Rock, Paper, Scissor

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Ron Earl Phillips

Have you ever looked at origami and thought it was amazing how variation of folding paper could create various shapes and design? And then follow up with the thought you could never be so meticulous and delicate enough to do origami? That’s me in a nut shell. Sure I could probably do simple shapes. I fold a mean triangle football.

As amazing as origami is to me, crafting these intricate shapes from paper, it still looks like paper. I never imagined anything made from paper, no matter how manipulated could look like anything but paper.

These two creations are by paper artist Philip Valdez and you can see how he produced them on his blog @ http://philipvaldez.com

So is that amazing or what?

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On The Sly – Friday Audio

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Ron Earl Phillips

I won’t lie to you. Maybe I’m not the only insecure writer out there, but sometimes (most times) I don’t take the positive comments posted on the blog at face value. I want to believe them, but part of me thinks they’re just being nice. Kind. Throwing me a bone.

If so I don’t mind, really. It gives me a nice boost in ego and pushes me to write the next story. And I hope the next story will be better, bigger, more complex and enjoyable. I enjoy writing. I think I’m not a bad writer. So when I put the stories out there the ego needs to be feed.

So I’m insecure and greedy.

Today I got something from a fellow writer, a friend from the podcasting world. It floored me. Made me smile so wide I feared the top of my head would just zip off. It was genuine. Honest. My ego meter is so full I might be happy for a full week without even needing a single comment.

David Sobkowiak recorded my bit of flash fiction “On The Sly” along with Laura Frechette (thankfully doing the voice of Carrie Llewellyn). They did a great job which obviously compounded the thrill for me.

I could keep this all to myself, but though I may be greedy, I am not selfish.

 

David told me to expect another surprise. I plan on posting that next week. Perhaps on Friday. Maybe sooner to save myself from exploding.

David, Laura, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

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Please check out David and Laura’s links below.

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Father’s Day – Flash Fiction

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Ron Earl Phillips

It’s another one of those crazy writing challenges. This one instigated by writer Chuck Wendig over at Terrible Minds, his writing life blog. He’s a little on the crazy side in an insanely good way.

Chuck put together a wild t-shirt with his crazy bearded face and laser beams coming out of his eyes. It reads “My Beard Comes So Fat, I Wanna Do Laser.” The challenge was to use the second half of the shirt slogan in a 1000 word bit of flash fiction or make it into a funny graphic for an internet meme. You got bonus points if you used the first half too.

As contrived as the contest is, I would assume the bulk of the entries would be funny or light. I can do funny, but I’d rather not.

Enjoy my contribution.

Continue reading →

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Just Another Hero – Flash Fiction

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Ron Earl Phillips

No contest, no prizes, no ulterior motive. Just needed to write a quick short, and hopefully you guys will like. It’s a bit longer than previous stories, 2400 words, so I’ll start it after the cut.

Continue reading →

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52Books: The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Ron Earl Phillips

Last year saw the debut of Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series with the outstanding techno-thriller Patient Zero. This was one of my favorite books of 2009 as Maberry introduced readers to a mash-up of fast action thriller, hard science hooks and global terrorism all culminating in Joe Ledger kicking some serious zombie terrorist butt.

The Dragon Factory throws Joe Ledger and Department of Military Sciences (DMS) back into fray again, and this time the trouble isn’t only external. In a coerced move the Vice President, President Pro Tem, sends the NSA after DMS to lock them down and gain access to their super computer MindReader.

This is externally motivated by a pair celebrity geneticist, the nearly perfect Jakoby Twins. Their goal is to mine genetic research from competing companies and labs to fill in gaps in their own research, developing designer creatures.

The attack on Joe Ledger and DMS and the attempted acquisition of information by the Jakoby Twins become confluent to the larger plot dealing with Cyrus Jakoby, father of the famed Jakoby Twins, who in bent on continuing the work of the Nazi scientist Josef Mengele and the purification of the human race.

Cloning, genetic manipulation, genocide, para-military hit squads and all the Joe Ledger you can handle culminate in the final confrontation at the Jakoby Twin’s The Dragon Factory.

The Dragon Factory is a solid follow up to Patient Zero, with great adrenaline pumped action and a reminder that Science is scary but no match for Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Science.

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Fans of the book may have something to be excited about. ABC has put a fast track development on Department Zero based on Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series. Read more about it over at Deadline.

Learn more about Jonathan Maberry and his work over at his Big, Scary Blog.

For the jumbled masses keeping track. I read The Dragon Factory the week of March 8, 2010 and started writing this review (at least a version of it) March 15, 2010.  As an aside, not taking away from the well written book, I wasn’t happy at the end. With a certain event.

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