It started out as a single idea; one item that was a set of words contained between two hardbound pieces with a picture rendered, glossed up jacket or box to top it off.  The book with a captivating title waited on a library shelf  or a store display. A movie waiting to be watched. One by one, the book was picked up again and again.  The  movie gained buzz. Games were played.  The flame ignited for the world inside the covers, and so wildfire was born.

We are living in a time of pop culture fire, my friends.  This means that geek culture + pop culture = the GPCF (geek pop culture fusion). If you haven’t noticed, our sub-cultures have melded with many items deemed “hip.”   What does this mean?  It means you can get out of the convention and in to the realm of public opinion.  Here at TGC, we’re kicking off our return to the blogsphere by wondering what of subculture equals the “Next Big Thing”.  Every enterprise has trends they monitor in order to determine what product or service will be the most marketable.  What is the public in to right now?  What has someone else done that can translate in to success with the right turn in another industry?

Cinema alongside books, comics, and games is a union so official it might as well have a pluralist marriage license.  The want to adapt is decades old, and will only increase in fervor as studios look for new spins on the old favorite.  Or, better yet, what they haven’t done.

Silver Question Mark, Stock Image

The good thing is that fan favorites have a chance to be reborn in a way that only artists of other mediums can provide.  The bad?  Expectations can fall terribly short. While every project has its naysayers, there is a difference between faithfulness to the source material, and just plain hacking it to pieces.  So what can the Next Big Thing have so it has not only forward presence, but promise of staying power?  The most hallowed space after the fires have gone down to a steady simmer is, after all, cult classic.

1.)  Know your source material:  You can’t turn a book, comic, or game in to a movie until you read said book, understand the comic’s world, and play the game.  If you want to take creative license, it is best to understand where the license originates.  There is nothing worse than watching a movie where they all but drag themselves to the finish line. A fan shouldn’t be thrilled the movie is over because it blows. They should be on the edge of their seat until fade to black.  Harry Potter did just that. Thor and Captain American now have me salivating for The Avengers.  To contrast, I am afraid of the horrors that could come with The Last Airbender franchise. The first film was a cinematic train wreck for the most part. The few elements that were redeemable will probably be crushed by number two, and turned to ashes by number three.  Shalaman’s direction was bad enough, but the script was terrible.  The acting, for as bad as it was, couldn’t help it if the script was already worse.  When your source material is an animated series that illustrates for you the people, agendas, and corresponding mythology, the point loss is even greater than if it were a book where the imagination is the only stage.  Bad script = bad adaptation.  Bad script from rich source material = loss of respect. People are telling the man who brought us The Sixth Sense to go back to film school. Ouch.

2.) Who’s going in with you: Make sure your partnerships will be remembered for the joint effort. They have to correspond like nothing else.  The Adventures of Tin Tin featured a partnership between Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg that will go down in history.  Both come with the vision and the resources to compliment where the other lacks, and the outcome was a justice done to the world of the journalist that was magnificent.  Universal’s loss was Sony’s gain when the dropped co-production ball went to them a few years earlier. Who’s the most daring?  Who won’t be afraid to push it with you?  Let alone, if money is what they were looking at..it’s Jackson and Spielberg. Mr. Middle Earth and Mr. Indiana Jones.  Universal what were you thinking?

3.)  Sometimes cuts aren’t for the best or trust in your stuff: Sometimes the hardest thing to do is trust.  New Line Cinemas was hoping for another Lord of the Rings in The Golden Compass. The source material is based on the first book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. The Golden Compass comes out as one of the most expensive films New Line ever came out with, but was lackluster.  I watched the movie then and even now, and still feel it was..missing something.  Do you remember the controversy surrounding this movie in regards to the books alleged themes on rejection of established religion and the abuse of power?  Boycotts were being hurtled in the media left and right, and many were calling the movie a gateway to the books, which was a gateway to atheism. All of that fuss really didn’t amount to the burning stove in the kitchen of heresy it was supposed to be leading us to.  What The Golden Compass became was a movie that had the potential to be better than the some of its parts, but wasn’t because you got the feeling either the director of the studio couldn’t commit to what they had.  What they had wasn’t just your a-typical fantasy novel, but a world that was rich in its darkness as it was in what could be light.  New Line didn’t commit to that darkness. In fact, it left director Chris Weitz to leave and return after New Line lost it’s second director due to creative differences.  It mattered little in the end that the Magestrium was played down to represent all matter of organizations that try to control, influence, or abuse people away from free thought or expression. What mattered most  is that New Line didn’t trust what it had, nor who was at the helm, or themselves to represent it.  It’s been nearly five years since the first film and as much as Weitz hopes the sequels will come, I think it’s going to take quite a lot for that to happen. If the sequels were commiserate on the success of the first film, then New Line set it up for failure.  By deviating so far from the novel, shifting things around,  shunning the true darkness, and being afraid of the potency of what it possessed the film was half-baked to fans and so so for critics. It’s a franchise though, that if ever picked up again, has hope in take two if they pay attention to the lessons written here.  You know you should really listen if even the director feels like its a hack job.

In part two we will examine a few adaptations that excel, and others that have fallen short, and those we hope will become The Next Big Thing

Please Note:  All corresponding links to Wikipedia, Imdb, actor’s sites, and more will be added on Thursday, January 19th when TGC resumes posting.  Tomorrow on the 18th we will be going dark to join with those who are against the SOPA and internet censorship

For once, it is not the story to be reviewed, but a presentation of the story. The Geeky Chic was fortunate enough to be granted the chance to listen to the reading of the book Phantom Universe, as done by Karen Savage.  As a large fan of classic radio theater, audio books are a continuation of a decades old style that leaves the listening to picture what the storyteller is verbalizing.  Being a fan of the book itself, this presented a new forum:  for the voice inside to be narrated by another.

Phantom Universe, Summer Chronicles #1 follows the story of a young woman named Summer, a mute slave who has spent an entire life on a pirate ship, only to experience the alternative state on an alternative shore.  Moving back and forth through time, a story is presented with an interesting array of characters, settings, and individual principle that tie toward the main goal.  Therein lay the challenge for the reader: to fluctuate between the changing characters, scenes, and ideals. Each character had to be unique, while the flow continuous.

Savage is possessed of a soothing, melodic tone. While this works to draw the listener in, unfortunately it is not varied enough at the right moments to break up the continuity when action arrives.  What works in the beginning and in the middle had hard transitioning points in the center of each, and onward to the end.  One example that caught my attention was when the pirate ship Summer is on was first introduced.  The descriptions concerning whipping and abuse were strong, but not enough punch was lent to the moment. 

There was good detail paid to variation in accent between characters, and lit between female and male.  Jayden and Landon stood out as the strongest presentation of this, with attention paid to emphasizing emotion, inquiry, and range in their dialogue.  In moments like these, Savage is able to shine.  Yet when it wasn’t consistent, it hindered my ability to fully invest in what was taking place.

What would have improved this reading would have been an equal range of emotion between character and scene, for when you can’t fully enjoy the setting, it is hard to appreciate the characters in it. When you can’t appreciate the characters, the story becomes harder to follow.

One of the most significant moments of fear, power,and presence that Savage has was in the first person perspective of Summer’s nightmare. Suddenly, the reading style changes so dramatically it commands your attention. What the young woman was experiencing was truly terrifying!  I wish this ability to captivate, keep, and continue was utilized throughout the story.

While the quality of the reader’s voice was pleasing to the ears, the inconsistency made it hard for full story investment.  Savage’s voice rings more poetry than science fiction, but it was still a good listen.
Geeky Chic Grade: B

A Love by Any Measure: Killian McRae, Tulipe Noire Press

The Summary: (Goodreads, Amazon)

An Irish lass. An English lord. A love that overcomes all boundaries.

August Gryason has secretly dreamt of the girl living on his family’s Irish estate since childhoods spent together in Killarney. Now a proper Lord of the British Empire, he knows that Maeve could never be more than just a distant fantasy. Still, if only…

Maeve O’Connor owns nothing in this world but her good name, which proves just enough to win a proposal for a marriage of convenience to a good, Irish lad. Until the wedding, however, she’s in dire straits. Rent on the cottage she and her father share is due, but there simply isn’t the money to pay. Driven to desperation, Maeve hopes Lord Grayson, her childhood-chum-turned-dashing-English-rogue, will prove lenient when she comes seeking clemency. The temptation presented proves too much, and August offers Maeve a compromise: should she permit him twice as long on each succeeding visit to do whatever he wishes in pursuit of his pleasure, he will consider her rent paid. Starting with a mere five seconds, pulses soon out race the ticking clock, as August’s desires become Maeve’s own. Passion blinds them to the challenges closing in on both the Irish and English fronts, threatening to destroy the love they’ve discovered. Working to bridge that which divides them, tempting fate with each stolen kiss, and torn between desire and obligation, Maeve and August must strive to overcome all and find a love by any measure…

Read via: Epub, Tulipe Noire Press
Special Thanks to Killian McRae and Tulipe Noire 

The market of historical romance is saturated with several standards:  Regency era ballgowns that fall away due to hands on a pair of muscular arms, attached  to a muscular, exposed chest.  A Highland moor, a crashing surf, a castle wall, Victorian setting, Gothic setting, Renaissance setting…with (insert swooning woman, brooding man, and their half removed clothing) doing precisely the same thing. Over and over. For years.   The stories are often filled with formulaic pose consisting of heaving bosoms, quivering hands, one high family and one family of good name on the bring of ruin.

Romances have captivated mankind for centuries, and someone argue that the endless dance of rising passions and sobering obstacles leave nothing to be new under the sun.

I counter that with the following:
1.  A cover that should be on display in an art show.
2.  Historical settings well researched.
3.  Characters given such aching realism that you can’t help but become invested in their lives.

A Love By Any Measure tells the story of Maeve O’Connor and Lord August Grayson against the backdrop of  Ireland, England,and Boston with highlighted years in 1866 and 1872. The differences in class are only a fraction of the things that keep Maeve and August from attaining a desire that once came to them in youth. This isn’t the common love found in  run-of-the-mill stories. The main characters alternate at points in the story who is victim and who is victimized.  The people in their lives stand to benefit or fail due to the decisions that they make.  Enriching their meetings is a world rich in detail. McRae breaks apart the standards for the genre and brings out rich, fluid beauty to take us through the circumstance.

One of the things that made the story was the attention to historical detail; while there are major events touched on, the writer was able to capture an authentic tone for the social attitudes of the day. While every reader has their guilty romantic pleasures, there is a certain union that comes when the mind meets at the same intersection of the heart.  Killian McRae balances the history in such a way that it makes a reader desire to learn more of what bubbles underneath the surface.  This is a critical skill, and well done.  The textbook is a human one, and from the eyes of the characters, you are able to see the effects of classism, political inequality, disparity, and the obligations of higher standing.  Rare is it to find an author who is able to show us that the world surrounding is not one cut for romance. There is a sense of desperation that drives one on to survive even in a Killarney rising from the ashes. An expectation that breaks friendships, and backs.  A sadness that carries over the Atlantic, and a second thought to leave you wondering if it all was truly worth it.

What made A Love By Any Measure as pleasurable as the moments passing in the exchanges between the two many characters was that taking me to the moments of white-hot passion were actions that spoke of true human beings.  Another out-of-the-box genre moment, for it is often found that romantic leads far fall more under stereotype than familiarity with true experience. And for those that wonder if there are enough white-hot moments?   The reader will not be disappointed.   It is the way the leads are written than when they encounter the moments of their time agreement, and beyond, that leave the cheeks to blush and the mind to wander to places where lover’s dare to tread.

To conclude:  There is a new girl on the block, ladies and gentleman, and she’s got the genre’s number.   Look out, status quo.  McRae is coming to break your door down.  And she writes sci-fi, too!

Geeky Chic Grade: A+

Interview

1.) What drew you to becoming a writer, and what was the first inspiration you had for “A Love By Any Measure?”

If there’s one thing I never lack, it’s projects. (or is it  :( ? ) But, things I can confirm that are coming up in the next six months or so:

Due Summer 2012, Book #2 in the Elemental Series: By Cesya MaRae Cuono, Revolution Publishing

How do you carry on fighting for your family when you’re left scarred and broken? When your dreams are plagued by nightmares, how do you strengthen the armor needed to protect yourself again? Callie’s been defeated by the loss of her entire family. With the help of old and new friends, will she build her battle armor up and fight the evil hands of the Demons who threaten to destroy her new home? Or will her battle scars leave her too broken and empty to fight?

Now the hard part: Revolution has us waiting until Summer 2012 to answer any questions in this teaser trailer.  Well, darn it.  I suppose I’ll have to just wait like a good girl for my turn like everyone else.  It’ll just go on my calender of other important dates.  Hunger Games, The Hobbit, various conventions…..  The easy part:  This will leave you plenty of time to read  Elemental Reality while also doing the following things.

- Don’t know the author?  Go to her FB page. Go on, you know you want to.
- Don’t know the publisher?  Go to Revolution’s FB page.

True, there is a distinct way to identify brush strokes, color use, or genre. There may even be types of art. Yet the best type of art is the sort that digs down in to your soul to form roots.  Artist Lisa Little does just that with an evocative style that takes you on a journey to places you’ve wanted to articulate with words but haven’t found the way without the picture in front of you. Guaranteed, you will be talking about it after the moment washes over you.

Click to view slideshow.

What I like the most about the work is that the same hand that uplifts with bright colors also becomes sensual to demonstrate waiting sex. At another moment, the exploration in the dream cycle becomes one that shows you the lonely, dark, if not forbidden aspects of the psyche in bold gray, black, white, and silver. The artist favors Jungian psychology as a basis for her pieces. The influence is strong, but still unique.  There is not a single painting that doesn’t seem to come from a personal experience of the artist herself even if it is meant for a broader experience.  She is an artist you will want to put on your wall, seal in a book to carry around for sharing, and always keep fresh in your mind for the latest happening.

To learn more about artist Lisa Little and the corresponding collections associated with each piece presented in the slideshow, please visit her on FB at Lisa Little Art and her website at www.lisalittleart.com.

In December, The Geeky Chic will post an interview with the artist to learn more about her selection of subject, favorite influences, and about the world around her!

Upcoming Reviews from The Geeky Chic
November 27:  (Historical Romance)  A Love By Any Measure by Killian MacRae, Tulipe Noire Press + Author Interview
December 2011:(Creative Nonfiction/Literary) Western Pennsylvania Reflections: Stories From The Alleghenies to Lake Erie, The History Press
December 2011:(Creative Nonfiction/Literary) Philadelipha Reflections: Stories from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, The History Press

Elemental Reality by Cesya Marae Cunyo, Elemental Book #1, Revolution Publishing, Inc.

Read via: epub from Revolution Publishing Inc.

Special thanks to Jennifer Baker from Revolution Publishing for the book and the continued affiliation with Revolution

 When Callie Pierce was ten, her mother disappeared without a trace. On the eve of her disappearance twelve years later, the Earth seemingly comes alive. The elements speak to Callie, and that’s only the beginning. Everything she has ever known was a twisted fabrication to protect her. Now the truth is set free. Callie and her sister are more powerful than any Faerie ever born. Now they have to use their powers to save their mother and family from the evil hands of fate that threaten to tear them apart. Welcome to her elemental reality.

Early adulthood crests the rise of a multitude of change. Who we have aged to be at the end of childhood now confronts our life in the world beyond sheltered confines.  Callie Pierce rises to the awakening of her faery powers on her twenty-second year of life, and it is with these gifts, her sister Lola, and all she knows unraveling that she starts out on a journey to save her mother’s life.  So how do you tell a story that has been told multiple times across not just YA fiction, but fiction as a whole?  Read on.

Otherworldly concepts are popular across the board in fiction, but what separates Elemental Reality is the brightness of the storytelling.  No over-hanging gothic cliches for Cuono!  Of the two sisters, it is Callie’s voice telling the majority of the tale with the use of first person point of view.  She is a heroine that is filled with humor, snark, and who’s inner battles you want to become invested in.  Additional characters provide tid bits of insight, comic relief, and revelation that drive the story, and not detract.  In Elemental Reality, discoveries of power were fun!  The darkness presented in the twists and intrigues then became welcome additions due to the fact it wasn’t the overhanging aspect of the reading.  The bonds between characters was wonderful to experience, and every emotion authentic to Callie’s experience alongside them. While listed as a YA read, it moves toward the flavor of the older audience ages 17 and upward based on the amount of life experience, and the title character being beyond the teen years herself.  This, too, was refreshing.  This is my second Revolution read where I find a trend I hope is up kept. It is good to have young adult heroines be actual young adults!   There is a wealth of experience with having them 18+ to introduce that allows this brand of fiction to form a bridge over the reader’s earlier years, carrying them with characters to the threshold of true adulthood. There is a lack of wit, substance, and experience in heroines between 18-21 that Cuono and Revolution Publishing, Inc is filling a need for with quality writing.

On the subject of powers, the Fae myth  Not only is Callie one with the elements, they bend to her will.  This makes her, as well as her sister, the most powerful fairies ever born within the story universe. Pair this with traditional takes on what the reader has come to know of classic fairies from our childhood? 

Successful. 

The one stipulation  had with the story telling was feeling that the pace meant one had to go back and re-read pages so that nothing was missed. Still, once settled in, the fact that the story was so good meant that it was still a wondering of what was to come when the end was reached. Be prepared for a cliff hanger!

A rousing debut from Cuono, the Elemental series will have a fan quite happily waiting for book #2 for further immersion.  Until then, book #1 will be re-read to fully ingest the mythology, and for the sake of looking at one of the most gorgeous covers in YA fiction.

Grade: A
Get it here on Amazon (Kindle version), (paperback)

The answer: go to the Exhibit Hall and make your way through the luminaries of the industry who shine on the strip off  Big Press City. All along the back walls,  are those who may be well known to the fans that follow them, but not to the Con goer looking for a specific list set of established large ticket items.

Silent Auction Samples from Booth #400

When perusing the never ending city of goods, one of the first items to catch my eye was Anime Link. Located at Booth #400, the usual collectable figurines were bypassed when the Silent Auction sign caught my eyes. On close investigation one could see that the character art present on the wall were hand drawn originals. Asking the  confirmed this assumption, but asking after how he obtained them was the real pleasure.

Not only were they obtained from overseas partners, but the booth’s keeper had himself traveled to Japan in order to obtain the ones on the wall directly.  If you knew about Anime Link, no doubt you knew about the Silent Auction that occurred with these. Yet if not, the chance to look on authenticated hand work passed you by.  Their specialty is original, production cells from Japan.

Not far, perhaps a stone’s throw, were the Van Eaton Galleries.  Disney, Hanna -Barbera, and Warner Brothers hand painted cells were hanging on portable walls. Those who knew the true priceless treasures they looked at engaged in discussions of a time before hand painting faded away. Story boards drew out gasps of admiration. Speech slipped away before pieces of modern American art history from bygone decades.

Artwork from the "Great Mouse Detective" at Booth #501

While not under the fanciest of signs, it can be said that often the sweetest treasures are those you have to search for to begin with.

Anime Link – #400
http://www.anime-link.com/
Van Eaton Galleries – #501
http://www.vegalleries.com/

What were the highlights for this writer?  Aside from getting a chance to get a feel for the landscape  (such as where Small Press was, what artists looked interesting, and what my Thursday stalking grounds would be) I was able to get some warm up images. Enjoy, and be on the lookout for thoughts on: the glory of small press & other overlooked indie ventures, panels of interest, and how I will survive another three days of this insanity.

Follow me on Twitter @Livie_Marie and stay up on the fanpage! Good geeking and good luck!