Video Games are Real

Tag: booktube

The TARDIS Tag video

The Owl’s Perch (subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/foxesarentfelines) was kind enough to tag me in the TARDIS tag, which was started by Sue Moro (subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/suemoro). I’ll be honest, I feel like underqualified for this job. Sure, I’ve made many booktube videos over that last couple of years, but I’ve never actually watched Doctor Who. GASP! Que??????? But, I get the show’s concept (I think), which I hope was enough to let me do justice to this tag. Thanks so much to The Owl’s Perch for tagging me.

I anticipate some of you may hate this video. I criticize certain readers of Genesis (from The Bible, not from The Great Britain), Harry Potter, and maybe Doctor Who, though with the later criticization it’s more about me making fun of myself for never having watched the show.

Mentioned:
The Beasts of Upton Puddle by Simon West-Bulford
The Soul Consortium by Simon West-Bulford
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Drinking:
Coffee Stout from Schlafly

I tag the following people:
Elizziebooks
MotherEffingBooks
1Book1Review

December 30, 2013
No ideas for your NaNoWriMo novel? Come to NaNoBraSto (National Novel Brain Storm) on October 16th. We do the ideas for you.

Okay, we aren’t doing the work for you. But we are giving you a pleasant bump. Not as in cocaine. Unless you’re writing a book about cocaine. Perhaps a family of W.A.S.P (“pleasant”) take to cocaine to help them through their rigid dinner conversations, most of which painfully circumnavigate the 8 weeks pregnant daughter (another “bump”…). It works. For a while. Until the son, Tommy Fitzgerald, brings a friend to dinner. This friend, unbeknownst to the W.A.S.P family, happens to be the son of the city police chief and may be the baby’s father. A Pleasant Bump is a story of a family finding ways to bond in unlikely places, and of the law that tears them apart.

There’s one idea for you right there. See, that was easy.

Join me, Sarah Jane Connor (MotherEffingBooks), Liz Vallish (ElizzieBooks), and perhaps a few other guests as we extemporaneously formulate a collection of absurd, humorous, and most certainly weak, plots for your NaNoWriMo novel.

When: October 16^th, 2013 – 8:30pm CST (US time)

Where: Online at http://www.youtube.com/calebjross

What to expect: a low key hour of laughing about ridiculous plot concepts that no sane person should ever try. However, IF a person (sane or otherwise) does use one of the ideas generated during the show, and a finished novel comes of it, then prizes will be given. We aren’t sure what yet, though we do anticipate some amazing.

RSVP at the Google+ Event page here: https://plus.google.com/events/crlmds91qda9s92b18uihjvnqf4?authkey=CKPEmJfUkJGrUQ

October 16^th, 2013 – 8:30pm CST (US time)

http://www.youtube.com/calebjross
[schema type=”event” evtype=”LiteraryEvent” url=”https://plus.google.com/u/1/events/crlmds91qda9s92b18uihjvnqf4?authkey=CKPEmJfUkJGrUQ” name=”NaNoBraSto – National Novel Writing Month Brain Storm by BookTube LIVE” description=”Join Caleb J. Ross (calebjross), Sarah Jane Connor (MotherEffingBooks), Liz Vallish (ElizzieBooks), and perhaps a few other guests as we extemporaneously formulate a collection of absurd, humorous, and most certainly weak, plots for your NaNoWriMo novel. What to expect: a low key hour of laughing about ridiculous plot concepts that no sane person should ever try. However, IF a person (sane or otherwise) does use one of the ideas generated during the show, and a finished novel comes of it, then prizes will be given. We aren’t sure what yet, though we do anticipate some amazing.” sdate=”2013-10-16″ stime=”08:30 pm” edate=”2013-10-16″ duration=”01:00″ ]

October 4, 2013
HeavyShelves asks writing questions. You learn something. Everybody wins.
Andrew, known as HeavyShelves in BookTube land, was kind enough to invite me to a Google Hangout a few nights ago where he treated me like a rockstar for almost 3 hours. That’s a long time, especially when you consider the time frame was 12am – 3am his time (he’s in the UK).

I definitely encourage you to take a watch. Or, just listen, as you would a podcast (visually, it’s pretty much just webcam style cuts between his face and mine…except for one truly amazing appearance by Nicholas Cage…see image below).

Andrew asked some great questions, and we had some great discussions. List for these gems:
- My publishing history (and the importance of knowing people, starting here)
- Writers need to know their productivity limitations (more about why I can’t be allowed to write 8 hours/day, starting here)
- The importance of caring about what you write (the real “write what you know” advice, starting here)
- What book am I working on now? (Southern Gothic set on an island, starting here)
- And much, much, much more (starting everywhere)
Nicholas Cage stops by:
May 28, 2013
Video book review of The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski (Video Blog ep 021)
Click the image above to watch the video on YouTube

I anticipate some reactions to this video book review will be negative. Of those negative reviews, I anticipate 3 response types:
1. Hatred from those that haven’t read the book, but simply want to defend Mark Z. Danielewski (I understand this feeling, believe me; and despite how I feel about The Fifty Year Sword, I will continue to defend Danielewski, even if only for his potential; House of Leaves remains one of my favorite novels of all time)
2. Hatred from those who have read the book, and claim that I’m simply too dumb to “get it” (again, I understand this feeling and am willing to embrace this possibility)
3. Hatred from those who have read it and claim to like it. It’s this last group that I’m most interested in.
Those of you in this last group, please, please, please help me understand what I must have missed. I want to like this book. I really do. I want to believe that Danielewski’s verse writing is just an awkward trend (I didn’t like Only Revolutions, either, if you must know).

The Fifty Year Sword will be re-issued in October 2012 should any of you decided to read this book.
July 30, 2012