Book Review – “One Hundred Candles” by Mara Purnhagen

“One Hundred Candles” by Mara Purnhagen

Often when you put teenager and ghosts together in one story you end up with “the Scooby Gang” as Buffy called he friends, which in turn was a reference to the Hanna Barbara animated series “Scooby Doo Where Are You?” that began back in the sixties.

There is no “Scooby Gang” to be found in the PAST MIDNIGHT series of Young Adult novels by Mara Purnhagen.

Instead we have Charlotte Silver, her family, and friends having to deal with the ordinary struggles of high school life. From struggles with schoolwork, getting a first boyfriend, and the concerns of a family in trouble. These day-to-day struggles only become all the more important when a real supernatural threat enters their lives. A potential divorce is more dangerous than a demon.

Though Charlotte’s parents are paranormal investigators, the story has never been about hunting down ghosts. Her father doesn’t believe in ghosts, it’s just residual energy. It’s about a young woman seeking an ordinary life, and not loosing it when its finally in her grasp.

In a previous review I described “Raising the Dead”, Purnhagen’s novella that takes place between PAST MIDNIGHT and ONE HUNDRED CANDLES as a weekend jaunt. A wonderful little story but has no major impact upon our characters or the world they lived in. I can certainly say that we are deep into the workweek with ONE HUNDRED CANDLES.

The threats have grown for Charlotte; socially, personally, and supernaturally. When it’s over, things can never go back the way they were.

As to Purnhagen’s writing style, I found something quite interesting in ONE HUNDRED CANDLES that I hadn’t notice in the earlier books. She would start a chapter at one point and then jump back and fourth telling the reader of the events that lead up to that moment before finally moving on. Truthfully, I was confuse at first and it took a few chapters to get use to, but then I began to look forward to seeing how she would start off the next chapter. It was a really fun and interesting way to keep us inside Charlotte’s mind and point of view of events around her.

It’s going to be hard to write further reviews of the PAST MIDNIGHT series, as I’ve really been enjoying them and looking forward to the next. Won’t be able to give a non-biased opinion to the next book in the series.

ONE HUNDRED CANDLES burns brightly Mara Purnhagen.

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

Four Names of Professional Creativity.

10 years isn't that long... if you're Flying Glory.

I don’t have to worry about coming up with anything to write this week.

This is a very important week. Not as important as some of course, but for me it is.

This week marks the 10^th anniversary of when our comic FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY went up on the web. (http://www.flying-glory.com)

Don’t know how many of you might remember an online bulletin board called GEnie. But back then, when the Internet was basically text and the only graphics you got to see was when you downloaded them (or when you were trapped with in the shell of AOL), I hung out in several boards had that had to do with writing: Science Fiction Round Table, Script Writing, Animation, and COMIC BOOKS.

With in the comic book writing board, the offered opportunities for people to submit (upload) samples of their writing for other members to read and review. There were many professionals on board and some of them took time out of their busy schedules to read the work as well.

So one day, I decided to participate and submit some of my own writing. This would be a script for a comic book of my own creation. I had previously been sketching out characters I wanted to write. So I chose one and sat at the keyboard and wrote.

I didn’t really know where I was going to go with the story, except that I knew that it would take place during the ‘golden age’ of the 1940s and was to have a slight different pov of events.

And so I soon submit what became the script for the very first FLYING GLORY comic book story.

I was quite surprised when the reviews that came back extremely positive. There was only one, that I remember, that have a major negative problem with the story. And that involved a character I didn’t explain well enough. This character was very important to the whole story, but I understood what the problem was and was easily fixed (though I certainly didn’t want to right then, I had written something good.)

It was a great feeling to have people say that my work was good, and so I knew something should be done with it.

So I printed up copies of the script (cleaned up and corrected, of course) put them in envelopes and passed them around to publishers at Comic Con International (San Diego ComiCon).

The very fact that I thought they would have the time to read my work really says something about me I guess. I don’t know if its faith or stupidity.

But again, surprise upon surprise, months later I get a phone call from an editor from a small, yet well known, publisher that I had given a script to. He thought Flying Glory showed promise. We talked more about it, and I sent him more samples of the comic. (Another dumb move, I guess.)

As fate would have it, nothing ever came about of my own comic book, as the publisher went out of business with in the next year. Have nothing against them; just wasn’t meant to be.

(Who remembers COMICO.)

Years pass, and another former member of the GEnie moves to Los Angeles, and a whole lot closer to me. (A good thing since we’re now engaged.)

Shannon will probably tell about different parts of this, but eventually I decided that Flying Glory needed to be an update. (No, not an reboot, my original characters are too important to me.) So I asked her if she’d be willing to help me come up with a story about the granddaughter of the original Flying Glory.

Debra Clay loves the spot light, believes that she’s going to become a really successful rock singer her friends backing her up in their band. Then things change one day when she discovers has inherited her grandmother’s powers.

FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY is born. A book about teenagers that struggle with their everyday lives and relationship, who just happen to be in a band and are super heroes.

Now we are celebrating our 10^th anniversary with a special Giant Size Issue 14 where we will discover a secret that has haunted Flying Glory for decades and will be a threat for many years to come.

Over the next year as the story progresses, I’ll be writing about different important things have made the Hounds of Glory the band to watch.

Oh, and remember that character my one critic thought I should change. Well he’s back in this story too. I wonder if you’ll know who it is.

Now sit back as we begin a ride through rocky life of Flying Glory and all her family and friends.

BOOK REVIEW - SUPERNATURALLY KISSED by Stacy Kennedy

It struck me one evening that the very first story I wrote for a high school Creative Writing class was a Paranormal Romance. A woman looses the man she loves in a terrible tragedy, his love for her keeps his ghost near but he can no longer be with her, so helps her find a new love.
A rather simple story, thinking about it now, but it was high school so what can I say. The teacher liked it, and I got a good grade, so that’s what counted.
I never thought of calling it “Paranormal Romance” back then. All I knew was that I liked ghost stories, and stories with strong character interaction (though I probably wouldn't have used those words.)
This all came to me back to me after reading SUPERNATURALLY KISSED (Book One of Frostbite series) by Stacy Kennedy.

Tess is a hard working businesswoman who’s greatest problem is her best friend sending her on blind dates. That and she can see ghosts. Most ghosts are simply an annoyance to the young woman who would far rather get on with her life than help them reach the other side. That is until one extremely handsome police detective starts haunting her every waking moment.
Help solve his murder, and he’ll be out of her life for good. She had no intention of falling in love.
There are two types of books on my book shelf (or e-reader): the ones I don’t want to put down and keep reading until they are done, and those I put down to eventually get back to. SUPERNATURALLY KISSED is one of the former. I’d switch on Kindle on my phone whenever I could to keep reading. (That’s a bit much I know, but I was reading during breaks at work).
Part of what kept me reading and wanting to know what happens next was about a third of the way through I got an idea of what the outcome was going to be, and I wanted to know if I was right wrong.
As the title suggests: SUPERNATURALLY KISSED (Book One of the Frostbite series), this is the start of a series, and because of this I was disappointed in parts of the ending I read. That said, I am looking forward to reading the rest of the Frostbite series to discover how close I was in my speculations of how the out come of the story will go. Beyond that, SUPERNATURALLY KISSED is an extreme enjoyable Paranormal Romance, where the physical desire for what cannot be had grows in to a far greater love.
Maybe someday I'll revive my high school story, and write a Paranormal Romance on par with Stacey Kennedy's ghostly detective.
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden
Four Names of Professional Creativity
http://kevinpsbroden.blogspot.com/

DC Comics - Reboot or not to Reboot.

Reboot or not to Reboot

I have dreamt of working on a comic book for DC Comics since the beginning. I was DC fan my whole youth and really didn’t ‘discover’ Marvel until I was in college. (Collecting back issues of John Byrne’s Fantastic Four got me in the door.) Believing that dream may soon be a reality, I am fearful of expressing my opinion, good or bad, about the upcoming reboot of the DC Universe. It might prevent me from being hired there.

Truthfully, the idea of a company wide reboot is a good idea.

Originally, a similar new start was suppose to happen at the end of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS all those years ago. And I thought that would have been a good idea also, but it didn’t happen. I won’t blame anyone but a lot of miscommunications and editorial issues got in the way and the newly created single universe was more confusing than the multiverse previously (See my review of JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #50 for more on this).

The idea of being able to introduce the DC Universe, its heroes, villains, and supporting starts to a whole new audience, without them feeling like they’re being dropping into an unknown warzone that’s been going on for years, is extremely good. I am looking forward to seeing how they pull it off.

However, (and here comes my fear), I do have some concerns. If this ‘reboot’ does start everything over from scratch, what happens to certain characters? Even though Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the like are all modern characters now, I hope and pray that the ‘golden age’ characters of the Justice Society and their associates still existed during the World War II era. Selfishly this concerns me more than anything else happening in the DC Universe. But I must have faith in the great creators, writers, and artists to take these original characters and treat them right.

My other concern is that the reboot isn’t going to be total. This was one of the problems that came out of the first CRISIS. Even though a whole new world was created, certain events of the old still existed. The worst that comes to mind was that Superman had never been Superboy, and yet the Legion of Super Heroes still have memories of interacting with the Boy of Steel. So John Byrne and other creators had to come up with an explanation for it. I did like some of the writing of that story, but in the end it turned out extremely confusing and even messed up the origin of Supergirl.

To counter that. I think George Perez’s version of Wonder Woman may have been the best post CRISIS book. What do you think?

So my fear is that even though we get a new start, and have a new audience introduced to these great characters, there’s still going to be baggage that will confuse people. Heck there’s a lot that’s happen over the last decade that confuses me.

I am trying not to make judgment calls on any of the books as they’ve been announced. Really. I want to experience them on my own one at a time. Decided to buy this one or that at the comic book shop. (I won’t get into the digital debate here.) Some I will like, others I won’t. Because that is how it is now.

So far, I have only seen two book covers and their descriptions that turn me off, but you know what? Even they deserve the right to be looked at further, read, and given a chance.

To those creators, writers, artists, and editors, I know you will give it your all to turn out absolutely the best work. Thank you in advance for whatever it is you create.

My only wish is that a year from now, we don’t have another Crisis or Flashpoint which puts everything back the way it was.

Just whatever you do, don’t ruin MY Justice Society of America. I still want to write them someday soon. Got this story I want to pitch…

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

Four Names of Professional Creativity

Writing the Challenge of Dreams and GoBots

Who remembers the GoBots? That show that was always in the shadow of the Tranformers? To think if it had aired only a few weeks earlier history would have been completely different. (Or not.)

I don’t have a lot of memories of the series, beyond the original “Challenge of the GoBots” mini-series, but it was fun. What I do remember is what resulted from watching it.

It was probably a few years after GoBot’s went off the air, though Transformers was still going strong, that I had a dream.

I’m not one to make a big deal out of my dreams, write them down or tell people about them, but from time to time a dream will be memorable enough that I eventually do something with elements of it.

In this dream the GoBot’s existed and somehow I was the human child of two of them. Strange, I know, but that was what I remember from the dream.

Sometime after that, weeks, months later, I began to write a story based on that.

Here’s rough synopsis of that story I wrote in Junior High:

Two giant alien races are at war and using Earth to fight their battles. As the story opens; the heroic ‘good’ aliens discover two elements of the villainous ‘bad’ aliens current plot. The first part is a massive machine that has ‘transmutative’ abilities that is able to transform one object or being into another. But the heroes have arrived to late, as one of the ‘bad guys’ has turned herself into a human so that she get close to a scientist who has invented a weapon that could either end the alien war or destroy the earth.

All they know is the scientist is on a cruise ship, and clues point that the villain is headed to board the ship. So the first officer of the good aliens becomes a human as well. He makes his way onto the cruise ship as one of the passengers. Then finds out who the scientist is he’s looking for and arranges to sit at the man’s table for meals. He also meets an extremely beautiful woman also at the table. They are polite but don’t get along, so the scientist’s wife makes it her missing to get the young couple together. Which by the end of the cruise does happen and they fall in love.

You guess it, the woman is the evil alien. Now neither can return to their original form, but convince the scientist to never build his weapon.

Not very good, I know, but what can you do I was a kid.

What’s important about this story is that it was truly the very first story I ever wrote that had a true beginning, middle, and end. I like to believe that I improved my writing abilities a little bit with each story I wrote from than on.

Even though it was very derivative of at least three shows I had been watching, it still was mine and it got me started.

And the fact that it originated from a strange dream I had longer before is also a good lesson for all writers.

Don’t dwell on everything that happens in your dreams, but recognize that your subconscious is sorting through millions of thoughts and ideas that go through your head. So when you remember something interesting from a dream, file it away because you might just well use it in that animated TV script you’re writing, or that novel, or feature film.

Your mind is a vast treasure trove of ideas, and sometimes they have to yell at you through dreams that they want to be told as stories.

Of course I’ve never been able to come up with a story from the dream I had when I was seven, where my grandmother turns into a giant spider with vampire teeth.

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

Four Names of Professional Creativity

“More Irish Than the Irish” – Review of IRISH MOON by Amber Scott

“More Irish Than the Irish”

It is a feeling I have every time I visit my cousins in Ireland, most of all in the North also known as Ulster. Though I am a second generation American, I feel so much like one of them, so much a part of the Emerald Isle that I never want to leave in though I know I must.

“More Irish Than the Irish”

It is an equally strong theme that runs through the pages of IRISH MOON by Amber Scott.

In an ancient Ireland that has ignores most of what goes on in the rest of Europe and where magicks still live and thrive in the shadows and trees of the land, a threat has arrived.

As a wedding approaches love and passion is in the air, but not for Breanne who is more concerned with her studies with the old druid. But when he turns up dead and a stranger arrives her life is turned completely upside down. For Ashlon, he only wants to finish his knight’s quest and put Ireland behind him. However he is drawn to the people and this magical land that he soon finds himself “More Irish Than the Irish”. Yet, destiny has greater plans for these two, pulling them together for purposes far greater than their burning passions.

IRISH MOON is the first ‘romance’ novel I’ve read and though the passions of our lead couple grow through out the novel until they can no longer contain it, this erotic passion never over powered the story, the adventure, or the characters themselves. The growth of their love is intricately tied to the quest they find themselves on.

Following Breanne and Ashlon as they struggled with their own goals and doing their best to avoid one another become an enjoyable character study of love and passion.

Perhaps it is out of pop cultural clichés, but I was pleased that I never caught onto who the true villain was of the story until the reveal. Excellent and well done.

My only complaint I have with the story is that three of the supporting character’s threads aren’t fully resolved by the end of the book. This appears to be leading towards the sequel novel ENCHANTED MOON for at least two of these, and yet I was hoping to discover more of the motives of the King.

Over all IRISH MOON is an extremely enjoy tale of love and the Irish that pulls at my heartstrings for my ancestral home where any visitor will find themselves “More Irish than the Irish.”

IRISH MOON is my latest exploit into reading an e-book. Like Mara Purnhagen’s RAISING THE DEAD before it, I read Scott’s novel on the Kindle app on my Android phone. Though I have learned how to alter the size and readability of the file in the app, I found a continuing. Through out the book apostrophes vanished or were replaced boxes, and some quotation marks were at the bottom of a line instead of above. This seems to be a problem with the app, and after a couple of chapter did not remain a distraction.

Here’s hoping you enjoyed my third attempt at a book review (fourth if you count the comics), I may be doing this more often but understand I’m not the fasted reader when it comes to novels. I’ll let you know what I’m reading and if it’s worth a review later.

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

Four Names of Professional Creativity

Comics From Last Wednesday

Comics From Last Wednesday

by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

I don’t always get my weekly comics fix on a Wednesday, just whenever I can make it to the comic shop. Either at Cornerstore Comics in Anaheim, or House of Secrets in Burbank. Depending on where I’m at.

This past week I picked up just a few books, among them were:

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #50 and ACTION COMICS #900

Anniversary Issues can be great. You’re promised something special in them, more pages, more art, and more story. Sometimes this really pays off great, other times it just feels like they’re just filling pages, some only with reprints.

Many times the Anniversary issue is the big climax and ending of a story that’s been going on for many months. If they’ve planned it out, the conclusion will be perfect in the big issue, but sometimes a story ends up being cut short or stretched too long so they can end on the Anniversary issue.

What follows are my thoughts more then reviews of these two Big Anniversary Issues. You don’t have to agree with any of it, but please read along.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #50

Let me start with saying I love the Justice Society and have ever since the very first comic I read and became enthralled with all the citizens of Earth 2.

I really got into them with the All Star Squadron and then continued to read about the characters and collected earlier books as well. Infinity Inc. would follow, but I was more interested in the Golden Age characters.

Then came CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. The epic event crossover all others hope to be and fail.

The Crisis merged all the universes together into one “consistent” DC Universe. Supposedly it was done because the multi-earths were confusing readers.

It never confused my 12 year old mind.

Afterwards things really became confusing.

For one important point, Superman was no longer the first of the super heroes that would inspire all the rest. There had always been something in the older books that the heroes looked up to him. That wasn’t so any more.

On a personal note, several of my favorite characters ceased to exist, or their origins were thrown into chaos. The chaos struck the worst for Power Girl who was no longer the cousin of Superman. They tried to make her a descendent of ARION OF ATLANTIS. It didn’t work.

As for the missing characters, The Huntress, Helena Wayne, daughter of Batman and Catwoman.

What became a real problem to me was the modern age of characters sometimes acted as if they didn’t even know the earlier ones existed. Some stories were written about villains who hypnotized the entire world to forget the heroes. Just as they had forgotten the city of Keystone City was right next door to Central City (in this new world).

That never really worked for me.

Recently, Len Wein wrote the wonderful series called LEGACIES, which provides a great overview of the history of the DC super heroes. Though it also required time to be ‘squashed’ so that though World War II happened 70 years ago, the golden age of heroes didn’t seem to be that long ago. I can live with it so the great history of the JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA still exists.

With all that behind us, I bring you to Issue 50 of their current series, written by Marc Guggenheim. The first eleven pages, drawn by George Perez, makes the purchase of the entire book worth the cover price to anyone who loves the DC Universe, and even more so to someone like me with such love for the Justice Society.

From his first appearance it was known that Barry Allen had been inspired by a comic book of the original FLASH. The same type of inspiration is the theme of this first story about the JSA and their Golden Age contemporaries, and is told from the point of view of all the Silver Age and modern heroes that are inspired by them. It is a beautiful and simple example how important those original characters still are.

(SIDE NOTE: The concept of the SILVER AGE doesn’t really exist any more as most characters seem to only have appeared in the last ten years. The exception being Martian Manhunter.)

We begin to get a glimpse of the ‘main story’ of this book as we get different shots of the villain Per Degaton as he has fought different incarnation of the JSA/ALL-STAR SQUADRON. But what’s important and fun to see is the first of these pages where we find ourselves on EARTH 2 or rather the NEW EARTH 2 that was created during the events of INFINITY CRISIS.

This Earth 2 was last scene a couple of years back in a JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA Annual where they meet their counterparts of the JUSTICE SOCIETY OF INFINITY. It’s a name that shows us just what’s different in the world that is extremely close to the original Earth 2. Here its obvious that Star Spangle Kid was not only able to have his Super Squad (from when ALL STAR COMICS was revived in the 70s) and that the children of the Society actually became members instead of forming INFINITY INC.

In that earlier story not only do we deal with the chaos of Power Girl’s life, especially now that she knows she is the cousin of Superman but of an alternate earth and died in the latest Crisis. On top of that I finally got to see Helena Wayne as the Huntress as she was meant to be and drawn by Jerry Ordway, one of the artists who worked on Infinity Inc and her own series in the back of Wonder Woman back then.

It’s great to know that version of the team exists, (that’s the team I really want to write for.)

The next story in this anniversary book is actually a tale that’s been told several times before. About when the Justice Society faced off with the House Un-American Activities Committee. Originally to explain why they had been missing for so many decades. This time it takes a personal look at the team members as they have to make the decision of turning their back on a government that has turned its back on them. I’m not a major Howard Chaykin fan, but his artwork really works for this sequence, and it’s an excellent telling.

With that the book brings us to present day and we discover what Per Degaton has been up to.

Truthfully, this part of the book, though tied to the others, it is the least appealing to me. And that maybe my own fault, as I have missed several months of both JSA books so somethings are not quite so clear to me. I certainly don’t like the new ALAN SCOTT/GREEN LANTERN costume, but as I said that’s me.

Even with that, if you have any interest in the JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA and the DC Universe, this book is worth having.

ACTION COMICS #900

Over the last week this issue has gotten a lot of news coverage. You know about that, I’ll mention it briefly later, but let’s not dwell on it.

A special anniversary issue of a comic book should still be an issue of the series, and that is what we have here.

Here is the conclusion Paul Cornell’s great story focusing on Lex Luthor and his robot Lois Lane. It had been a great ride as Lex ran up against some of the greatest super villains of the DC Universe and now achieving his ultimate of goals and finally destroy Superman.

Yet as with all great egos, Lex brings about his own undoing, but not in any expected way. Even the reappearance of Neil Gaiman’s Death is welcome, and experiences the events of the story only in the way she could.

I have one complaint about this story, and only one, but it could appear to be major. I was looking forward to a conclusion to a great story, but was disappointed to find that we were being thrust right into the REIGN OF DOOMSDAY. I’ve never been into any of the Doomsday stories, he was one of those characters that served it’s purpose and should have been left to die, but came back time and again.

Even with that complain, I am very please to see Paul Cornell will remain at the helm as writer and I know will not be disappointed.

The next story in this anniversary book, entitled “Life Support” by Damon Lindelof, is a short quiet moment from a doomed world. Too bad one of the other stories in the book got all the news coverage, because this little tale speaks volumes far beyond any controversy. Forget the other story, pull out your copy of Action Comics #900 and read this story and I dare you note to shed a tear when its over.

“Autobiography” by writer Paul Dini is about Superman’s experience with alien worlds, and how someone like him will eventually be seen by other worlds. Not really a story, but just a conversation between being mightier than mortal men.

Geoff John’s story is surprisingly disappointing. A cute glimpse into Lois wanting to know Clark’s friends from the future, but it just doesn’t work for me.

Now comes “The Incident” by David S. Goyer. I don’t want to get involved in this non-controversy. It’s a very good story. Superman would do what he did in this story, because he helps people, any people that need help. As to the American issue, I’ll only say this: Over half of the original Justice League of America were not Americans, they were either foreigners or aliens, and two worked for intergalactic police forces who thought their jurisdiction superseded the local constabulary. (I’ll let you figure that all out for yourself.) My only question is where is this going to lead? Is there a story line planned out? Hasn’t Superman appeared to be an enemy of the state already, a threat to national security? Ask Lois’ dad. I hope we can get away from such stories. It’s rather tiring.

The Richard Donner script that follows is good, and though I’m a scriptwriter myself I found it hard to read in this format. sorry.

I really like the Brian Stelfreeze two page spread in the back of the book. Many years ago, Mr. Stelfreeze spent half an hour on the phone with me talking about working in comic and what I should do. I feel bad never staying in touch with him. He’s a great guy and a great artist.

So here we are, two very enjoyable anniversary comics out the same week. One gets more attention than it deserves, and the other should be read by many many more.

I don’t know if these are well written reviews of these comics or not, but I hope you enjoy them, and go buy the books and enjoy them for what they are. Good story telling.