Years Resolutions!

Booya!!

#3 - Complete 3 short stories.

Now - Onto the Novels!!!

So, All in all it’s been a pretty eventful few hours of the freezing cold morning. It’s now 5am. I’m going to bed…

Good thing I’m still on holidays.

Good night/morning and remember to check out Dangers in the night Sky, The latest update to Doug of the Darkness… and my new short stories Alterations and Dah’min.

To all my dear imaginary fans out there,

I’m pretty confident in saying that it’s possible that maybe mostly kinda my short story Icy Dead People is complete. Finished. Done. Mostly.

There maybe some minor punctuation or grammatical errors that I overlooked due to the fact I was watching Planet Terror while I was editing it, but it’s like what I always say ‘what the hell do you want? get off my back already!’
But apart from that I’m done with it.

So enjoy Icy Dead People: A fun romp with Zombies and Perverts.

Now it’s back to Doug of the Darkness and editing Dah’min and trying to start Blue Flowers and working on the next chapter of Mal Macabre for me. If only I had twelve hands, four brains, eleven toes and three nipples. It’d make things much easier.

Also in Recommendations - If you’re into worlds where Literature is the way of the world, where it’s not Britney Spears but Shakespeare’s work that everyone talks about, where the pen is mightier than the plasma rifle and the Dodo V1.2 is the pet to have - Then get yourself a copy of The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

I know I’ll be getting the rest of the series.

In other random comments today - Anyone seen 30 days of night? The movie about Vampires in Alaska. I saw it last night and I had a couple of problems with it.

1- The passage of time didn’t seem to make sense. For instance, staying in the food shack for seven days? It seemed like they added days in randomly just to fill in gaps.

2- (and my major problem with the film) - I don’t know a great deal about vampires, only what I’ve read in books and seen in movies and Tv Shows, but from what I understand they drink people’s blood for sustenance. Human Blood = Vampire Food. Now, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t walk around for a month with my food all over my face, I don’t even like having a chunk of food sticking out from between my teeth. So why do these vampires walk around with blood all over their faces? Can anyone say wash cloth?

“Hey vampire, you have something on your face… no, the other side… you almost got it… oh, now you’re just smudging it… you’re making it worse! stop it! here, let me…”

It’s called Deliver us from evil.

It’s a spectacular collection of short stories.

Here’s an example:

Yeah! That’s Right, I’m in a book! Boo-Ya!

You can buy it here: Link

Or Read my awesome story here: Link

Or Watch me reading it here: Link Missing

Anyway, I got my copy today and thought it was cool when I opened up to page 224 and saw my name… In A Book!

In other news I finished the first draft of a new short story. It’s called Dah’min. - Dah’Min is a rare pet human. He’s never seen one of his own kind before… Until Now.

I’ll load it up onto my site once I’ve finished a couple more drafts.

Till then remember: Lasagne is the best idea ever!