Book Review: “Cat’s Claw” by Amber Benson

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Josh Roseman

Following her enjoyable adventure through Hell with Calliope Reaper-Jones, Death’s middle daughter, I think it was pretty much understood that actress and author Amber Benson would return to her Death’s Daughter universe. She did so in 2010 with Cat’s Claw, a sequel that pretty much depends upon the main character making bad decisions for the story to succeed. Make no mistake, I still had fun reading the book, but there was an awful lot of narrative convenience in it.

My review of Cat’s Claw by Amber Benson is now up at Escape Pod.
Posted in book, escape pod, fantasy, nonfiction, review, supernatural, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Ichabod Crane: Master of the Occult” by DK Thompson

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Josh Roseman

I’m narrating “Ichabod Crane: Master of the Occult”, a continuation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. The story was written by DK Thompson and is a full-cast production.

Ichabod Crane: Master of the Occult

Posted in audio, journey into podcast, narration | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Writers… Don’t Do This…

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Josh Roseman

Writers… don’t do this.

I’m sure there’s a version for woman writers as well. It likely involves the MC being mildly overweight (at least at the start), meeting the perfect guy but not knowing it, working in PR or advertising, and eventually having the perfect wedding which is nothing like the one she was expecting.

(via I’m Starting to See a Developing Literary Theme Here – Cheezburger)

Posted in advice, writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Book Review: “The Tyrant Strategy: Revenant Man” by Jonathan C. Gillespie

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Josh Roseman

I’m not a huge fan of military SF. But I am a fan of post-apocalyptic SF. I’m not a huge fan of augmented-humanity SF. But I am a fan of humans-aren’t-the-most-powerful-people-in-the-universe SF. So when author Jonathan C. Gillespie put out his new novel The Tyrant Strategy: Revenant Man I wasn’t sure if it was going to be my cup of post-apocalyptic, augmented humanity, military-style, humans-aren’t-so-great tea.

My review of The Tyrant Strategy: Revenant Man by Jonathan C. Gillespie is now up at Escape Pod.
Posted in book, escape pod, nonfiction, review, sci-fi, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 25: Where Do We Go From Here?

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Josh Roseman

How do I conclude 25 articles about TNG? I’ve talked about pretty much everything, haven’t I?

25 Days of TNG concludes on Escape Pod with Day 25: Where Do We Go From Here?
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 24: The Top 25 Episodes, Part 2

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Josh Roseman

25 Days of TNG, Day 24: The Top 25 Episodes, Part 2

Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 23: The Top 25 Episodes, Part 1

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Josh Roseman

25 Days of TNG, Day 23: The Top 25 Episodes, Part 1

Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 22: The Bottom 25 Episodes, Part 2

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Josh Roseman

So, what episodes are left that could possibly be worse (or at the very least “less good”) than the 15 I listed yesterday? Let’s find out.

25 Days of TNG on Escape Pod continues with Day 22: The Bottom 25 Episodes, Part 2.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 21: The Bottom 25 Episodes, Part 1

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Josh Roseman

It’s pretty easy to just say “oh, yeah, that episode was terrible”… but why? Why was it a bad episode? How bad was it compared to others? Was it just that opportunities were missed, or was it truly a cluster of massive proportions?

TNG had all of these — in spades — and it was a lot of fun for me to put together a list of the 25 “worst” episodes of the show’s seven-year run. There were some surprises on the list, as well as several you’re probably expecting.

The 25 Days of TNG continue on Escape Pod with Day 21: The Bottom 25 Episodes.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 20: 11 Lost “Best” Episodes

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Josh Roseman

And now you get to read a little about eleven episodes I really liked but somehow didn’t make it onto the top 25 list.

The 25 Days of TNG continues with Day 20: 11 Lost “Best” Episodes.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 19: The Relaunch

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Josh Roseman

Even though Star Trek canon says that, after Nemesis, there was no more official Trek until Spock attempted to save Romulus, I think we all knew the intellectual property was too valuable to just be left lying there. The TNG novelists — old and new alike — were given free reign to do whatever was necessary to keep the story going, and they certainly did that.

The 25 Days of TNG continue on Escape Pod with Day 19: The Relaunch.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 18: The Best and Worst of the TNG Films

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Josh Roseman

Following the TNG season finale, I think it was already known that a film was in the offing. At least one. Turns out we got four, all of which you’ve probably seen, and most of which have both good and bad parts.

25 Days of TNG continues on Escape Pod with Day 18: The Best and Worst of the TNG Films.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 17: The Best and Worst of Season 7

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Josh Roseman

I’m not sure when exactly we knew that the seventh season of TNG was going to be the final one, but as far as final seasons go, it didn’t really blow me away. Compared to other final seasons — House, Buffy, and Deep Space Nine, to name but a few — it was decidedly lackluster… but there were a few high points.

The 25 Days of TNG on Escape Pod continue with Day 17: The Best and Worst of Season 7.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 16: The 10 Best Tie-In Novels

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Josh Roseman

As I was researching the tie-in novel articles, I realized just how many of the TNG tie-ins I didn’t read. Not that I’m going to go back and read them now; it’s just interesting to me. But even with missing some of them, I can confidently say that the following list are ten of the best tie-in novels TNG has to offer.

The 25 Days of TNG continue on Escape Pod with Day 16: The 10 Best Tie-In Novels.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TV Review: “Dog with a Blog”

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Josh Roseman

I think it’s safe to say that most kids — at least, most of us who had dogs — always wanted our dogs to be able to talk. Odds are good it never happened to you, but it did happen to Tyler James and Avery Jennings, the two human main characters of Disney Channel’s new show Dog with a Blog.

Read my review of the new show Dog with a Blog on Escape Pod.
Posted in escape pod, fantasy, nonfiction, review, television, writing, ya | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 15: The 10 Worst Tie-In Novels

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Josh Roseman

I first started reading Star Trek tie-in novels when I was about eight. My dad hurt his foot and was in the hospital, and my mom brought me to a bookstore before we went to visit him. I found three Star Trek novels — My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane, Dreams of the Raven by Carmen Carter, and How Much For Just The Planet? by John M. Ford — and haven’t looked back. When TNG tie-ins started appearing, I bought them all, saving my allowance and gift certificates until I could afford them.

Unfortunately, while many were great, some… well, some were big-time stinkers. So here’s my opinion on the 10 worst TNG tie-in novels.

25 Days of TNG continues with Day 15: The 10 Worst Tie-In Novels.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 14: The Best and Worst of Season 6

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Josh Roseman

The sixth season of TNG was sort of weird. There were a lot of iffy episodes, and several that I just didn’t like (and couldn’t tell you why). But it did have my favorite Riker episode of all time.

The 25 Days of TNG continue with Day 14: The Best and Worst of Season 6.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 13: 10 Things That Don’t Hold Up

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Josh Roseman

Trek returned to TV twenty years after its original premiere, and though everything was highly upgraded, there were still technological advancements that were completely unexpected that have since made TNG into something of a dinosaur. Here are ten of them.

25 Days of TNG continues with Day 13: 10 Things That Don’t Hold Up.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 12: The Best and Worst of Season 5

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Josh Roseman

For my money, if you chop off the premiere and the finale, Season 5 was probably the best season of TNG. Though it had a few big-time stinkers, the great episodes were really great and even the middling ones weren’t too bad. Plus, one of the all-time best episodes of TNG ever occurred in this season — I’m sure you know which.

25 Days of TNG continues with Day 12: The Best and Worst of Season 5.
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

25 Days of TNG, Day 11: Anachronisms and the Stifling of Creativity

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Josh Roseman

Because of the changing nature of pop culture and fashion, it’s very difficult to include contemporary references in fiction. Some people do it very well — Seth McFarlane, the writers of Psych and Warehouse 13, Joss Whedon — and some don’t. Others just avoid it altogether — for example, Laurell K. Hamilton is very cagey about exactly what type of phone Anita Blake uses. There are positives and negatives to both; catching an old rerun of Family Guy will remind you just what didn’t hold up a mere ten years ago.

The 25 Days of TNG continue on Escape Pod with Day 11: Anachronisms and the Stifling of Creativity
Posted in 25 days of tng, article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment