Thanks, little guy! I couldn’t have done it without you. Sort of…
If it wasn’t for a toe wart, I may not have figured out what to do with my first murder mystery.
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My First Novel
The City of Smoke & Mirrors
My Second Novel
The Dame was a Tad Polish
Jake the Snake Returns on Old School RAW
I’ll be honest. I actually went to bed early last night, so missed this amazing ending to the Old School RAW.
In the first part of Bump in the Road, I discussed growing up on wrestling. Jake “The Snake” Roberts was definitely one of those highlights. And it broke my heart to watch him struggle years later with alcohol and substance abuse. In many ways, he became a joke among wrestling fans much in the same way Keith Richards has become a joke for his substance abuse.
In the last year, however, Jake has fought incredibly hard to clean himself up, stay sober, and get healthy. He’s dropped over 70 pounds, largely due to DDP Yoga (something I practice myself).
See him in this clip, though? Wow. He looks so healthy and happy. It warms my heart to see him like this. Now, let’s see him as one of the 30 participants in this year’s Royal Rumble and then on to the WWE Hall of Fame!
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Pinkerton by Name, Armadillo by Nature
Eric Searlman was hesitant at first to read or even review my admittedly very silly book. But it looks like Dill won him over in the end. Ha, sucker.
Like whiskey, we like our hardboiled fiction neat. And the same goes for our superhero fiction too. We prefer the real thing to parody, caricature, or homage. Straight no chaser, as they say.
And that’s why we were initially wary of reading The City of Smoke and Mirrors. Despite the author’s affection for detectives and superheroes, we generally avoid arched and self-conscious genre romps like this.
No matter how well written it may be, a novel featuring a wiseass mutant armadillo detective and a parade of exotic superheroes and supervillains is susceptible to burlesque. For us, parody and caricature work best in small and clever doses.
Thankfully, The City of Smoke and Mirrors is much better than we thought it would be. Despite the absurd premise and the oftentimes overwrought language, the plot is tight, the characters are likable goofballs, and the author’s overriding sense of humor helps smooth…
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Posted in Dilbert Pinkerton, Reviews, Writing
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Bump in the Road – Part 2: Halifax Emotional Explosion
(Bump in the Road is a multi-part story detailing my attempts to get into wrestling school and the wrestling business.. Part One discusses my growing up on wrestling and some brief backyard wrestling.)
In Spring of 1999, I moved in with my sister in Halifax. While waiting for Devin Chittick to set things up for his wrestling promotion and school, I found a job dishwashing at a local restaurant. It was minimum wage, no tips, but free meals, so that helped cut down on expenses. It was a two or three-kilometre walk from home to work, so I was walking minimum half an hour every day. The walk became light jogs or sprints to and from work. I didn’t do much else for exercise, but I was slimming down. Occasionally, I used some dumbells at home.
As I said, Devin was still setting things up on the business end. Little did I know how long that set up would take, along with broken promises and broken dreams. Little did I also know that by the end of the year, I would have one of the worst emotional breakdowns of my life. But we’ll get to that.
Top 10 Reasons Why Die Hard is a Christmas Movie
For a few years now, I’ve jokingly called Die Hard one of my favourite Christmas movies. I don’t know where the trend started, but it became a running joke among some people to call Die Hard an annual Christmas tradition. Without even watching the movie for years, I started saying it, too. Mostly because it was hilarious seeing some people’s priceless reactions. Now, I love the movie, but it’s been a long time since I’d last sat down and actually watched it.
Yesterday, I finally bought a BluRay copy of the movie and today, I watched it. And dammit, it truly is a Christmas movie. Just for fun, I live-tweeted through watching it and came up with some good examples of why it’s a Christmas movie. It may not be a comprehensive list, but it’s a list. So here we go with my Top 10 Reasons why Die Hard is a Christmas Movie.
Posted in Movies
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Bump in the Road – Part 1: Prologue & Backyard Wrestling
Me circa 1998(ish), holding the coveted Harrington Wrestling Alliance championship belt.
(Bump in the Road is a multi-part story detailing my attempts to get into wrestling school and the wrestling business. Part 1 details my personal background, why I loved wrestling growing up, and things I did before wrestling school, including backyard wrestling. Part 2 describes my brief attempt at a burgeoning school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Part 3 dwells into my life’s lowest point, which is still wrestling-related. Part 4 begins my time at a legitimate wrestling school in Toronto. Part 5 is a side-tangent on the creative process.)
My wrestling fandom began shortly after WrestleMania III. I’m not exactly sure when, but I know it was before WM IV because I remember being angry at the infamous screwjob perpetrated by Ted Dibiase during a Hogan/Andre the Giant match on Saturday Night’s Main Event, which culminated in WM IV’s tournament. So I was around 9 years old when I started. I remember I wasn’t interested at first. A neighbourhood friend would stay overnight sometimes and want to watch Superstars on Saturday morning. To get me interested, he got me a Hulk Hogan action figure for my birthday, which I hated at first because I didn’t watch wrestling. But then I gave it a try and I was hooked.
Comics for Everyone, Comics for Anyone!
My favourite comic shop.
Jason Arnold, the manager at my local comic book shop Strange Adventures, is likely one of the only people I’ve met more passionate about comic books as a medium than I am. An artist himself, Jason wears his love of the medium on his sleeve, always praising the work of Darwyn Cooke and especially Chris Ware. The latter, Jason once told me, was the reason he got back into comics.
Nearly every time I go into the store, Jason (or “Jay,” as he prefers) converses with a customer who is perhaps buying something for someone else. He’ll suggest comics that they might like – usually non-superhero books, like Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical work. Sometimes, the response is positive, such as an open-minded teacher who realizes she says similar things to her students about reading books instead of watching movies. Other times, he’ll get an almost condescending response, as if they want to pat him on the head and say, “That’s nice, dear.”
Regardless, his spiel tends not to change. His paraphrased spiel goes something like this:
Posted in Comic Books, Essays
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What WWE is Missing: Then vs. Now
I’ll be honest: I rarely even bother watching wrestling anymore. When I was younger, I would eat, sleep, and breathe wrestling. I would get upset if I missed a show, whether televised or on pay-per-view. These days, I’ll follow the news, skim recaps, and sometimes watch a YouTube clip, but that’s about it. The last time I was legitimately excited for wrestling was CM Punk’s now infamous pipe bomb promo and the build up to that year’s Money in the Bank.
The other day, Scott Keith posted on his blog this video. The Rock and Steve Austin stealing each other’s microphone in mid-sentence, followed by serenading to each other, then the usual bit of wrestling and run-ins. And you know what? For a decade-old clip that I hadn’t seen in probably a decade, I was excited. I’d forgotten all about this promo and I was getting excited right along with the then-live crowd. So excited, in fact, that I was actually interested in the PPV they were promoting (Survivor Series 2001).
It got me thinking, aside from Money in the Bank 2011, when was I last this excited for any of WWE’s product? I draw a blank. I’m still drawing a blank. It got me wondering: if WWE treated yesterday’s Superstars like they treat today’s, how would they be treated?
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Why John Hurt Shouldn’t Be a Doctor
Yesterday, the BBC aired the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who, The Day of the Doctor. it was filled with a cornucopia of references or nods to five decades of the great British television series. While I’d known about it growing up, I didn’t become a fan until the series returned in 2005 with Christopher Eccelston. But I’ve since watched some of the Classic Doctor Who and read up on even more. I enjoyed the special quite a bit, caught up on its many exciting and hilarious moments.
However, it really bothers me that John Hurt is now officially one of the twelve (and soon – with Peter Capaldi – thirteen) Doctors. That doesn’t spoil anything about the special, since it was announced at the end of The Name of the Doctor. They may as well had giant flashing neon lights for it. And honestly, it rubs me the wrong way. Let me explain. After the cut, I’ll dive a little bit into spoilers of The Day of the Doctor, so you’ve been forewarned.
Posted in TV
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The Joys of Writing: Research
Any writer worth their salt has said in interviews that research is an important aspect of their writing process. Many acknowledgements mention countless people that have helped a writer in their research. Greg Rucka, for example, name drops several reliable sources of information in many of his books.
When I first started working on The City of Smoke and Mirrors, I had passing knowledge of an armadillo’s biology. When I looked into it more, though, I had to become an armchair expert on armadillos. Who knew there were different kinds of dillos? Or that very few actually roll into a ball like the 3-banded armadillo. Or that, of land mammals, armadillos have some of the longest penises? (That one’s a freebie for you.) I’ve gotten into contact with some armadillo experts, like the author of The Nine-Banded Armadillo: A Natural History (Come to think of it, I should add that to my Christmas list.)
But honestly, my mind is constantly working on characters, stories, world building, or just general ideas. Given that I want to ensure those ideas make sense in the world of reality and science, I do a lot of research. Maybe not extensive research, but enough. At least enough to have a good grounding on the concept so I can write about it.
And by god, if that research isn’t fun sometimes.
Nick Piers 