Jason K. Lewis is the author of ‘Empire Under Siege’ and ‘Phoenix Rising’, as well as the short stories ‘Paradise’ and ‘The Bloody King’, which is free until the end of the month everywhere except Amazon. These are his good good things.
Good things to read.
Empire magazine. Great for keeping up to date on what’s new in the world of cinema- and that’s important for me as a cinephile.
The chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson. In my view one of the only series of fantasy books to come anywhere close to the complexity or scope of Lord of the Rings. The author has been writing them on and off for over thirty years and the cycle is now complete with ten books. Quite an achievement!
The Adarna chronicles. A shameless plug here! My meager attempt to come up with a fantasy series. No where near as good as Lord of the Rings or even the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, but hey, everyone has to start somewhere!
Good things to watch.
The Almighty Johnsons. This is, quite simply, the best show to come out of New Zealand. Ever. It may actually be the only show to come out of New Zealand. I cannot praise it enough for its quirky, loony brilliance. There are three seasons on Netflix and (very sadly) it looks like no more will be made (although they should be!). Unlike many series, it does have a satisfying ending though. Would highly recommend it.
Game of Thrones– Say no more… This is good as a show. Is it better than the books? Probably not, but just as Peter Jackson managed what everyone thought was impossible with the Lord of the Rings movies, the guys over at HBO have done a brilliant job of translating George R.R. Martin’s epic to the small screen. Now, if only G.R.R.M. would finish A Song of Ice and Fire.
All those old shows that you loved as a child that are now available on Netflix. Currently watching The A-team! I love it when a plan comes together.
Good things to use.
Scrivener. This little piece of software, which is available on PC and Mac is quite simply the best tool in the world for creating complex documents. Less a word processor and more a publishing house on your own computer, it can basically do nearly everything you need to do in order to self-publish a book (apart from write it for you, of course!)
iMac. I spent a long time deriding Macs as being ridiculous and expensive toys for those who insist on being non-conformist but actually conform to another ‘norm’ (if you know what I mean). Then I got one. It’s eight years old and it does everything I want it to do (including running ‘Scrivener’ as the version on the Mac is much better than the PC version). It also starts up in next to no time and is as stable as mount Everest. What more could you ask for.
Createspace– This is a self publishing platform that allows you to create, publish and to a certain degree market your own paperback books. It is a brilliant platform for those of us who do not have traditional publishing deals or do not want to seek them.
Connect with Jason on Twitter, @JasonKLewisWrit
