5 Sci-Fi Movie Franchises You Must See!

There are many Sci-Fi films out there today, but there are certain franchises that continue to redefine the genre today.  Here are a few you should acquaint yourself with:

Star Wars:  I grew up with the Star Wars movies.  I was in grade school when I saw the first one with my Dad.  We have watched every Star Wars movie together since: it’s kind of our thing.  I think these stories paved the way for the Sci-Fi film industry as it is today.  In this franchise (if you are one of the ten people world-wide who hasn’t seen one), rebel humans and alien life forms from across the galaxy fight against the evil Empire.  In the first three movies, the main antagonist is the inhuman Darth Vader who has become more robot than human.  Darth’s biggest threat, ironically, turns out to be his long-lost son, Luke Skywalker.  No one will forget the moment in The Empire Strikes Back when Darth reveals to Skywalker, “Luke, I am your father.”  In the theater I sat in (many years ago), I’ll never forget the collective gasp and resounding, “What?” that reverberated through the room.  The underlying theme in these films is that the Force (God, Universal Life Force, whatever you wish to call it) is with us all the time and with it we will prevail.

Independence Day:  In this film we are reminded that Freedom is not free and we should value it every moment of our lives.  The Independence Day films focus on alien invaders set to destroy Earth on the Fourth of July.  How DARE those aliens mess with Americans on Independence Day? The evil insect-like aliens come to Earth and attempt to exterminate all of humankind so they can strip the Earth of its natural resources.  This just ticks the Americans off.  Humanity finds that they are hopelessly out-matched and their weapons are completely ineffective as these merciless creatures devastate major cities worldwide.  What is the world’s only hope?  Listening to Jeff Goldblum.  . .

Marvel Movies:  I came upon the Marvel franchise quite accidentally when my friend invited me to go see the first Avengers film.  My theory at the time was that if Robert Downy Jr. was in it, it was worth the price of the movie ticket.  Well, I got my money’s worth big time.  From there I went backward to see all the other films in the franchise.  I cannot get enough of this world and it’s amazing characters (Thank you, Stan Lee!).  My favorite in the franchise has become, of course (if you know me at all), the Thor movies, because of its portrayal of the original and king of all tricksters, Loki (played by the charming Tom Hiddleston.)  In these movies, we see how laughingly antiquated is the firepower of Earth.  Thor and Loki live in a world where scientific advancement and magic go hand in hand.  Advanced weaponry, parallel universes, and time travel through alien-made wormholes are just the tip of the Sci-Fi iceberg in these films.  The theme of these films:  Humans are stubborn and we’ll do anything to protect our world.  And brothers can drive you insane.

Jurassic Park:  I came to Jurassic Park through a love of Michael Crichton, who I have been reading since I was in high school.  Jurassic Park has been and will always be my favorite Crichton novel.  I remember when I first saw the Jurassic Park trailer in the movies.  All I needed to see was percussion waves in a cup of water and I knew what film it was even before the T-Rex’s foot came down into the frame.  These films warn us to be responsible with scientific experimentation.  It is dangerous and selfish to push ahead in areas we do not understand and cannot control.  In Jurassic Park, a rich billionaire decides to clone dinosaurs from mosquito DNA so that he can create a theme park that puts Disneyland to shame.  The main problem:  no single strand of DNA is complete and the animals created are now completely uncontrollable.  A mechanical failure within the main control center throws the entire park into chaos and Jurassic Park becomes a dinosaur’s killing field. 

Harry Potter:  Although Harry Potter is really in the Fantasy & Magic genre, there are many elements in each of the films that cross into Science Fiction.  As in Thor and Loki’s world in the Marvel Universe, magic is treated at times as an exact science.  Potter’s beautifully written anti-hero, Severus Snape (played by the irreplaceable Alan Rickman) is the first to attest to this.  Magic is seen as a science beyond Muggle (or “Non-Magic Folk”) comprehension and Professor Snape berates anyone who he feels doesn’t take the study of magic seriously.  The films also delve into major Sci-Fi themes when they touch on Time Travel with the use of a Time Turner in Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban.  Finally, the entire Wizarding World is actually a parallel universe existing right inside the Muggle World.  If only we knew how to find it . . .

These films were not listed in any particular order.  This is just the order that they popped into my mind.  Choosing only five Sci-Fi franchises is pretty hard.  There are too many to mention (such as Star Trek, Alien, and Back to the Future).  These particular films I mentioned have a hold on my heart as well as my left-brain.  Please forgive me for any omissions on my very short list and feel free to mention your favorite franchises in the comment section below. If you haven’t been introduced to any of these films yet, please go out and see at least one in each franchise.  You won’t be sorry.

If you are interested in seeing my choice of Sci-Fi writers, see last week’s blog post at:

http://sellwritersblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/5-awesome-sci-fi-writers-you-must-read.html

And if you would like to experience my version of a Science Fiction novel, please check out my book Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon books and Kindle at:

https://www.amazon.com/Luke-Aloysius-Bloodline-Laurie-Jeffers-ebook/dp/B01GD9X8BE/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?i

May the Force Be With You and Don’t Let the Muggles Get You Down!

5 Awesome Sci-Fi Writers You Must Read!

When you think of your favorite Science Fiction writers, which ones come to mind?  There are five sci-fi writers and sci-fi crossover writers that you should be reading if you call yourself a true sci-fi fan. I ranked them, not by who is the greatest, but by the year of their birth.  Each of these writers is outstanding for different reasons, and it would unfair to rank one above the other.  They are all masters of their craft in different ways and all have warned us of the need to be responsible with the advances we make in Science.

1.  Isaac Asimov (1919- 1992):  I think most die-hard sci-fi fans appreciate Asimov.  In my opinion, Robot Dreams was the most disturbing piece he wrote.  It’s a story about a robot infused with Artificial Intelligence that has become self-aware.  The horror creeps in when the people who created the robot begin to ask it questions and learn that not only is the robot connected to other robots, but that it dreams about itself as a new dominant species that will enslave humans.

http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html

2.  Ray Bradbury (1920-2012): There isn’t an American child alive who has gone through the public school system who hasn’t read at least four Bradbury short stories.  It’s impossible.  My personal favorite (and, believe me, it’s hard to pick) is Sound of Thunder.  The story starts by announcing trips through TIME SAFARI, INC and promises to give you the hunting experience of a lifetime.  Time traveling hunters are invited to go back in time and kill a T-Rex.  The only important part of the deal is that you don’t go off the path.  Of course, someone does go off the path, killing a butterfly, and altering the rest of human history.  Sound of Thunder exemplified the Butterfly Effect before Jeff Goldblum made it famous in the film version of Jurassic Park.

http://www.raybradbury.com

3.  Kurt Vonnegut  (1922-2007): As Ray Bradbury is to high schoolers, it is college kids who usually get their first introduction to Vonnegut.  He is another short story staple in high school with pieces such as Harrison Bergeron and EPICAC, but my favorite is his war memoir, Slaughterhouse 5.  The crux of this book is based on Vonnegut’s own memories of being a survivor of the horrific burning of Dresden in WW II.  However, the main character, Billy Pilgrim, slips out of time and space when things go bad to live in an alien zoo as an attraction from Earth.

http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org

4.  Michael Crichton (1942-2008):  A man who left this world way too early, Crichton made dinosaurs the coolest things to ever hit the planet in his novel Jurassic Park.  It’s a well-researched novel that covers everything from genetic engineering and mutations to archaeology to Chaos Theory.   You won’t be able to put it down.

http://www.michaelcrichton.com

5.  Stephen King (1947- still truckin’):  Although toted worldwide as the “King of Horror,” and oh he is, King is also an amazing sci-fi writer as well, as seen in his short stories, such as The Mist where a government experiment gone wrong opens a portal to another dimension and lets giant man-eating bugs into our dimension.  However, my most favorite sci-fi King novel is The Cell, which will do for the reader and cell phones what Jaws did for the beach.  In this novel, a pulse goes across the cell phone airways, turning people into monsters that gradually develop extraordinary networking capabilities.  I dare you to read this novel and not want to throw away your cell phone afterward.

http://stephenking.com

In all, these are just a few of the most incredible sci-fi writers who ever scared the gremlins out of us.  Who did I leave out on my list?  Please tell me in the comments below!

In the meantime, please check out my Sci-Fi novel, Luke Aloysius: Bloodline, on Amazon and Kindle.  I don’t presume to hold a candle to the men I mentioned above, but I hope my novel makes them proud, wherever they are!

https://www.amazon.com/Luke-Aloysius-Bloodline-Laurie-Jeffers-ebook/dp/B01GD9X8BE/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?i

Blog Challenge: Blog Post Ideas

Today I participated in my first Blog Challenge!  The challenge was posted on Professional Content Creation at http://professionalcontentcreation.com/blogging-challenge-blog-post-ideas#comment-6671

The idea of this challenge is to take five of your blog ideas and create five more post ideas out of each one.  So, I sat down and focused on my blogs that have had the highest traffic so far. Here is what I came up with.  How many can you come up with?

A few things Starving Writers shouldn’t pay for. . .	Sell a screenplay in a year	Muses:  Stephen King and Paul Reuben	Tease me, Stan Lee. . .	Beginning a television spec script
Economize on a writer’s budget	Getting your ideas focused:  brainstorming your screenplay	Muses:  William Shakespeare and Alan Rickman	Bringing Comic books heros to life	Writing a television spec script
Utilizing the internet to save postage and money	Writing the screenplay	Muses:  Michael Crichton and Stephen Speilberg	Why comic book and fantasy heros are so popular today	Revising a spec script
Social Media to reach a larger audience when on a shoe-string budget	Research for screenplay writers	Muses: Elie Wiesel and Roberto Benigni	Using your favorite comic book hero (or villain) as inspiration for your protagonist (or antagonist)	Selling a spec script
Promoting your book with no money	Creating characters who make an entrance on screen	Muses: Your family history	Creating a world	Collaborations on spec scripts
How to budget for a new novel	Producing your own screenplay from a writer’s perspective	Muses: Your own life story	Keeping to Science in Sci-fi	Producing your own television pilot- an easy guide for writers

Now the hard part will be to decide which idea to write first!  If you have a request, please post it.  I’d love to know what people want to learn about more.

And please check out my book Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8B

A Few Things Starving Writers Should Never Pay For

A few years ago, I had to rethink my budget.  When I got out of college, I got a full time teaching job that paid fairly well and had full medical and dental coverage attached.  I got into good habits and bad habits during that time.  The first thing I did was to save one of my monthly paychecks immediately.  They went into my bank account and when I hit a certain amount, I divvied up that money between savings, certificates of deposit, and U.S. savings bonds.   Of course I already had money automatically deducted from my checks to go into a 504 retirement fund.  Within a year I had saved enough money and was looking for a condo.

            The bad habits that I developed were as follows:  if I saw something small that interested me, I bought it without a thought.  CDs, books, DVDs, movie tickets, clothes.  Whatever.  I also spent money on classes and theater tickets whenever I wanted.  I considered those two things my “big ticket” items, but things I deserved that would better me as a person, an educator, a writer, and an actor.

            What happened afterward completely changed how I view money and how I view shopping in general.

            I lost my job and then I got sick.

            When I got sick, I couldn’t work for a while and due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not eligible for either unemployment or workman’s comp.  Within a year, I saw my savings dwindle to pay medical bills. 

            I went from being financially stable and looking to purchase a home of my own to being destitute within a year. 

            There was nothing I could do about my health except get myself better. By the time I healed, I was in a hole of close to $100,000 including money owed and money lost by unemployment.

            So, I seriously had to rethink what I was purchasing.  These are some of the things I stopped spending money on until I got my finances back in order.  I figured I’d share and hope it helps some of you out there. . .

What not to spend your money on ever if you are broke (or almost never). . .

 Books:  Now, I know this is hypocritical since I am a writer and I want people to buy my books, but here is something that you should not spend the money on if you don’t have it.  I can give the reason in one word:  Libraries.  There is no reason whatsoever to purchase a book when you can borrow it.  Many times you can even download it for free, not only from your library, but from from Amazon, I-tunes, or other Internet sites as well.  This is especially true for classic novels.  If the book is in the public domain, you can usually type in something like:  Free Name Your Title pdf and you’ll get a list of dozens of sites that will allow you to download a novel or play for free.  I made sure that my book Luke Aloysius: Bloodline was available to borrow on Kindle for all my fellow starving artists to enjoy.

Music:  Now, I know that there are CDs you may have to have because you know will listen to them everyday for the rest of your life, but in general, you can get most music for free.  I’m not talking about pirating (which is stealing, so don’t do it!), again I’m talking about libraries.  Whenever I stop at the library, I sift through the CD collection and take home five new CDs to listen to.  If I really want an album that isn’t in the library, I put it on reserve.  You can also download some free music legally from I-tunes.  They give away free music every week and now, with I-tunes radio, you can listen to any music you want to for free until you get sick of it.

DVDs:  For older movies, check Youtube first.  Type in Name Your Title Entire Film and see if it comes up.  If that doesn’t work:  Library.  The library should be your best friend for all types of media. 

Newspapers and magazines:  Library, library, library.  The only thing to note is that if you are looking for the paper to look through the classifieds, you may have to go to the resource desk to get the classifieds.  Some libraries have found that people will steal the classifieds (rude!), so they keep the classifieds behind the counter.  All you have to do is give them your library card to borrow that section.  When you’re finished and return the classifieds, they give you back your library card.  Just make sure you bring scrap paper to the library with you so you can write down the contact info of all the jobs you find.

Scrap and draft paper:  Usually anywhere you work, they are tossing out tons of copier paper everyday.  When I was teaching at one job, every time we printed out anything from either email or the Internet, it automatically printed out a cover page with your name on it.  I would squirrel away these cover pages in the bottom of my filing cabinet.  At the end of the year, there was a paper shortage for the last month of school.  No one was able to copy anything.  I went back to my stash of cover pages and used that to make copies of lessons for my students.  I still keep an ongoing stack of paper that is printed on one side to use for writing drafts.  It’s not only thrifty, but it saves trees as well!

 Grant and contest information:  There are many websites and services out there that will give you up to date grant and contest information for a monthly fee.  The heck with that.  You still have to do all the work, therefore:  library (do you see a trend here?)  Just tell the reference librarian what you need and she’ll give you a stack of books to look through.  All up to date.

Clothing:  You heard me right.  Of course this is dependent upon your needs.   If you need to purchase an interview suit, then you should do so, but try to do so by stacking coupons (mixing a store coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon and maybe even a store sale).  By stacking coupons, I got a $95 dress for $15- new for the season.  You can get free clothes in different ways.  First is by trading with a friend.  A lot of times we think we need new clothes, but we are just tired of them.  My cousin and my best friend always give me their unwanted clothes.  The clothes my cousin gives me are too small for me, but I give them to my neighbor, who is a widower and needs them.  I do keep shoes that my cousin sends my way because we are the same size shoe.  My best friend will send me clothes and I will send my unwanteds right back to her.  She divvies the stuff I give to her up with herself, her sister-in-law and her daughter. 

           Another way to get clothing for free is by utilizing your credit card points to get gift certificates to stores you love.  You can also get cash back with credit card points, but I find you get more money back by selecting a gift certificate instead.  I will stockpile these for when I really need something or to use toward buying gifts.  I once paid $5 for close to $100 in DVDs because I had gift cards, store cards, online coupons, and store coupons.  (Note:  you have to understand that some stores have a strict one-coupon-only policy.  In those stores I will stack my one coupon with a store sale.)

I    Videos, classes, meditation tapes:  Youtube.  I think Youtube is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  It is the one Internet app I use all day, every day.  Everyday I use Youtube to watch meditation tapes, to do research, to develop lesson plans, and to learn new things.  I have no less than 200 videos saved at any given moment waiting for me to watch them because I cannot possibly watch them all at once.  The really cool thing about Youtube is that if you create an account (Free!), the account links up what you watch to more related videos that you didn’t know about.  I found out about tons of Youtube channels that I use everyday because Youtube felt I might enjoy them.  Each day I will type in a search for meditation videos.  I usually put in Guided Meditation for Whatever Topic and hundreds will pop up.  There are meditations for manifesting goals, creating peace in your life, for letting go of stress, to save the oceans, you name it.  I also am using Youtube to learn new languages.  Because of Youtube, I now know several Italian children’s songs and I can say the entire Greek alphabet.  I am learning how to say the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic and I learned what in the world Enochian is (it’s the language of angels, apparently).  I use other videos to learn cooking techniques, recipes, teaching techniques, to gather background for literature I’m teaching. . .you name it, the sky’s the limit.

      Land lines:  Unless it’s part of your internet package and is cheaper that way, if you have a cell phone, you don’t need a land line.  Most people I know with cell phones never use their land lines.  It’s just a waste of money.

     High cell phone bills:  When I upgraded to a smart phone, I was disappointed to find that my monthly bills (which were supposed to remain the same) went up to $120 a month.  I was ready to trade back down and get a pay-as-you-go phone.  But, instead I called my cell phone carrier and talked with a customer service representative.  I found that I didn’t use most of my minutes or data each month.  The operator suggested that I take a lower plan which covered less minutes and data—minutes and data I never used anyway.  With one phone call, I cut my cell bill from $120 a month to $73 a month.  That’s $564 back in my pocket every year.  Not a bad piece of change.

     Coaches:  Youtube and the Internet.  Everyone from Tony Robbins to Bob Proctor to Rhonda Byrne to whoever have motivational and instructional clips posted for free.  They use it to widen their audience.  They have excellent, free, websites as well.

These are just a few of the expenses I learned to curb or eliminate.  If you can think of anything I didn’t mention yet, please post below.

As a side note, I’d like to also take a moment to send my prayers and love to Paris since recent tragedies.  I will continue to pray for peace for all of us and for an end to terrorism.  If you would like to read my take on what a true Martyr is, then please read my earlier blog entitled “Martyr Defined” at

http://sellwritersblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/martyr-defined.html

Also, please check out my new novel, Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Live in Peace. –Laurie xo