Day 13--Antarktos Rising, Explanation about Twilight, and "Are you writing a sequel?"

'Sup, gang? Good to see that I now have 3 followers: Phil (who happens to be my cover designer), John, whom I don't (think) I know, and Jim Grateman, whom I certainly don't know.

Anyway--Since I am just awesome like that, Antarktos Rising is now an official and permanent member of Anderson Public Library. In case you didn't know, I'm a huge fan of Jeremy Robinson. He's probably the best thriller writer I've ever read. He gives his stuff a new voice. Plus his covers are freaking awesome. Definitely look into that.

And for those of you who live in Anderson, sorry--I'm checking this one out today.

Continuing on, let's get to the next novel I want to talk about--Twilight. Oh, gee. This one's a downer.

First thing, it's beginning to wreck my social life with girls AND guys. Girls say, "You can't say that it's not good unless you finish it!" And, obligingly, I keep reading. Then, any guy sees me with the book and calls me a fruitcake for reading Twilight.

See how this book has caused more trouble than it's worth?

Second, it's a pretty poorly done book. I could understand someone who said (unless their a guy--then this would be kinda creepy) that they like the book because Edward is hot. Apparently, girls like guys who are dangerous (which is a common fact), are pale, smile crookedly, whose moods change "suddenly" and who talk like girls*.

But if someone talks to me about how they like it for being well-written, that's when I start to gripe. Let's face the facts: Stephanie Meyer is an ameteur.

Let's start with the beginning, appropriately. She put her hook line in the preface (which should have been called prologue, but again, this woman is an ameteur). But yet in chapter one, where most people start reading, she begins by talking about the weather. In Pheonix.

Because apparently, nobody knows that Phoenix is usually in the 70s or 80s.

Then it gets worse. She goes to a town named Forks (which I've heard is a real place) where it is perpetually raining. Now she finds herself somewhere with tons of green plants. She says that it's beautiful, then confuses the reader with poor pronoun usage, and then contradicts herself by saying that it was "too green, an alien planet."

In one paragraph.

It continues like this throughout the whole book. Semicolons and comma splices make appearances on nearly every page, plus unnecessary fragments that have no stylistic or grammatical reason for existing.

Then we get to Edward. Oh, gosh...

Bella WILL NOT SHUT UP ABOUT EDWARD. She keeps going on and on about how perfect and beautiful and awesome and angelic and heavenly he is, just to name a few adjectives. Everytime she makes mention of Edward's face, even in passing, she uses one such adjective. WE KNOW ALREADY THAT YOU THINK HIS FACE IS PERFECT.

Well, that's all I have to say so far. I'll have a follow-up report after reading the book. *steps off soap box*

Also, I seem to get asked the question "Are you going to write/are you writing the sequel?" This will be your official answer, out there for everyone to see. The answer is a resounding YES. I have been writing it for about 3 months and only have about 15k words. Pitiful, I know, but I'm banking on finishing it by the end of the month, at which time I will release to the public the title for said sequel and the planned month of release.

So that's about it. I'll post again soon, and I hope that you keep reading.

Dawson