Ron Francis's Blog

We are about to enter an epic season for sci-fi fans. Seriously! Everywhere I look, something awesome is either happening or about to happen. A new Star Wars movie, a new Star Trek series, an X-Files resurrection, comic book shows popping up everywhere, the list goes on and on. Arrow, The Flash, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, The Walking Dead, Heroes, I Zombie and Gotham are all kicking in high gear. Supergirl and Ash Vs Evil Dead have just begun their runs. Jessica Jones and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow are on the way, and we can top it off with a second season of Daredevil. How will I find the time?

Some people are worried that the sci-fi genre is becoming  overcrowded with shows based on comic books or super heroes. The fear is now that Hollywood smells geek money, they won’t quit until everyone is sick of superheroes. I’m not one of those people. While Hollywood undoubtedly operates like any big business, if a show has good writing, good acting and good chemistry it will last no matter the genre; unless it’s produced by Fox.  Meanwhile, two big television events, the Arrow/Flash/Legends crossover launching the CW’s third series set in DC universe, and the X-Files six episode arc vying for the biggest sci-fi event this year, and both are happening within the next couple months.

As for sci-fi movies, there are five in the next seven months that promise to be box office smashes. Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2 (November, 20), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (December, 18), Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (March, 25), Captain America: Civil War (May, 6), and X-Men: Apocalypse (May, 27). Wow! Let me catch my breath.

Everyone believes that The Force Awakens will be the highest grossing movie in history, and I agree, but which of these other four will be second? Will a weak showing for Dawn of Justice be the end for Warner Brothers DC plans before they even get going, or will it launch a new comic book universe that fans can get excited about? If Apocalypse doesn’t live up to expectations will fans again be crying for Fox to give Marvel back their franchises? If Civil War doesn’t live up to the hype, will it slow down the Marvel juggernaut going into Infinity Wars? Can they absorb a hit on so big a scale? Will Mockingjay part 2 really be the epic conclusion fans are hoping for? There’s a lot to think about here.

Regardless of how it all turns out, one thing is certain; sci-fi fans will be well entertained. Fans of the coolest genre have a lot to look forward to. Even if half of these undertakings go up in flames as disappointments, there’s still a lot of good stuff heading our way. So, what do you think about all of this? What are you most looking forward to? Which of these offerings are you dreading? Leave your opinions in the comment section.

It’s been a while since my last blog. My writers block persisted for a long time, much longer than I thought it would. The block began to abate when I started working on a side project that you’ll hear more about another time. Anyway, I finished the side project, and began working on my half-finished Dunamis Covenant sequel again. I’ve also updated my website, agreed to write some review articles for a new website, and launched a new Facebook page with the ronfrancisauthor name; just to keep it all consistent. It’s safe to say that my writing desire has returned. Hopefully, I’ll be able to balance it better this time, so I don’t have another several month crash.

Having said all of that, let’s get back to the topic of getting back on the horse. After all, you aren’t reading this to learn pointless details about my life. Well, maybe you are, but more likely, you’re reading this for the entertainment value, words of advice and encouragement, or because you’re related to me and I’m making you.

Now, where were we? Horses. That’s right. My grandfather used to tell me that whenever you fall off a horse, you have to get right back on it. As a child being raised in NYC, I simply couldn’t understand that advice. I don’t remember if I had ever even seen a live horse, and If I had, they certainly weren’t common. I just couldn’t imagine a scenario in which I would actually have to get back on a horse, I didn’t realize it was a popular saying, and it wasn’t until years later that I caught the full meaning. When you fail at something important to you, don’t let that failure beat you. Don’t let it define you or discourage you. Immediately pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back on whatever it was that threw you. The greatest success stories I’ve heard never seem easy. If they were, they wouldn’t make very good stories. I’ve asked the question before; what kind of story do you want to have? If it’s a good one, at some point it will involve getting back up on a metaphorical horse (or a real one if you are actually a rider).

I’m working on a Stargate Atlantis fan-fic that I’m totally stuck on. I was releasing it one chapter at a time on a couple large facebook sci-fi pages. The first two chapters were very well received, then for the first time in years, I fell victim to the dreaded writer’s block. I haven’t even written this blog in a few weeks. I’m going to try and figure out why while I tell the story to you.

My first ebook; Deep Space Endeavor has sold almost 6000 copies. It’s a pretty good story, but if I’m being honest, not really well written. Read some of the reviews and they will tell you as much. I feel like it was a bit of beginners luck that I sold as many copies as I did. I actually wrote the entire four book series at the same time and had no idea what I was doing, so the writing doesn’t get significantly better throughout the series as evidenced by the fourth book selling only 2500 copies. Instead of gaining readers, I lost a significant portion of my readership somewhere along the way.

My next ebook: The Dunamis Covenant has sold over 5200 copies and I’m working on the sequel to that one now, but I made a huge mistake. I let my early moderate success, none of which I know how to duplicate by the way, get me off track. I thought to myself, If only I could start another series, I could have a good revenue stream coming in from two books instead of one. It seemed like a solid plan, but it didn’t quite work out.

Two things happened that I didn’t see coming. The first was that the new book I wrote called Cadogan’s Gamble, has yet to take off. I had not experienced failure, and I didn’t see it coming. The second was the previously mentioned writer’s block. I wrote seven novels and a couple fan-fics in just over two years and the words never stopped flowing. Then all of a sudden, they did. Now, It’s been almost Ten months since I released the Dunamis Covenant and I’m wondering if the readership will still be there by the time I finish the second installment.

What’s the moral of the story? I wish I knew. Maybe some of you could help me out with that one. I have learned that if you have a successful book (even a moderately successful one), you should not start working on other projects. I’ve also learned that just because a marketing strategy worked once, doesn’t mean it will work again. Lastly I’ve learned that writing three or four books a year is not sustainable if you are not taking breaks along the way to do other things and let the creative reservoir refill. Please let me know if there are some other take aways here because I’d hate to hit another speed bump like this unprepared again.

I had a lot of fun crafting Cadogan’s Gamble. As a writer, I love creating new worlds to explore, new backdrops to employ, and I think the worlds of the Luminari Cluster will give me a great canvas with which to paint this series. It is my deepest hope that my readers will enjoy reading this series as much as I enjoy writing it.

Cadogan’s Gamble is the first book of the Luminari Cluster Series. Set in a densely packed star cluster, the Commonwealth spans five inhabited worlds and three inhabited moons. The series follows bounty hunter Chase Cadogan, his partner Katalla Swift. and his mechanic Fixer Faraday aboard Cadogan’s ship: the Longshot. Here’s the synopsis for the first book: Cadogan’s Gamble.

     The Luminari Cluster Commonwealth hasn’t seen war in over a century. Without warning, a powerful race of aliens  demand the Commonwealth find one of their missing scientists or face war.

     Vanguard Tobias, the leader of the Commonwealth, gives the task to a bounty hunter named Chase Cadogan. Chase has to push aside thoughts of his once promising military career and pull the crew of the Longshot together for the mission.

     Now, with the clock ticking, Chase must find the missing alien while evading a criminal with a personal vendetta, a secret agent with unknown loyalties, and a self-serving Captain with a hidden agenda. Will Chase complete his mission in time for the Commonwealth to avoid war?

Do you ever feel really small in the vastness of it all? Scientists will tell you the universe is expanding. Are you growing with it? Where is your place in this grand adventure called life? Do you even care? Maybe you believe that nothing you do will ever make a difference, so you just sort of ride the wave of life, looking to whatever will make you happy. Maybe you believe that every decision down to the color of your shirt makes a difference, so you spend great stretches of time in contemplation. Most people are probably somewhere in between.

As an aspiring author, I lean towards the everything you do makes a difference path in life. Especially in writing. Every detail I decide to put into one of my books can make the difference between a terrible book, an okay book, or a great book. I might choose a poor descriptor at an important junction, or write that there were three birds when earlier there were four. Everything has to be checked and rechecked to make sure I am putting out the best possible product, the best possible representation of my talents.

I spent many years as a public speaker, and there were times I felt the audience hanging on my every word. There were also times when I felt like tapping the mic and asking, “Hello? Is this thing on?” The success of my talks always hinged on several decisions. What was I speaking on? How well did I prepare? What was I wearing? What was the weather like that day? Anything and everything could play into whether the lecture succeeded or failed, so my decisions counted then, and as an aspiring author, they count now.

How about you? What decisions are you contemplating that might have an impact on your life, or even more importantly, this ever expanding world we live in. Are you content to just hitch a ride and take the path of least resistance while you search for happiness, or do you truly want to make a difference in this grand adventure called life?

I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.

–Harold Kushner

As an aspiring writer, I read a lot. Every once in a while I come across a book that I just can’t figure out until the end. The author drops in masterful clues and misdirects, and just when I think I have it figured out, boom, the rug gets pulled out. I love books like that, but I don’t always love it when it happens in real life

While it’s true that the older we get the more things make sense, I also believe that the older we get the more we realize how much we don’t know. Every day is still new, and while we may be better equipped to navigate life’s pitfalls, there are still plenty of times where we are searching for the world around us to make sense again. We struggle to make sense of a lot of what life throws at us, and perhaps we never will. Still, in all of this, our lives are stories that are being written.

You are the author of your own story. What kind of story will it be? A religious person might say that God is the author of your story and whether you agree or disagree with that statement, the truth is that you are still in charge of every decision you make. You have the free will to decide where your story is going.

When people read your story, will they say you were kind? Were you funny? Did you strive to help others? Were you a selfish person only concerned with yourself? Were you a lifelong learner?  I really hope you are a lifelong learner. Never stop learning. What will they say you’ve accomplished? What was your legacy? If you don’t know or don’t like what the answers to those questions might be in your story, there’s still time to change it because your story is not yet finished.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve been an avid reader for quite a while now. It strikes me as funny because I hated to read anything except comic books when I was a kid (into my early 20’s). Somewhere in my mid twenties, the reading bug struck me, and in the past twenty years I have read several hundred books. I wish I could say I’ve read more of the classics, but the target of my reading has most often been science fiction or religion (now there’s a fun dichotomy).

About three and a half years ago, I started to write my first book (a science fiction novel). I had never taken any writing classes (and it showed). I just wanted to see if I could do it. Well, I did do it, and I did it quick. The words just poured out of me. My family and friends loved it. So, armed with the praises of my family and being a bit naïve, I thought publishers would be knocking down my door, but it didn’t happen. So, a year and a half later, I released it as an ebook. I enjoyed some early success which fueled my belief that I was awesome until a friend ( and some mean reviews) told me the hard truth; I wasn’t awesome. I still had a lot to learn.

I’ve since taken several classes and written a few more books. With each passing book, I can see the writing improving, but the one thing I always do is keep up with my reading. Why would I take time from my busy writing and marketing schedule to read? Because to be an effective writer, you need to be a reader. Reading informs your writing style and helps keep your creativity alive, but there’s another reason you should read. Reading can motivate you to be a better writer. Reading can be exciting, and every writer will tell you the same thing. No one sets out to write a terrible book, but if you don’t have that reservoir of books you’ve read to pull from, you just might.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve been an avid reader for quite a while now. It strikes me as funny because I hated to read anything except comic books when I was a kid (into my early 20’s). Somewhere in my mid twenties, the reading bug struck me, and in the past twenty years I have read several hundred books. I wish I could say I’ve read more of the classics, but the target of my reading has most often been science fiction or religion (now there’s a fun dichotomy).

About three and a half years ago, I started to write my first book (a science fiction novel). I had never taken any writing classes (and it showed). I just wanted to see if I could do it. Well, I did do it, and I did it quick. The words just poured out of me. My family and friends loved it. So, armed with the praises of my family and being a bit naïve, I thought publishers would be knocking down my door, but it didn’t happen. So, a year and a half later, I released it as an ebook. I enjoyed some early success which fueled my belief that I was awesome until a friend ( and some mean reviews) told me the hard truth; I wasn’t awesome. I still had a lot to learn.

I’ve since taken several classes and written a few more books. With each passing book, I can see the writing improving, but the one thing I always do is keep up with my reading. Why would I take time from my busy writing and marketing schedule to read? Because to be an effective writer, you need to be a reader.  Reading informs your writing style and helps keep your creativity alive, but there’s another reason you should read. Reading can motivate you to be a better writer. Reading can be exciting, and every writer will tell you the same thing. No one sets out to write a terrible book, but if you don’t have that reservoir of books you’ve read to pull from, you just might.

The highly anticipated Avengers sequel, Age of Ultron, opened this past week. Naturally, the first question people ask is; Was it better than the first one? My answer is no. I would rate the first one as an A+. The second one still gets an A, but only because James Spader plays such an awesome villain.

First, let me start off by saying that I loved the movie, hence the A, but there were a few issues. I know the pressure of a megahit sequel is to recreate the magic of the first movie, but at some points in AoU it felt as though Joss Whedon tried to squeeze too much into one movie and wound up with slightly diminished returns. Please feel free to disagree with me (that’s what makes it fun).

1. The scene with Thor in the mystic pool or whatever it was, seemed to come out of left field. It felt forced and seemed like it was only there to set up Infinity War and/or Ragnorok.

2. War Machine and Falcon were both at the party, and in the Avengers, Assemble end scene (which I liked). They also had War Machine helping SHIELD rescue the people (which I also liked), but why leave Falcon out of the rescue? I feel like that was a missed opportunity. What was Falcon doing while everyone else was saving the world? Why didn’t he want to save the world, too? Knowing he was around, but not being used forces me to ask why. Plus, I just really like Falcon and wanted to see him in action again.

3. Quicksilver. I felt the character was all wrong from the terrible accent to the terrible costume, which reminded me of something a middle-aged jogger might wear. All of the other costumes were awesome, which I guess is why this one felt so out of place. As much as I didn’t like the Quicksilver character I was still annoyed they killed him off. I feel like Game of Thrones has made it too easy to kill off characters in this day and age. They could have done more with Quicksilver in the MCU. In the comics he was always switching sides, that would have been a fun card to keep in the deck.

4. My last complaint is that Tony Stark creates Ultron behind the Avengers backs, then tries to do it again with Vision (showing that he hasn’t learned anything), and Cap gets really ticked both times. They even have a brief team throw down over Vision before Thor steps in. Still, at the end, everything is fine between them. I feel like this was a huge missed opportunity. Why leave them off as “bros” when Civil War is coming soon? Why not leave them ticked at each other to up the anticipation level?

That’s it for me. Marvel has another hit in the books, but I feel like it could have been just a little bit better.

It’s a good time to be a comic book geek. With all of the quality superhero movies and television shows popping up all over the place, it’s like a superhero smorgasbord ready to be consumed.  With the influx of new Marvel and DC shows exploding on the scene, I started sifting through the rubble to figure out which shows make my Superhero Top Ten. Here’s the list without further ado.

10: Witchblade: What’s not to like?  Yancy Butler plays police detective Sara Pezzini, chosen to wear a powerful gauntlet-like weapon with a will of its own called the Witchblade.  The gauntlet has existed since the dawn of time, choosing a new wearer for every generation.

9. Dark Angel: Even though it ran for only two seasons, the post-apocalyptic vibe, the genetically engineered beings, Tony Di’Nozzo, um, I mean Michael Weatherly and of course Jessica Alba make this one a must watch for fans of the genre.

8. Daredevil: Marvel’s freshman drama brought to us by Netflix staring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdoch. The fight sequences were great, the story was great, and the acting was great. The only reason this doesn’t rank higher is that it was only 13 episodes.

7. Wonder Woman: A product of the 70’s for sure. The lovely Lynda Carter dazzled us for three seasons as the Amazon Princess. The action was good for the era, but what puts this one in the top ten for me was the way that Lynda Carter captured the spirit of what I think Wonder Woman should be.

6. The Adventures of Superman: First airing in 1952, this black and white gem starring George Reeves and Noel Niell showed us that a superhero television show could make it. The show ran for six successful seasons, inspiring kids all over America to stand up for truth, justice, and the American way.

5. Mutant X: Starring Victor Webster and Victoria Pratt this show about mutants takes place in an alternate reality to Marvel’s X-Men. I still loved the team concept and the believable use of powers. This show would have landed more than three seasons had it not been a violation of Marvel’s sale of the rights to everything X-Men to Fox.

4. The Flash: This freshman Arrow spinoff starring Grant Gustin and a host of talented actors would probably be ranked higher if it wasn’t still in its first season. The show literally hit the ground running and has been great from the beginning. It may eventually wind up being my number one, but it will have to pay its dues first.

3. Arrow: Stephen Amell took on the responsibility to bring a cohesive DC Universe to television, which is no easy task. Yet the show has already spun the Flash and is about to spinoff Legends of Tomorrow, bringing more great DC characters to life. There are also rumors that upcoming CBS show, Supergirl will take place in the Arrowverse as well.

2. The Incredible Hulk: Bill Bixby and Lou Ferigno brought the Hulk to life way before CGI brought him to the big screen. Bixby gave a spot on performance as Dr. David Banner and Ferigno rocked it as the Hulk. I can still hear the sad piano music as Banner walked alone down the road at the end of almost every episode.

1. Smallville: This show about Clark Kent coming of age ran for 10 seasons. Like it or not, that’s the gold standard, the goal all superhero shows wish they could reach. Tom Welling did a great job as Clark Kent and Michael Rosenbaum played a great Lex Luthor, but what I really loved about this show was the plethora of DC characters it introduced to the fans. Hawkman, Stargirl, Martian Manhunter, Cyborg, , Impulse, Aquaman, Black Canary, Zatanna, Green Arrow, Supergirl, Booster Gold and many more made this a really fun show.