blog Archives - Author M.J. Preston

Can’t we all just get along?

By MJ Preston on Thursday, November 17, 2022

Something I have never done, is attack another writer, or their work. I don’t do this because I understand how hard it is to build a readership without a fellow writer torpedoing you. There are writers out there whose work I would not recommend, but the judgement is not mine to hold. Hell, there are those out there who might not recommend me. I think that is for the readership to decide, and not based on some sideshow arsehole smackdown.

Beyond the scope of their writing, what if they are an arsehole?

Generally, if I find someone that repugnant, I simply delete them from my circle. In one case I did this, after no longer wanting to read this writer’s self-righteous bullshit posts. I never mentioned his name or his bullshit nor will I ever. He’s still out there, making an idiot out of himself, calling out others, but I won’t name him or his work. He’s not the only one, there’s been a handful. Usually if you open a post with, “If you don’t agree with what I’m saying, you can just unfriend me right now.” I tend to oblige the preamble, and skip the post because there’s nothing left to discuss.

I don’t base friendship on politics. I have friends in all camps, although our friendships are anything but political. Sometimes, I shoot my mouth off about politics or the state of the world. These are my opinions, and if you don’t agree I’m cool with that. I usually only get my back up when someone starts getting personal or starts name calling. I consider this the last bastion of the lost argument. Nothing left to offer, so damn the torpedoes. “You’re a douchebag, MJ!”

I believe in respect, and I believe that social media has yet to find a balance between moderation and censorship. I’m a firm believer in free speech and free expression, but always with a modicum of respect. I also believe that if we don’t listen to those we oppose, we are destined to repeat past mistakes.

When I hear a writer bash another writer, I am dismayed. I know we’re made of the same things as the non-writers but I always thought there was an unwritten rule for those who write. Something like the physicians hippocratic oath, “Let it hereby be known that we of the authors guilded goodness, declare that we shall disparage no scribe and leath that to the readership.”

Perhaps not. Certainly, the bashing continues and quite publicly and to all walks of writers from indie to international bestseller. I won’t do this to another writer. Whether I remain an underdog of indie or get lucky, I will always support my fellow writers as they bring voice to the written word in all it’s wonder.

Thanks for listening.

Check out the HIGHWAYMAN SERIES

* Book 1 – Highwayman * Book 2 – FOUR
“How different from other books I have read, the twists and turns of this killer. How he plans and executes his crimes to his reasoning and acceptance of it. How he views himself is spelled out in a disparaging display of dark manipulation of facts and people. – Barnes and Noble Review

Entertainment General Memoirs MJPreston #FFS News Research Uncategorized Writing quotes

A Reader is Born

By MJ Preston on Friday, September 9, 2022

I have never been a fast reader, but from my first adult book, First Blood by David Morrell, which I read at the tender age of 10, I fell in love with the written word. Not all of it. The dry material that was on the school reading list couldn’t hold my attention.

The passing of Peter Straub reminds me of the library that has continued to outgrow the bookshelves I have room for. There were so many wonderful authors to choose from. Stephen King, Robert R. McCammon, F. Paul Wilson, John Skipp and Craig Spector. I could go on and on. Really, I could.

I connected with many of these authors because they were a part of the era I grew up in. The 1970s. For a long time, I was a constant reader of Stephen King, not because he wrote horror but because of his style. King made reading a story like eating your favorite dessert. You identified with a lot of what the author was writing about. The writing was sometimes raw and honest and even fantastic. King and many other authors were comparable to the talent in the music scene of the same era. Creativity was on fire in the 70s and although the music changed in the 80s, the writing just got better.

Getting back to David Morrell, I actually had an online conversation with him through social media. I made a remark about First Blood and how I preferred the ending in the book to the ending in the movie. It felt more real. He told me that Stallone had also wanted the same ending in the novel and they had shot it. He said that when they put it in front of test audiences, they hated it. So they re-shot the ending. If you don’t know, read the book, no doubt you’ve seen some of the movies. I told Morrell how young I was when I read his book, and his response was, that a 10-year-old shouldn’t be reading a book like First Blood.

My response was that with respect I disagree. He reinforced it. “Too young.” Very nice guy. I understand his opinion. He didn’t write the book with a 10-year-old as his target audience. Besides, most kids that age were reading The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.

First Blood opened my eyes, I loved the language, especially the adult language, and the sex, and the violence, and adults talking about stuff that kids my age weren’t privy to.

First blood was a doorway to a place I’d never been. One that wasn’t censored or sanitized. When I finished the book, I put it down and thought about it for a long time. I grabbed William Peter Blatty’s, The Exorcist and read it. I lost a few nights of sleep from that one, but I kept picking up these adult books while getting a C- on a book report for some boring Bantam Book. If I couldn’t afford a grown-up book, my mom always had a Sidney Sheldon or Harold Robbins novel hanging around. I wasn’t a huge fan of either author, but I got through them. Robbins was easier due to the many sex scenes.

Back to Peter Straub, I think The Talisman co-authored with Stephen King will always be my favorite. There was magic in that book. I got to ask Peter Straub one question when he was doing an interview and that was. “Who came up with the idea for Wolf in The Talisman?” He replied, “That was all Steve,” referring to King.

Such a gentleman.

Farewell, Peter Straub, thank you for inviting us to the fireside.

Thanks for listening.

PS: Be sure to check out the Highwayman Series available in all formats on all platforms in all sorts of places all over the world. We haven’t reached space yet, but I’d love it if you give it a read. If you’re into crime thrillers, you’ll dig this.

Here are some links: Book One HIGHWAYMAN Book Two FOUR

Entertainment General Memoirs MJPreston #FFS News Research Uncategorized Writing quotes

Beyond the Rabbit Hole

By MJ Preston on Sunday, December 5, 2021

I am a pretty open guy, my Facebook profile is open to the public as is my Twitter, and as long as you are not a drooling lunatic or fake profile, I generally friend or follow back. Here’s the thing with me. I’m public to a point, and aside from this writer’s very public profile, there are things that remain private.

As you steal hours from your spare time to try and pound out a novel, life happens all around, and sadly so does death. And so we do what we can to climb the hills only to rest in the valleys where life springs eternal. For the record, I’m pretty sure I plagiarized that last part. For the writer who’s got a day job trying to get their work out there, time is a precious commodity. Time equals transforming your brain from the realities of life and going down that rabbit hole of creativity. Trust me, it’s an awesome place to be. Rock n Roll blasting in the headphones, the keyboard clacking in a cadence of thought. From the blank page words appear and become sentences, and paragraphs, and chapters, and from that, characters backdrops, emotions, anger, distrust, horror, and redemption!

When it’s happening you’re having the time of your life. The world outside that place is in another galaxy. You are in Pittsburgh with a cop suffering PTSD. You are in Bucharest where the assassins gather to take on the FBI. It’s crazy, amazing, funny, heartbreaking, and scary. It’s not a trance really, but like a waking dream when the muse starts kicking ass. Explaining it to you even brings back flashes in previous writing sessions where in my mind I see through the eyes of my characters and therefore hold their memories.

Life beyond the rabbit hole can take a toll on that state you need to get into. You can lose yourself for a while, sometimes you have to shift your priorities, and avoid the rabbit hole because life demands it. In my case, I didn’t really lose my muse, I just sort of left him sitting by the rabbit hole tapping his foot and looking at his watch. Meanwhile, life has its demands, and we give in to those demands because…life.

AVAILABLE IN PRINT, EBOOK, AND AN AUDIOBOOK READ BY RL KECK. GRAB YOUR COPY TODAY.

Because not only does life happen but so do global pandemics. The day after I did a pre-taped radio interview that was supposed to air the same day I was doing a big signing for Highwayman, it all got shut down. Poof! Then we were sequestered to our houses and I kept pinching myself to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming about one of the dystopian ” movies I loved from the ’70s. “Get your dirty hands off me you stinking ape!” Or “Soylent Green is people.” Every time we ventured out we were purposely avoiding others. Those first few weeks were especially creepy. Honestly, I don’t think anybody had any idea what they were doing. Life beyond the rabbit hole doesn’t give a hoot about your story or novel.

Welcome to the pandemic, and while we’re at it, here’s another big helping of life stew. And this is not just specific to me, this is every writer who has their own peaks and valleys to navigate. Sure, some are more comfortable, some don’t have a day job, and they write full time, sell books, some lots of books. But life doesn’t care if you’re an Indie writer or a NY Times bestselling author. Life doesn’t care.

The rabbit hole is still there when and if you choose to come back to it. After my peaks and valleys, and still in the global pandemic, I met my muse, bastard that he is, and down the rabbit hole we went. Through all of this, we keep coming up with something, and he whispers ideas in my head.

Things are moving now and there are characters revisited, and new ones introduced and as life rages on I’m in that other place. Stumbling through the wreckage of a car. Trying to find a lost FBI agent. Going to war. I hope I can pull it off and take it to the Max. For the time being I swiped the keys to the rabbit hole and life goes on.

Thanks for listening.

Tag Archives: blog

Can’t we all just get along?

A Reader is Born

Beyond the Rabbit Hole