The Trajectory of Today’s Topics

• Is Hollywood even capable of writing a good series?

• A fantasy, scifi, thriller, romance?

• Newsletter news

Hot Off The Press

Prime Video Presents—“When Did That Happen In The Books?”

I’ve enjoyed Patricia Cornwell novels over the years, and while I haven’t read them all, nor do I aspire to that endeavor, they are good go tos when I can’t make a rational book decision. I do enjoy a good murder mystery/crime drama, and the Scarpetta books keep me turning the pages. When I saw that Scarpetta was finally getting the Hollywood treatment, I was mildly intrigued. I say ‘mildly’ because I feel the writing for shows and movies this past… almost decade has steadily circled the toilet. 

I still held out hope, though. With a big-name cast including Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Simon Baker (loved The Mentalist), and some solid, intriguing source material to draw from, I thought it would be hard to mess it up. Deep breath in… hold, slow exhale. Well, let’s get into it. 

The first couple of episodes were solid, though some artistic liberties had me scratching my head. First… Dorothy—played by Curtis—Kay Scarpetta’s sister (usually only briefly mentioned in the books). She’s got enough drama alone to put the “Real Housewives of (enter city of your choosing)” to shame, and it seems that every time she and Kay are in the same room, they devolve into a wine-fueled, sibling rivalry, sister-bashing, Celebrity Deathmatch. If this happened once or twice, that’s fine. It sets the tone, but not every. single. time. they’re in the same room… They act like a pair of territorial feral tomcats thrown into a wet paper bag. 

Next, we have Lucy and her dead wife as an AI program, who looks like she’s perpetually stuck in a Zoom meeting. It shows some very unhealthy coping mechanisms, while also hitting pretty close to where we are headed with all the AI getting shoved down our throats. It’s a strange dynamic, especially when this AI program ends up being the voice of reason for a few of the characters. 🤨

I feel the problem with Scarpetta (like many other series lately, I’m looking at you Rings of Power and Wheel of Time) is that it doesn’t know what to focus on. Were there a room of writers throwing darts at different subplots, and each one that landed got thrown into the show? Because that’s what it feels like. It constantly goes back and forth from past to present, every male character instantly falls in love with Scarpetta (a love polyhedron), espionage involving astronauts, Russians, and 3D printed human organs, infidelity, career sabotage, shall I go on? And this is only the first 5 episodes! Oh yeah, and the original trope of trying to solve a murder that is tied to a serial killer from 20 or 30 years ago. At this point, it’s feeling like CSI meets Black Mirror meets The Kardashians meets Star Trek meets… 

I’ll stick with it through this season, but if the plots continue to veer off in every direction like a drugged spider weaving its web (yeah, that’s something scientists toyed with, you should Google it when you’re done here) I’ll find something else to entertain myself with. Maybe I’ll revisit NCIS, CSI, Bones, or some of the other crime dramas that knew what they wanted to be.  

The TBR Files

Indie Author Pens A Closed Door Romance, Fantasy, Thriller, Danger Riddled, Rollercoaster Ride

Okay, so I don’t know how to categorize this book properly. It is a romance book first and foremost, and when my wife gets off the floor because she just went into shock because I read a romance book, I’ll continue. I don’t read many romance books. There’s nothing wrong with them, it’s just not my go-to genre, and I simply can not get into all of these romantasy books. I’d rather read a medical dictionary than try Fourth Wing. Anyway, I can, on very rare occasions, enjoy a well-written, closed-door romance book. And that was The Oracles. Bonus, she’s a small-time indie author!

Okay, her shock has worn off; she’s good now. 😆 There’s so much more to this book than a love story. There are definitely some fantasy/science fiction elements to it, but it’s also pretty gruesome when it comes to the trials these couples are forced to endure. I’m getting ahead of myself here, so let’s redirect.  

How about we start with the premise? Claire and Kurt live in different states, have never met, but are having vivid dreams about each other and end up falling madly in love across the dreamverse. They feel they are destined to meet, but only if they aren’t figments of each other’s imaginations.

Eventually, Kurt leaves everything behind and makes the impossible trek. He can’t keep dreaming of her every night; it’s causing too much anguish. He has to find out if she is real or not. She is, and he does, and the two soulmates finally meet. Then comes the magical message that they are Oracles and are summoned to a hidden temple in Brazil. Yes, that really came out of nowhere, but stay with me here because this is where the fantasy theme comes into play. Hidden deep in the rainforest, they meet a pair of demigods who tell Kurt and Claire, and several other pairs of star-crossed lovers, that they must endure ten trials to save the world. Like I said, there’s a lot to unpack here. 

The trials range from simple to near death experiences, and they are definitely leaving plenty of scars on the characters. I don’t want to reveal any more than that because I need to get into the review!

First off, the book is very well written. Christy Skidmore has an expert command of beautiful prose. The characters are very believable, and I found myself really getting into the longing of the first third of the book. Once Kurt and Claire met, I found myself, to my utter surprise, disappointed. I think I wanted more of the longing. There was one scene where two of the three main characters acted pretty dense, and that threw me off for a moment, but I see why she did it, and it was a minor inconvenience. 

Some of the trials they went through were brutal, but some felt a little rushed to me, while a few felt somewhat arbitrary. The final trial, though, made up for all of that because I was genuinely shocked. That’s all I can say without revealing major spoilers! Overall, The Oracles was a solid, fantastic ride that made me want to stay up late and keep reading ☕☕☕☕☕

…And Then This Happened

Have to Scale Back The Newsletter

I really hope you are enjoying these newsletters, because I enjoy putting them out there. Unfortunately, I’ve kind of painted myself into a corner here. There is so much going on that I struggle getting them done, making sure they are polished and as close to perfect as I can manage, while getting them finished in a timely manner. 

Most book newsletters, and many that I subscribe to, only put something out once a month, and they typically only talk about their books or things related to that. No shade there, I understand that. Being such an ADHD brain, as you can see, I write about all sorts of random things. 😆 I strive to provide entertainment and news, as well as a way to shamelessly plug in my products! That way, you get more bang for your buck! 

Seriously, though, I am going to scale back how often they come out. Once a month feels too spread out, so again, I’m going to go against the grain here and do one every three weeks. Now, if I win the lottery, some magical benefactor decides to bless me with millions of dollars, or my books go the route of Harry Potter, I’ll go back to every other week. Right now, I have to focus on getting book number three of the Familiar Series finished, and these newsletters take away a good chunk of that time every other week. 

This also means that you don’t get so much email! Win-win for everyone, right?! I hope you are still enjoying them, and I hope this doesn’t change the dynamic, because the same random, but entertaining content will still come your way, just not quite as often, and hopefully better quality. Thank you all for understanding and continuing to support this humble indie author!! ♥