Seven Books Worth Reading Plus One...Plus

I don't usually go in for these posting on demand things on Facebook, however...mostly seems a pain for people to do that too you. Once in a while, one comes about that I feel I can get behind, however. This was one of those. The idea is, choose a book you love, share it and say nothing. Share only seven books, one on each succeeding day.

It was a little frustrating, however. So I thought I'd alleviate some of that through a blog about these books and my reasoning in choosing them. Yes, perhaps this goes against the idea of the effort on Facebook, but I just wanted to explain where I couldn't on Facebook, to give a little background in the hope it might be interesting.

There were obvious books I skipped because so many know of them. A few seeped in below. Like, Dune, perhaps because it was so deeply affecting to me (see below). Others were also deeply affecting but did not get mentioned. Like The Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings, because so very many others also felt those books so deeply. I just felt it went without saying and the time and space could be better used with other books, less familiar to the public.

Here is what I chose and finally...why:

Day 1
Friend and actress; Jennifer True asked friend and filmmaker\director Kelly Hughes and he asked me to post covers of seven books that I love with no explanation, no reviews, etc. With each day, I'm also supposed to nominate more people.

I choose artist Marvin Hayes. Aristotle's Works

When I was in fifth grade I was only allowed at our new house we'd just moved into, to go to the library on my bicycle. I was a bother as a child, not unlike my own son. Curious, investigative, always into...something. It was a wise decision. And I did go, only to the library when I asked. I discovered very interesting things. I'd always been fascinated by the written word. Sick of waiting for someone to read me the Sunday comics in the newspaper, until after everyone else finished reading the paper on Sunday mornings, I strove to learn to read young and never stopped.

On my first time at my new library, I discovered the "Adult" section. Not what you might think but definitely more interesting than the kid's section. It was directly before the door into the library, past the "old" ladies at the front desk, clearly in the open. I sat on the floor and started going through books, occasionally sneaking a glance at the front desk, amazed they let me unbidden at the adult section.

On that first time, I found a very old book by some guy named Aristotle. Single name. Starts with an "A". Had to be something, right? I started reading there on the floor. Something touched me. So I checked the book out. And they LET me! It was a fascinating dive into logic and ethics by the Master.

I knew I was onto something one day when I mentioned something relevant in the living room to my parents, a quote from Aristotle. By then, having looked up who he was in our family encyclopedia, which I also loved to peruse, I knew he was someone important, all throughout history.

My stepfather, who didn't much like me anyway, snapped at me that what I had said was stupid. I heard that a lot from him. I responded I wasn't sure that was right. He asked what would make me say that. Very carefully, a little scared, I said that he was a well thought of thinker all throughout history and many held him in the highest esteem.

He asked me, like who? I was surprised 1) he never heard of Aristotle as I kept running across him; 2) he didn't know people referenced Aristotle a lot and; 3) my response to him that, just about every educated and well-known person in history through highly of Aristotle. And that, shut him up. Thankfully.

From that exposure to Aristotle at such a young age, his way of thinking deeply affected me. All throughout my life.

Day 2
I choose, Nikolas Hayes. Slaughter-House Five,

Day 3
I choose, friend and fellow author Kurt Giambastiani. The Year the Cloud Fell

Day 4
 I choose, friend and photographer Erwin Verweij Something Wicked This Way Comes

Day 5
I choose, author Mark Baranowski. The Star Thrower

Day 6
I choose, author Mark David Gerson. Dune

Day 7
 I choose, author Stephen King. The Books of Blood

Epilogue
I'm going to add one more book. Not just as pure self-promotion but as an honest comment about a book I wrote myself. I wrote it as I do all my stories to write something I've not seen before. At least in some way. I wrote my book, Death of heaven to show something I've not seen before.

I do not like to have to explain its format but for some, it may not have the depth it actually has. I wrote it to exemplify that "Heaven" (that is, heaven) never existed except in our minds, our mythologies, our religions. But even lies can and do have a base in fact. And that is the effort put forth in this horror / sci fi book.

We had a reason, as constructed in the book, to think there are Gods, to think there is an afterlife (maybe there is, but is there in the "Matrix" or is it another thing altogether?). And no, I do not use the Matrix as a foundation but something entirely different.

The Universe is not just as big as it is for us in the ways we conceive of. But in many ways, in many layers, in many dimensions. I tried to write a book that expands on that, expands our thinking, and offers some disturbing concepts and images to stretch concepts even further.

I based this book on Andrew, a novella about a five year traumatized boy who grows up into great things beyond that of any other human being throughout history. Andrew is a standalone ebook and the final story in my first book, a collection of my older and original short horror and sci fi fiction titled, Anthology of Evil. By the way, I have a sequel to this Anthology of Evil II but I have been busy and have not yet found a new publisher for it.

Death of heaven (see link for more) in my mind is the better book. But one leads into the other.

IF you want a book like you've not read before, give it a try. So far people seem to like it. It just hasn't had the marketing and attention it needs. See, m focus has been on film production. I've been focusing for years on screenplays and one of my favorites, the true crime biopic, The Teenage Bodyguard is now in talks with an active producer and we're building a plan for its production.

This past weekend Kelly Hughes hanging with the awesome Alison Arngrim - Meeting actors Warren and Elif at Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre in North Hollywood with Alison and Robert. — with Alison Arngrim and Robert Schoonover.

This week's blog isn't about film production but it's been my primary focus of late. So for an update...along with Kelly Hughes over at his Lucky Charm Studio, friend and fellow filmmaker and founder of the Gorst Underground Film Festival in its second annual event this fall where I have been and I am again judging films.

I hope to get one of my own in there this year or next. Kelly just produced his documentary Hush, Hush Nellie Oleson currently making the round of film festivals. And a music video collaboration with the Italian band Postvorta with the same, We're Nothing. I'm also in his book, Are You A Good Witch, with a shot of Alison Arngrim ("Nellie" from Little House on the Prarie), who "murdered" me in one of Kelly's films.

I'm currently in pre-production on shooting my own short horror film, Gumdrop based on a previous short story of mine, Gumdrop City. A true crime story. After I'm done with the Bodyguard project I'll move over to a horror comedy I wrote that did well in screenplay contests, Gray and Lover The Hearth Tales Incident. It is one that could easily lend itself to a franchise.

Getting back to the seven books, they are all great books. I don't put mine up there in the same category. But I've certainly given it a worthy effort.

I'll just leave you here with these reviews by reviewers. Make up your own mind:

From author and reviewer Michael Brookes:
"The book starts well and has a Books of Blood vibe, which really works well. It's in these tales that the author's writing ability shines. He demonstrates a lovely turn of phrase and some of the writing is almost poetic in its beauty."

From British Book Reviewer Lynn Worton:
"JZ Murdock has written a horror story that had me completely transfixed! I'm intrigued as to what he is working on next! Although horror is not one my favorite genres, I recommend this book to those who do love it."

From WILDSound Writing Festival First Chapter review said:
"The story itself is very strong, lulling the reader into a false sense of security as two young boys hunt for treasure, before ultimately morphing into a violent and sometimes disturbing tale of horror. This is done with such swiftness that it takes the reader completely by surprise, which only enhances the effect."

Check out Death of heaven!

Sláinte! Cheers!

Keeping your notes

I write down everything I can and keep everything that I write down.

Why?

Before I get into that I have one thing to say:

Or sometimes simply destroyed by those they rail against....

“I've had enough of all this tsar-state stuff,” he wrote in a blog post. “With its lies, its cover-ups, its legalised theft, its bribe-taking and its other triumphs.” Alexei Devotchenko said that, a prominent Russian actor and anti Putin dissident, found dead under questionable circumstances this week. I'm with him on his anti-Putin thoughts. Whenever a fellow artist goes down, possibly for sharing his beliefs and speaking out against perceived wrongs, it hurts all of us.

Cheers Alexei, you have our gratitude and you will be missed, I'm sure....check out my blog tomorrow on Monday (November 10, 2014) for a full blog on Alexei and Putin.


Because when I get a good idea, it will still be a good idea when I can get around to doing something about it. IF, I write down enough information that it makes sense when I read it, later. It's also different than someone else telling you, "I have a good idea, you should write it down and produce it through your art." And "your art" being you're writer as I am, a painter, sculptor or whatever.

Here's the thing. When I get a "good" idea, it is a good idea because "I" thought of it.

Because I thought of it, there is a wealth of connections in my mind associated with it. If I don't write it down, I may never remember that key clue that leads to all those elements.

It's like I have an idea and I'm at one end of a long hallway. Along that hallway are doors opening into other idea elements which can also have doors themselves. It is a network of ideas I have generated and it is worth remembering.

If I don't write it down then I probably won't remember it and though I may still have that long hallway, I may from then on only see fractured elements of that one primary idea. If however I write it down, I most likely will be able to get to that place again at the end of the hallway and thus have access to most if not all of those doorways again.

If someone just tells me an idea, then I have the beginning of that hallway where it places me and though I can see perhaps down a hallway, there may be doors along that hall but they may be closed for me, locked, or completely nonexistent; where they may be available to that person who suggested it in the first place.

So then, they should write it, not me. Right? But, they never want to do that, they just want me to do it for them. The worst form of this is a new writer, who writes a (usually bad) first draft, asks you to help with it, then expects you simply to rewrite it, make it sell-able and then sometimes, sell it. And give them the credit, though sometimes, they offer me co-credit. Which I really don't need, and they certainly do.

It comes out in the end, very fair for them and yet not really at all fair for me. That may sound unfair on my part, but live through that a few times and deal with people's idiosyncrasies when they are not professionals and you begin to see just how unfair it is to me in the end. And I say me here, but this for any musician who has heard from someone they have a great idea for a song that could make them millions, or a painter who is told someone has a great idea for a painting and they should paint it.

Then sometimes, they ask that I give them five percent or something, as one person has said, of all I might make on that idea. Which is ludicrous, if you know anything at all about that kind of thing. When that happens I just politely decline, though sometimes they can be adamant about it, if not, offended. But that is their problem, not mine. I do after all, have enough of my own great ideas, too many for the time I have to flesh them out.

Whenever I write a note down, I also include other things to key me into remembering, especially if I don't review the notes for a long time. It also helps to review the note the next day and then in a few days, again in a week and then in a month and a year.

Research has proven that to be highly beneficial as we can lose 80% of what we learn quickly after learning it, if we don't properly review and refresh our memories.

If I was watching a movie that gave me an idea, I'll write that movie title and year down and will even include what scene, or why something clued me in to it being a good idea. The more I can include the greater the possibility that I will later be able to recall the largest possible amount of that original idea.

I've had story or book ideas that I later reviewed and used in another story or book, as a way to further enhance that story or book. It lends to what I'm working on, a kind of depth I wouldn't possibly otherwise get. You also never know when that idea later on could fit into something other than why you wrote it down, and save the day, in some way or another, possibly, some never before considered way.

So all I can suggest is, take notes. Take good notes.