I’m still struggling with the hypertension medicine side effects. Pepto-Bismol is handling one of the worst ones, but I’m still tired most of the time. I laid down yesterday afternoon for a short nap and wound up sleeping until this morning. I need to get that under control because I can’t afford to lose so many days.

Right before I went for the nap, I opened an email from Water Dragon which had links! Digital advance reader copies (ARCs) are available! I’ve never been at this stage of a book before!

What is an ARC? It’s a near-finished version of the book, meant to go out ahead of the release so that some readers can get a taste of it and post reviews. They’re generally sent to magazines and people of influence in the publishing world to further drum up interest and get some buzz started.

Water Dragon already has a list of magazines and organizations to send ARCs to, so the number of copies I have available are basically extra.

I’ve handed out the link for the ARC to two people today, and I have more available. I’m looking for people that are interested in reading it, writing a review, and if they really liked it, help spread the word about it.

And to be clear, I want fair and honest reviews. Don’t write a glowing review if it wasn’t your cup of tea. If you hate it, put that in your review. It really is okay.

Where to write a review? Amazon is probably the best place.

If you’re interested in an ARC for The Repossessed Ghost, let me know!

It’s hard to put into words just how exciting this is for me.

I live on The Internet, which means when popular movies come out, I need to see them as soon as possible in order to avoid spoilers. That’s just life, now. I was going to see it Thursday night, but we had other plans, and Friday wasn’t great, either. So I went to a Saturday matinee.

Before I get into The Flash, I’ll just say Happy Father’s Day to all who celebrate. For myself, I had steak and eggs this morning. Once I’m done writing my review of The Flash, I’m going to get on the exercise bike for 30 minutes to an hour, then I’m going to get caught up on some work stuff I wasn’t able to finish last week. After that… video games? Going to bed early? Who knows. Tomorrow is going to come too soon.

Okay. Let’s talk about The Flash.

I had a good time. I went in with low expectations to begin with, and I left feeling like I got my money’s worth.

From this point forward, I may talk about spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it yet and you want to go in with fresh eyes, bail out now.

Michael Keaton. Holy smokes, Michael Keaton.

I had no idea how much I would enjoy seeing Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman again. I did not know that I wanted to hear that Danny Elfman score play while Batman did cool stuff. Apparently that was something I was hungry for, and I left well fed.

Sasha Calle’s Supergirl was good. Her part was a little bit understated, but Sasha worked with the material she had, and I would definitely watch a whole movie with her as Supergirl.

Ezra Miller. Before I get into their performance, I want to acknowledge that their behavior off screen has been troubling, and I don’t want to focus on the controversy of Ezra Miller themself. I think they fucked up and they need to make amends, if possible. I’m not a fanboy of Ezra Miller. I don’t really know them. Whatever is going on around them is probably complicated, so for purposes of this review, I’m only going to focus on their performance in this movie.

Ezra Miller’s performance was excellent. They brought nuance to both versions of Barry Allen, making them both characters distinct and clear. Ezra Miller’s performance throughout the entire movie was consistent, emotive, and compelling. I loved Michael Keaton in this, and I was impressed with Sasha Calle, but this was Ezra Miller’s movie.

Let’s talk about the special effects. There were two times it stuck out to me as a little bit off. The first was when The Flash went to save the babies falling out of the hospital. They looked a little bit off. The dog also looked a bit off. It was cartoony, but that whole sequence was basically a cartoon, and I was on board with it. For me, it was a good time.

The second time the effects looked off to me was whenever The Flash went into The Chronobowl. We got to see lots of characters, and they looked waxy and computer generated. They were not photorealistic.

I think the producers said that was an intentional artistic choice, and I believe them. When you look at the effects everywhere else in the movie (except the cartoony “save the babies” sequence), the effects are fantastic and photorealistic. Compare the Chronobowl effects to Batman sliding on the freeway while chasing the bank robbers. Ben Affleck’s Batman was a fully rendered special effect, and it looks excellent. When we see Ben Affleck in the Chronobowl, he looks plastic, like an impression of the events that happened in previous movies. I believe it was an artistic choice, and I’m fine with it. It didn’t pull me out.

I liked the explanation of time travel. I’m not sure it’s realistic, but it worked for me as far as explaining the details of the movie, and I was able to groove with it.

I liked getting to see the alternate worlds. I loved getting to see Nic Cage as Superman, fighting a giant spider. I think it’s the only time in the movie I made a sound, and it was unintentional.

The ending bit with George Clooney as Batman made me smile. Of course there would be ramifications to Barry saving his father. It ended the movie on a joke, and I appreciated it, because the movie wasn’t taking itself too seriously, and neither was I.

What else can I say about this movie? I had a good time! I felt some feelings, I had some laughs, and I enjoyed the spectacle. Why wouldn’t I like this movie?

Is it my favorite? Heck no. Am I going to be thinking about it for a long time? Probably not. There are really good movies that I have seen that I don’t think about much, like The Godfather or Citizen Kane. Then there are relatively bad movies that I do find myself thinking about from time to time, like Ashton Kutcher’s Butterfly Effect. So, I might think about The Flash in the future, especially with regards to what it had to say about how time travel works, but I’m not sure that means anything.

Would I recommend friends go out and spend their money to see The Flash?

It depends on the friend. I would not recommend Michael Gallowglas go and see this movie, for example. He doesn’t enjoy movies the same way I do. I would absolutely recommend the movie to Melissa and Chris. It’s a coin flip as to whether Bryanna would enjoy it or not.

I think The Internet is going to continue to be hard on The Flash, mostly because The Internet does not like Eza Miller. I think The Internet is going to criticize The Flash’s special effects and say it is trash because it is not as realistic as they demand, which is Dumb with a capital D.

In summary, and tying this back to my own stuff, The Flash was a light, fun story that didn’t take itself too seriously. It probably won’t leave a lasting impression on the world, and I doubt it’s going to win many awards. These are the same ways I describe The Repossessed Ghost. I think it’s okay for The Flash to exist and just be a fun thing. I feel the same way about The Repossessed Ghost, and I hope other people find light, fun value in it, too.

Behold!

In just a couple of weeks, at Baycon 2023, people will be able to buy my book and hold it in their hand.

Look at that cover! Isn’t it beautiful?

Water Dragon Publishing hired the artist that did such an amazing job. I’m so happy with how it came out.

The official release of the book is the middle of July. It will be on Amazon. Formats include digital, hardcover, paperback, and trade paperback.

From this point forward, it’s just a celebration.

Along with this cover reveal, let me provide this shiny link, with which you can order your very own copy direct from the publisher: The Repossessed Ghost.

Everyone that orders from that link before July 4th will get a signed copy. I’m numbering the first 100 copies I sign.

July 4th is when the convention ends and all the pre-orders get shipped. To be clear, if you see me at the convention and buy a book, I’ll sign those, too.

Here is the first time I talked about this novel as The Repossessed Ghost. July 17th, 2014. Almost exactly 9 years later, it will be available everywhere. It’s still hard to believe.

I have talked about this book a lot, and I have to get ready to talk about it some more. If you have any questions, send them my way! I’m hoping to post a vlog before July 1st, which will be a brief reading.

Thank you to everyone that has believed in me and encouraged me on this journey. You mean the world to me.

I feel like I’m behind. There’s topics I should be writing about. Melissa’s birthday was yesterday! My book is coming out next month! Why am I not doing anything?!?

Let’s begin with my health, which hasn’t been completely awesome. As I said in my last post, I have hypertension. I’m taking blood pressure medicine, and while it is effective, I haven’t felt right for weeks. I don’t feel like I have any energy, like I’ve been hollowed out, and it’s even harder for me to focus. Through that lens, everything is distant and difficult. That includes celebrating Melissa’s birthday and promoting The Repossessed Ghost.

We did celebrate, though. On Saturday, we went to Lodi and picked blueberries, then returned home and had some easy food and played Skipbo. We had a cake, though I didn’t have any candles for her to blow out. Yesterday, her actual birthday, an Edible Arrangement arrived.

Her birthday was okay, but there’s only so much I can do. She’s lonely. She needs more friends. I can completely relate.

On the book front, I’m going to post the cover NEXT WEEK. Around that time, I’ll start spreading around the pre-order link. I’m also planning on recording a new VLOG. I haven’t posted one since the beginning of the pandemic, and this one is going to be a reading of The Repossessed Ghost.

There’s more I still need to do. There are some swag ideas I need to follow up on. Soon, I need to contact the local Barnes and Noble again and see if I can make some magic happen.

I need to get moving. Hypertension be damned, I need to find the energy and push through, because this is my first and maybe only chance to promote a book with my name on the cover.

Baycon is in less than a month. That’s where I will get to be on the other side of a table and sell people my book. It’s where I’ll get to be on the other side of some panels for the first time, and share directly some of the stuff I’ve acquired over these years.

Here is a link to my convention schedule. When I look at it, I feel like a rock star. It feels like a celebration of all the work I’ve been doing for the last decade and a half.

If you would like to order a signed copy of The Repossessed Ghost early, straight from the publisher and to be delivered after July 4th, let me know and I will get you a link. I’ll be publicly posting the link next week, but I can still hook up friends and family right now.