x-men

Indie Publishing: Published (Finally!)

astheheroflies2 Comments

First things first: my debut novel is published. Like, for real. The official “birthday” for the eBook was January 1st, 2022. Its nearly identical twin, the paperback, was born the following day. Instead of announcing this joyous occasion to the world, my first instinct was to keep it a secret while I made sure everything was okay. Call me paranoid, but I had so many formatting problems – particularly with the eBook – that I figured it was better to be on the safe side than the “filled with horrific errors” side. I bought a copy of the physical book, and while that was being printed and shipped, I checked out the eBook on the few devices we own. Aside from an odd white border around the eBook cover (which has since been corrected), everything looks good.

So, it’s out there, and now I feel…weird. Not in a bad way. More in an “Okay, now what?” way. I mean, this book has been with me almost my entire adult life – all the way from that little spark of an idea I had over seventeen years ago, while talking to my brother in the parking lot after watching the movie Spider-Man 2. Just hearing how much those characters meant to him, and realizing how much they mean to so many people. The escape they offer. The hope they give.

That little spark led to sticky notes on my wall, which led to a handwritten, 300K–word first draft (three years to write, another two just to type). Once the word processing was complete, I remember feeling pretty smug about my own awesomeness. Then I started to read the book, and actually shed tears over how bad it was. At least, the early part of the book was bad. Towards the middle, when I learned not to describe in detail every time a character blinked or inhaled/exhaled, it got a little better. By the end, the writing was halfway decent but still a far cry from publishable.

I got painful but extremely valuable notes from my mom (who else but a mother would read a 1,500-page, not-so-well-written manuscript?). I revised, cut 100K words, revised again, got more notes from Mom and a few from my newly formed writing group. Sometimes, I’d let the book sit for months or even years as I worked on other projects, strengthening my craft. But I would always come back, cutting, polishing, searching for that diamond I knew was in there. When I finally got it down to 150K, I felt I’d hit a wall. I needed help to break through that last barrier, and found it in an amazing critique partner named Anna, who read the book with her then ten-and-a-half-year-old son and gave me the fresh perspective I so badly needed. Boring scenes, cut. Target age group, decided. Another 57K, gone.

So, yeah, this book has been over seventeen years in the making. But really, I think the story has been with me for even longer.

It might’ve started when I was in seventh grade, standing outside the main office at my junior high school, clutching a folded letter addressed to my band teacher. I paced for a good ten minutes, sweat soaking through my Mickey Mouse t-shirt, before finally darting inside and placing the note in my teacher’s mail cubby. Then I high-tailed it out of there, wondering if I’d just made the biggest mistake of my young life. Wondering if my teacher would believe me about the terrible things some of my classmates were doing to me behind her back – words I had to write, because I couldn’t say them out loud.

Amazingly, she did.

Or, maybe it started even earlier than that, when I was a small child watching X-Men cartoons with my brother in the mornings, then spending the afternoons jumping off the back deck with a garbage bag parachute, chasing the thrill of that gravity-defying moment of lift before the inevitable crash down to earth. Didn’t matter how many times my knees buckled, or my teeth clacked together, or my feet ached from that jarring impact. It was all worth it for that one little second of something more. That one instant when I felt like I was flying, even though such things are not possible in the “real world.”

I wrote this book for that little girl. I wrote it for any kid who’s ever tied a red blanket around his/her/their neck and pretended to be a superhero out fighting the bad guys. I wrote it for all the kids who are standing outside an office right now, holding a letter filled with words they can’t say out loud. And I wrote it for everyone – young, old, or anywhere in between – who believes that inside each ordinary person lies an extraordinary one, just waiting to break free.

I hope you guys love it.

~G

Movie Reviews: X-Men Days of Future Past and The Wolverine

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WolverineBlog

 

As a young girl growing up with two older brothers, I was frequently exposed to their questionable entertainment choices. I can clearly recall sitting through repeated viewings of such films as Spaceballs, Young Frankenstein, Time Bandits, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Wrath of Khan. As an adult, I’ve grown to appreciate most of these movies as classics (though I admit, Time Bandits is still lost on me…). But as a little kid, these movies represented pure boredom – lots of grown-up humor and situations that I just plain didn’t get. One thing I DID love, however, was watching the old X-Men cartoon with my middle brother – and my passion for those characters and stories has stayed with me for life. X-Men may very well be my oldest fangirly obsession! And, lucky for me, my adult years have been filled with awesome live-action depictions of the mutant-filled adventures I grew up with:

X-Men: Days of Future Past:

I was totally psyched about this movie from the moment I saw the first trailer. Not only do I love X-Men, but I go crazy for time travel stories, so this flick was tailored specifically to fit my tastes. Also, I could tell that Wolverine had a really prominent role, and that always works well for a Wolvie-girl like me. With my expectations sky-high – fueled by kick-butt previews and rave word-of-mouth reviews from family members – I was worried about being let down by the actual movie. Thankfully, it turned out to be everything I hoped for. I left the theatre completely satisfied and mega-excited about future X-Men movies.

The highlight of Days, for me, was the relationship between Logan and Xavier (both past and future versions). Just the look on old Xavier’s face when Logan is lying on that table, fighting invisible enemies or making little hurt noises as he’s drowning…Heartbreaking. And when Logan tells young Xavier to still find everyone – Storm, Scott, Jean – and still create the X-Men, even if the future can’t be saved…such an emotional moment.

James McAvoy, who plays young Xavier, is top-notch. My mom, who’d never seen X-Men: First Class, commented, “At first, I wished they had picked an actor who looked more like Patrick Stuart. Then, after about five minutes, I didn’t care what he looked like anymore – that actor WAS Professor X.” Well said, Ma! Quicksilver was another spotlight performance – Evan Peters definitely stole the show during his scenes. I wondered if maybe they should have used him more, but then decided a small dose was the perfect dose. There might be such a thing as too much Quicksilver. Can’t really look at Jennifer Lawrence these days without thinking, “Katniss!” Not her fault, just a fact of life.

Michael Fassbender (young Magneto) was strong, as usual. One of my friends commented after the film: “I’m traumatized when Magneto tries to kill other mutants!” I hear you, sister. To have Erik instantly attempt to murder Raven did seem a little extreme. Then again, it fits with his character’s behavior in Last Stand – there, too, he immediately betrays Mystique once she’s no longer a mutant (right after she saves him, no less!).

Would have liked to see more Storm, Bobby, Kitty, old Professor X, old Magneto, but you can’t have everything. Heard complaints of “not enough Bishop,” and I get that. He IS undeniable in his awesomeness, but he hasn’t been a main character throughout the movie series thus far, so suddenly bringing him to the forefront would have required a lot of backstory and other stuff they didn’t really have time for. I’d rather have a well-balanced, well-paced movie than a jam-packed mutant-fest that’s more concerned with covering everybody’s favorite character than telling the story.

It DID hurt to not see Rogue for basically the entire film, and not even have her really mentioned, but that one little look by Logan at the end told me everything I needed to know. Obviously she had died at some point, and it was too hard to even think about, much less discuss. The peace and joy in Logan’s face as he sees her alive once more is a thing of beauty. (In case you didn’t notice, I ship Rogan.)

Even though the movie made MY year, some of the friends I saw it with weren’t quite so elated. I was scared to ask our one friend what she thought, because she doesn’t like Wolverine, but she said she didn’t mind him so much this time around. The character seemed less arrogant/intrusive, she said. I suggested maybe it was due to him being in such an odd, unfamiliar situation (future self in past body and all that). Her response: “I think maybe it’s just that he was a lot older.” And I thought, “Dang, she nailed it!” The Wolverine in this film had a wisdom of age and experience that not only softened him in some ways, but made him more open, honest, and less concerned with self than ever before. I don’t know how Hugh Jackman did that, but hats off. Also, he looked great with that little touch of grey in his hair. Not sure why old Wolvie had grey, seeing as he’s not supposed to age, but I still dug it.

As far as nitpicks go, there were much bigger ones than that, and my less-than-elated friends were happy to point them out. Complaints ranged from “Why does Professor X look like himself and not the dude whose body he woke up in at the end of Last Stand?” to “Why does Kitty suddenly have a power she never had before?” Eager to defend the movie, I tried my best to come up with answers: Xavier doesn’t really look like himself, he just uses his power to project a familiar image into people’s heads. Kitty can control space (phasing through objects), so maybe she could eventually learn to manipulate time as well.

In general, I think people were most happy about the fact that the movie served as a reboot, bringing back many of the characters killed off in the death-fest that was Last Stand. Can’t say I disagree. 🙂 Massive plot holes or not, this movie was an entertaining ride with good pacing, lots of humor, and some real emotional punch. Super excited to learn what happened in the years spanning Logan’s memory gap – did Raven help or hurt him? Does he currently have his adamantium, or did that never happen?

And what will be next for all of our freshly-resurrected mutant friends? When the next release date rolls around, you know I’ll be sitting in the hush of a dark, popcorn-scented theatre, on the edge of a cushy maroon seat, just waiting to find out. 🙂

My score on the “Skip it, rent it, or buy it?” scale: Buy it!!

The Wolverine:

Despite my love of the character, I had low expectations for this film. I hadn’t seen any previews beforehand, and didn’t even know what it was about, other than some ninjas would probably be involved. I figured it was another prequel about the time before Logan joined the X-Men, and that thought didn’t excite me. It’s not that I hated X-Men Origins: Wolverine or anything. It’s just that I didn’t LOVE it. Something was missing – they tried to cover about eight different stories, not to mention a thousand-and-one new mutants, and it ended up feeling like we were fast-forwarding through Logan’s history, rather than experiencing it as it unfolded. There was a lot of rushing, a lot of action, and very little time to become attached.

As I watched the opening scenes of The Wolverine, set in WWII Japan, I sighed. Another prequel, just as I thought. But then, something happened – Logan woke up! It was just a dream, a flashback. And then something even more incredible happened: JEAN was there! At this point, my heart was pumping hard and fast, because suddenly I knew this wasn’t a prequel. This was something different entirely: a solo Wolverine adventure set after The Last Stand. Thumpity-thump.

Watching this movie unfold was like opening a present you didn’t notice was sitting under the Christmas tree until you were cleaning up balls of crumpled paper and ribbon so the cat wouldn’t eat them and barf. It was a gift to Wolverine fans, and I enjoyed every moment of it. The pacing was excellent – there was *gasp* actual downtime between fight scenes.

There was time to get to know and care about the new characters being introduced. There was mystery, action, hurt/comfort, humor, romance, culture, and a deeper internal storyline about Logan coming to terms with what he’d done to Jean. The flashbacks were expertly interwoven with present-day action. The effects were excellent, save only the CG bear, which could’ve looked a bit better, but I have issues with CG animals in general. (Like in Prisoner of Azkaban, did they really NEED to use a FAKE dog? Come on, people…)

I loved how at the climax of the movie, small details from earlier in the film came into play and were important, like the way to properly hold the Samurai sword. Details matter. Pacing matters. Good, well-balanced storylines matter. If you forced me to pick one thing to complain about, I’d say I would like to know more about how the science worked – how they suppressed Logan’s mutation, how they would be able to transfer it, but honestly, the science in any X-Men movie is going to be sketchy at best, and it didn’t really bother me. I was totally grateful for this movie – it more than made up for any letdown I experienced from Origins. THIS is the Wolverine movie everyone should see.

Also, on a more shallow note, Hugh Jackman has NEVER looked better than he did in this flick. It took my breath away – no joke. I was like, DANG. He was so beautiful, he practically glowed. They had his hair really nice, too – just barely tweaked up at the sides. That’s it all takes – no need for those gigantic ocean waves cresting on his head. Whoever did his hair for this movie should do it for ALL the X-Men movies from now on. No exceptions. But good hair and prettiness are just icing. The cake is the movie, and it left me so satisfied that I immediately wanted to watch it again – which I did the very next day. 🙂

In the end, the image that sticks with me the most is that of Mariko, lying beside Logan as he awakens from a nightmare. She calmly strokes his claws – completely unafraid of the wild, threatening look in his eyes – until he comes down from his panic. Mariko tells him the story her grandfather told her about “Kazuri,” an animal with sharp teeth and long claws. A creature who would protect her from all bad things. This moment resonated deeply in my heart, taking me back to childhood, and the core reason why Wolverine is my favorite: Because I, too, was a little girl once. A little girl with fears and nightmares. And then one day, my dad put up a Wolverine poster in our basement. I remember him adjusting the lighting, turning it up and down until it fell on the poster just so. Dad said, “If someone breaks in, I bet that poster will scare them away…” A silly idea now, but back then I believed. In that moment, the Wolverine became our family’s protector, MY protector. And I guess in the deepest depths of my heart, that’s what he’ll always be.

My score on the “Skip it, rent it, or buy it?” scale (prepare to be shocked): Buy it!

Up next: Great Reads, Volume 2 and November Race results (expect to hear about Supernatural’s 200th episode, the epic Fire/SVU/PD crossover, Severide’s new wife (?????) the long-awaited Caskett nuptuals, and my new full-on obsession, Forever!). Also, Mentalist fans please take note: the final season of The Mentalist begins airing Sunday, November 30th, 9:30pm ET – MUCH earlier than initially reported. It’s our last chance to see Jane, Lisbon and Cho in action, so don’t forget to tune in!