Ethan Parke Author Blog

 The main reason I started writing these blogs is because other authors suggested I should have my readers get to know me better. I also felt obligated to read books from fellow Smashwords authors. One of them was Lindsay Buroker, and I just finished her Heritage of Power series. Each book has the same level of action and suspense I incorporate into the Covert Militia Campaigns. It takes place in a fantasy world, mainly in a country called Iskandia, where dragons have been absent for some thousand years, but a porthole has been discovered to a world where they inhabit. They can also shapeshift into people and animals. There are also sentient swords, called soulblades, that possess the soul of a warrior or sorcerer from the past. The way Telryn "Trip" Yert goes struggles with the prospect of being a pilot that built stuff or a sorcerer was gripping, the same way I am trying to make people relate to Jack Stamper struggling with Asperger syndrome, while being a general in a secr...

I know I have already written a blog about Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade being an Easter movie. Now I will talk briefly about the influence those movies had on me. They are a hallmark of the action-adventure genre, which goes without saying. The thing that made them unique was Harrison Ford made the character so likable, with his sense of humor. As it progressed, you got to know him better. The reason The Last Crusade inspired me above all of them, was the chemistry between Indy and his father. As they shared an adventure, they started to see that making peace with each other was more important than the Holy Grail. Indy was often cynical about the artifacts he was trying to find but opened up when he saw them himself. Like Indy a lot of the characters in my books wear hats, and I describe them that way as a means of being unique, because I wear hats all the time in real life. Though I am not as afraid of rats and mice now as I was when I was a kid, I still find them disgusting bec...

 I did not a lot of Flash comics, and only watched a few episodes of an old TV series, but I found the movie entertaining. It is the kind of movie I always like to see in theaters. The cast did great, especially Michael Keaton, who was finally back as Batman, even if the Dark Knight is my favorite Batman movie.  It had a heartwarming story behind it. The reason the crossovers happened were because Barry Rollins was trying to prevent his mother from dying. It altered too much of the timeline and he had to fix it so Barry could go back to the present. But without becoming Back to the Future as a Superhero movie (there was a funny joke in it about Eric Stoltz playing Marty McFly having not been fired) he confided in Keaton's Batman, finally giving him the finale, he deserved. It led to a funny moment where George Clooney was Batman, too, but that was all I will say about it. There are exceptions to saying the f-word once in PG-13 movies, but that time it was funny, and it is if i...

With the new Flash movie coming out this weekend, I would like to talk about my favorite Batman movie and my favorite actor to play Batman. It might be weird that my favorite actor to play the character was not the star of my favorite movie with the character, but that is a matter of perspective.  My favorite Batman movie is The Dark Knight. It grips you with the opening bank robbery, making it clear what the Joker was all about, even if you did not see him until after it was over. The point of that was because he was waiting for the right moment, and you immediately found out why he was robbing it. Without saying anything, it was clear he was only using his gang to fulfill his goal, like he did throughout the movie. There is no evidence about how he recruited them, but it is likely he promised them what they were eager for. There is no clarity if the stories the Joker talks about his past were true or not, but I think they were all true, and all the theories about him, especially ...

 With Michael Bay no longer in the director's chair, The Transformers movies, have gotten a reputation for getting good. The solo Bumblebee movie was about a girl making friends with him, and that was the heart of it. The new one, shows a boy trying to help his sick brother and struggling family. The action scenes in them were easier to follow because the camera was not moving around and up close. It was funny when they acknowledged the way robots were talking about how particular Transformers had accents. I particularly, like the hint at a Transformers G.I. Joe crossover in the near future, that was hinted near the end.  Some people criticize making movies based off of toys, but many writers act as if they are playing with them whenever they write, no matter what craft it is. That was what I did, and if you are interested in reading about it, click on the link provided.  Smashwords.com.

 With a lot of fun movies coming in the next six weeks, leading up to my vacation, I first had to see a movie I was not much interested in. The Boogeyman was for the most part, a passible horror movie, showing all the usual tropes. The monster was in the closet, and you could likely see where that was going, and it murdered a child. The main character was a teenager, who had a falling out with a friend that wanted to make up with her, and it showed, even going as far as having her do drugs. That part was a little touching, but other than that everything you would expect to happen in that kind of movie, happened. But a lot of good ones are on the way, so hang tight.