Official Tumblog of Dylan Baranski

Hello, everyone! My name is Dylan Baranski. I'm an author from Rhode Island. I've been writing since 1995 for school and fun, but it wasn't until 2012 that I got more heavily into it. I wrote a lot of fanfic, but I also got more into the idea of original works. However, me being rather picky and at times capricious, my ideas ended up in various states of completion. Some never got past the initial layout stage, some were partially-written before I lost interest in them and moved on to something else, and one was scrapped multiple times despite being finished.

However, after all these abortive attempts, I have FINALLY completed my first novel that I didn't want to totally trash and start over. Having secured the copyright for it, I published it on Amazon and am currently awaiting the results of its review, so...fingers crossed! 🤞🤞

Oh, and aside from writing, I have several other hobbies, too: listening to music, watching TV shows/movies, playing video games, building models, drawing, and playing airsoft. I also dabble in composing music and voice acting. I may not be the best, but I put my heart into my creations, and I 100% AVOID the use of AI.

BOOKS I HAVE PUBLISHED THUS FAR:

My sister loves giving me gifts, and recently, she gifted me a book series unlike anything else: Cirque du Freak by Irish author Darren Shan. I haven't read heaps upon heaps of vampire literature, though I did read the original Dracula by Bram Stoker, and I gotta say, Darren Shan's concept of vampires is like nothing that Bram Stoker could ever have conceived of.

DISCLAIMER: This review is based off of the manga adaptation with art from Takahiro Arai, so some things may differ from the original books.

Anyways, here's the story: Darren Shan is a fairly normal kid living a fairly normal life hanging around with his best friend Steve Leonard. Then, one night, a mysterious figure hands him a flyer for a travelling freak show known as the "Cirque du Freak". Steve cajoles Darren into getting tickets, and they have a fun time. However, Darren wants more, and he steals a venomous spider named Madam Octa from the Cirque, training it to obey him. However, one day, a freak accident results in Madam Octa biting Steve and poisoning him, so Darren goes to the owner of the Cirque - a vampire named Larten Crepsley - and Crepsley agrees to save Steve's life, but on one condition: Darren has to let Crepsley turn him into a vampire, and from that point on, life will never be the same for Darren.

One of the first things I really admired about the book is the plot setup. Darren Shan does a really good job of setting up the events that set the plot in motion. Second of all, Shan does an excellent job of worldbuilding, not only differentiating his version of vampires from bloodsuckers of media past, but also by creating a rival faction of vampires known as the Vampaneze, who - in contrast to the main vampires - kill indiscriminately, and he does a great job explaining the history of this world. Also, since I read the manga version, I would like to say that I really love Takahiro Arai's art style, and Darren Shan couldn't have picked a better man to adapt his books. In fact, the art style makes me wish there was an anime adaptation. Granted, I have read that the manga condenses or omits certain events from the regular books, but it was so well-done that I didn't even notice. Getting back to the matter of the books, the subject matter is dark and bloody, but nevertheless so compelling that you'll want to read to the bitter end. Speaking of the end, I won't give it away, but I can tell you that you won't believe it when you read it, plus there are so many interesting plot twists along the way. I don't know how Shan came up with this, but he sure knows how to keep his readers hooked.

If anyone's interested, I found the secret to instant happiness.

It's very simple:

Go on to Google Image Search/Bing Images/whatever image search engine you primarily use and type in "cat".

Sometimes, I discover the most bizarre and fascinating albums, and one of them is the sole album by a little known group called Kid Brother. Released in 1979, the band consisted of Barry Kaye on keyboards/lead vocals/backing vocals, Johnny "Octave" Trujillo on bass/lead vocals/backing vocals, Danny Jacob on guitar/lead vocals/backing vocals, Rick Geraci on percussion/lead vocals/backing vocals (damn, this band had a lot of lead vocalists!), and Harvey Preston on drums/backing vocals. What made the band interesting, though, was that they were part of the short-lived "rosco" subgenre, mixing hard rock and disco.

The album kicks off with a real hot number in the form of "Tell Me Another One", with Johnny doing the lead vocals. On track 2, "No Man In His Right Mind" - a more conventional disco tune - Barry takes lead, backed by string arrangements from the late, great Gene Page. track 3, "Better Left Unsaid", dials up the rock flavor a bit more, and once again, Barry - who also did much of the songwriting work on the album - takes the lead. track 4 not only keeps the rock flavor, but with Rick doing lead vocals, the track has a bit of a Michael Jackson "Rock With You" feel complete with string arrangements from Richard Henn. So far, so good.

On Side B, things kick off with a more traditional glam rock tune titled "Rock 'N' Roller", with Barry doing the lead vocals. Barry also does lead vocals on track 6 - my personal favorite off the album - the Hi-NRG disco rocker "Rosco Music". Things cool off a bit after that with the R&B-influenced "It Was Fun While It Lasted" with Johnny on lead, though it's no less strong than the other tracks, particularly with its synth arrangements. Things kick up for the final track on the album, "No Doubt About It", which features Danny on lead vocals, once again backed by Gene Page's string arrangements.

Well, now that Tumblr has stopped glitching, it's time for me to do another album review, this time of Canadian band Highstreet. Who are they? They were a rock band formed in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1968, consisting of Mick Hall on guitar/vocals/drums, Ted Hall on rhythm guitar/vocals, Jim Buck on bass/vocals, Butch Coulter on harmonica/acoustic guitar, and Gordie Adamson on drums. They released two albums before breaking up in 1981, and their claim to fame is that their songs were featured in the 1980 Canadian horror movie Prom Night. So, without further ado, let's take a look at their 1979 album She Won't Be Waitin'.

The album starts off in a most kickass fashion with the Southern-flavored "Should'a Seen Us". On track 2, "She Won't Be Waitin'", the album goes off in an unusual reggae-flavored direction, but it's quite charming. Track 3, "Sweet Little Lady", is a soft country-flavored tune. Not 100% my taste, but it's okay. However, the album picks up on track 4, a blues rock track titled "Route 5" that harkens back to the Bobby Troup-penned "Route 66". Side A then ends in a most hard-rockin' fashion with track 5, a Bob Seger-esque hard rock track titled "Comin' and Goin'".

Side B is equally eclectic, starting off with a soft rock tune titled "Bad Life" that is reminiscent of the Eagles' softer material. The next track, "I Want a Van", is a 50s-flavored tribute to the van culture of the 70s. On track 8, "They Know Who They Are", the band explores reggae yet again. They must've been real fans of the genre to include two such tracks on the album. Next for track 9 is the strange bluegrass-flavored "Texas, Quebec". Then, the album caps off everything with a vampiric heavy metal attack in the form of "She's An Animal".

I know it's been a while since I did any book reviews, and as an author myself, I should be ashamed. To correct this, however, I wanted to do a review of a book series I finished a while back: Dork Diaries, by Rachel Renée Russell.

A bunch of you are already familiar with this series, but for those of you who aren't, here's the plot: teenage girl Nicole "Nikki" Maxwell gets into a private school in upstate New York called Westchester Country Day on account of her father, whose extermination business grants her a scholarship to the school by mere virtue of the fact that he does business with them. However, upon entering the school, she has a hard time getting adjusted, and not helping is the fact that Mackenzie Hollister, leader of the CCPs - Cute, Cool and Popular kids, a clique consisting of the most popular kids in school - and her fellow CCPs bully Nikki on a constant basis. However, Nikki is not alone, for she finds friends in fellow students Zoeysha "Zoey" Franklin and Chloe Christina Garcia, not to mention developing a crush on Brandon Roberts. Thus, from here on out, Nikki chronicles all the laughs, tears, smiles and drama in her diary, whether it's trying to save Brandon's pet shelter from closing down, entering a school talent show with her band Actually, I'm Not Really Sure Yet, and dealing with reality TV fame.

Overall, the first thing I admire about the series is Nikki's desire to succeed despite the odds being stacked against her. I may not have encountered the same troubles as her in school, but as an autistic guy who preferred classic hard rock and heavy metal over the latest pop hits of the day, I can totally identify with her struggles. Sure, I may be outside of the book's recommended demographic at 37 years of age, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy her stories. Second of all, I often found myself laughing at various moments in the book. Miss Russell sure knows how to put a humorous spin on otherwise disastrous happenings. As for the more dramatic moments, I truly found myself on the edge of my seat, not only worried about what would happen to Nikki, but hoping she would get out of whatever jam she happened to be in. Fortunately, Nikki has good friends, because even when she feels like she's screwed up and her life is over, Zoey, Chloe, Brandon and the gang know that she has a very good heart and assure her that they love her no matter what. Also, another thing I could relate to was her family struggles. Throughout the books, there are occasions when either her parents or her bratty younger sister Brianna do things that make her feel like her family sucks sometimes, but again, things always turn out right in the end. On occasion, the books switch things up, for example, in Book 8, where Nikki gets knocked out during a dodgeball game and imagines she's in a fairy tale world. No matter what the books do, they are always an entertaining read.

I realize that the comparable Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is more popular, and some of you will argue that it is superior. However, my sister (again, not a biological sister, just a very good friend), who was the one who recommended me Dork Diaries in the first place, gifted me the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book to try it out, and to me, Dork Diaries is clearly superior. First of all, let's talk about the protagonists. Whereas Nikki is a sweet, caring girl who means well, Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid seems like a real jerkass. Don't get me wrong, I'm also a fan of Beavis and Butt-Head, but unlike Greg, the titular duo don't mean to be jerkasses; they're just a couple of dopes who don't know any better, whereas Greg seems to be fully aware of what he's doing. Second of all, I love the art style of Dork Diaries way more. In fact, it inspired me to do my own fan art of the girls, which I posted on my fan blog. Third, the plots of the Dork Diaries books are more inspirational and teach better moral lessons than Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In fact, I love Dork Diaries so much more that I've written fanfics about it, whereas I can't say the same for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Overall, the Dork Diaries books neatly earned a spot on my bookshelf, whereas Diary of a Wimpy Kid...earned a spot trying to hold up my bed after my shitty wooden bedframe broke...well, at least until I can get a proper metal one.

If there is anything bad I can say about Dork Diaries, however, it's that there are some inconsistencies between the first and second books. See, I bought most of the books as three-packs barring Book 16, and this meant that Book 1 came as a "Super Squee Edition", not only meaning that it was given a sparkly cover, but also given the updated art style from later books as well as having certain dialogue changes, such as the removal of slurs such as "retarded". While I do love the Super Squee Edition of Book 1, this meant that when I went to Book 2, it still had the early art style, which was jarring to me. Also, I've seen scans of the recent full-color edition of Book 1, and the art style doesn't look as appealing to me as the regular art style. Other than that, I don't have too much to complain about.