Cephus' Corner

The Truth that Needs to be Said

I posted this over on a forum today where there’s been an ongoing discussion on character race and the social justice crowd. Some people are in favor of this and some are not. Regardless, after trying to spend time being gentle, I decided that I just had to get it out there because this is really the issue. So I’m presenting my comments unedited and if anyone wants to have their say in response,…

Maybe It’s Your Book

This is something else that comes up all of the time. Someone will publish a book on Amazon, they will do everything they can to bring attention to it, they will spend money on advertising and generally do all of the marketing reasonably well, but their book doesn’t sell. They try to blame the advertising.

Maybe the problem isn’t advertising, maybe it’s your book? (more…)

J-Drama Review: Gourmet Detective Akechi Goro (2020)

Here’s another oddball show for you. It’s really what we go for most of the time, eschewing your normal, run of the mill detective series for those with some kind of strange, often comedic element. So what happens when a gourmet detective meets up with his own personal chef and goes after a serial killer that he created? Let’s find out. (more…)

Bad Movie Review: Zoombies (2016)

I will be honest, this is one of the movies that got me to stop watching bad movies on Amazon Prime. We’ve spent some time looking at terrible Asylum pictures and other crappy indie projects and finally, we decided we’ve had enough.

This movie is partially to blame.

Zoombies is a 2016 low-budget crap-fest produced by The Asylum, playing off of TV shows like Zoo, and movies like Jurassic World.…

J-Drama Review: Your Turn to Kill Season 1 (2018)

It’s been a while since I’ve done a lot of J-drama reviews, but with as little on television as there is these days, it will become more common as I try to find something to write about.

Your Turn to Kill is a 2018 10-episode series that had a second season in 2019. It ticks all of the boxes for what I’m looking for in a mystery show. Odd characters trying to solve mysteries. But was it any good?…

The Importance of Story Structure

I’ve talked about this in the past, but I had a long and involved discussion with an amateur writer today who really didn’t understand how story structure worked. They wanted me to explain how I could plot out a story in such exacting detail and not have my story go all over the place while I draft. This is kind of how I explained it and I thought it might be helpful, so here’s what I suggested…

Cartoon Review: Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)

Following Justice League Dark: Apokolips War earlier in the year, it was unknown how or if the DC Animated features would continue. They’d largely told the story and were done, but now we get Superman: Man of Tomorrow, yet another “alternate universe” take on the Man of Steel, which we’ve seen forever in the comics because Superman, whether anyone likes it or not, just isn’t that interesting a…

TV Thursday: On the Trail of UFOs Season 1 (2020)

You know we’re getting desperate when we sit down and watch a UFO show, but that’s the state of television these days. According to the site that tracks shows, there isn’t a single show we want to watch airing through the end of the year.

So this is what we’re down to. So let’s look at the utter mess that is On the Trail of UFOs. (more…)

You Need to Care About Self-Publishing

Far too many people say they’re going to just throw a crappy book up on Amazon. They don’t care about quality, they don’t care if it ever sells a copy, they just want to be able to say they did it, no matter how badly it sucks.

And I’m here to tell you to knock it the hell off! (more…)

Movie Review: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)

If ever there was a movie nobody asked for and didn’t need to be made, it’s this one. They’ve been talking about a third Bill & Ted movie for decades but I’ve never felt the need for one. The second movie tied it all up perfectly. There was no need, outside of greed, to go on.

But of course, they eventually did and here’s my review. Is it as bad as it honestly looks? Let’s go find out. (more…)

TV Thursday: Future Man Season 3 (2020)

I liked the first season of this show. It was original and funny and didn’t take itself that seriously and those were all good points for the time it was released.

The second season was less well done, effectively a remake of the first season and there was little new or interesting to recommend it.

So is this, the third and final season of Future Man going to spice things back up? Or is it going…

Lots of authors have a lot of problems coming up with titles for their work and I am no different. Sometimes, it’s easy. Sometimes, I have the title before I write the first word. Most of the time, by the time I get to the end of the first draft, I know what the title will be. It just naturally arises from the writing.

And then there are the times when you just have no clue and nothing at all…

Characters Are Not Archetypes!

I’ve seen this come up repeatedly of late by writers who don’t seem to understand how characters work. So for people who are just trying to invent bodies to fit into the story and trying to figure out why they exist, this is for you. (more…)

Writing as “a Hobby”

This will no doubt make some people mad. I see a lot of amateur writers who say “it’s just a hobby”, but when you pay attention to what they complain about, it’s clear it’s not “just a hobby”. They’ve just given up on doing all of the hard work to make it something other than a hobby. Now I’m not saying not to write unless you’re serious about it, but if that’s what you’re going to do, stop…

I’ve seen this subject come up a lot lately, even more than usual, so I thought I’d throw out my entirely politically incorrect opinion about all of this.

It’s your story. Write it the way you want to write it. Stop caring what anyone else thinks. Stop being concerned over people calling you names. Fuck those people. Just write what you want to write. It’s that easy. (more…)

TV Thursday: Lucifer Season 5a (2020)

Since the final season of Lucifer is being released in 2 batches of 8 and nobody seems to have any clue when the second set will drop on Netflix, I’m going to treat them like two 8-episode seasons. It could be next year before we see the actual finale and by then, I won’t even remember what happened in the front end. So here we go with the first batch, that I’m labeling “Season 5a” and we’ll see…

It’s All About the Goals!

This is something I’ve talked about in the past, but it remains very true today. If you don’t have goals, if you aren’t willing to push your goals, if you aren’t dedicated to achieving your goals, then you will fail. And when it comes to writing, this is absolutely the case. Yet it constantly amazes me how many amateur writers simply cannot sit their butt down in a seat and write. It’s no wonder…