Slightly Off the Mark

Book Notes. No, There's No Music In Them

Okay, a few quick writerly things:

Haunted Noble County, Indiana is still up for pre-order at a price of $21.99, and will be officially released August 12th. If you want a signed copy from us let us know. I'm starting to get the idea that we didn't order enough, but we can get more sent fairly quickly. If you buy it elsewhere and want it signed--have a pen with you! (Kidding--we'll have a pen.)

We hope to make some book signings for the rest of the year, and I'll post them as soon as they're confirmed. At the moment there's a slight and not dangerous medical thing to take care of, before the schedule is set.

We do plan for an author appearance September 20th at the Fall Celebration in downtown Albion (Indiana). We ordered more copies of Storm Squalls and The Notorious Ian Grant, so there should be enough of all our books.

Speaking of author appearances, I've contacted the Noble County Library about doing one sometime this month. I haven't heard back yet, but we've been up to the main branch in Albion twice before, and they've treated us very well. One was, sadly, disrupted by a sleet storm, but we don't get those often in August.

Remember Radio Red? You can be forgiven if you don't. It's a romantic comedy, published by Torrid Books in 2017. They were taken over by Start Romance, and since then the book has languished from a lack of promotion (which after eight years is understandable) and a lack of ever having its price reduced (which in my opinion is not understandable).

Our attempts to get the rights back to the Storm Chaser books took many months. To my shock, my request for a reversion of rights in this case got a response in only a couple of weeks. So one of our fall and winter projects will be editing, reformatting, and re-releasing Radio Red independently, with a new cover.

Not that there's anything wrong with the old cover; it just doesn't belong to us.

Our other fall and winter writing projects include a Storm Chaser prequel, a Hoosier Hysterical sequel, and (finally!) finishing our photo book about the Albion Fire Department, as well as continuing to submit to publishers and literary agents. I'm betting there'll be a blog, too. Like this one.

You can preorder, order, and generally make contact here:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: If you support your local authors, it'll be a good mark in your book.

Haunted Video From Coast to Coast, Almost

So, is anyone thinking of buying a copy of Haunted Noble County, Indiana directly from us? I was just wondering how many author copies to order; it can get a little expensive on the front end.

I did an interview with a Fort Wayne news station a few years ago, and just discovered that, without my knowledge, it went all over the country. It appears to be from a syndicated news source, and I gave up keeping track after finding them everywhere from Vermont to West Virginia to Missouri.

It starts with a little segment about Halloween then goes to me, which is pretty cool. Here are some examples, but no need to click on more than one: They're all the same video. I thought it would be fun to list them, then stopped after I realized how many there were.

https://www.wave3.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

https://www.wvva.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

https://www.wlbt.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

https://www.ky3.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

https://www.kctv5.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

https://www.wsmv.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

https://www.fox8live.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

https://www.fox19.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

https://www.wcax.com/video/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

I didn't realize at first that the screen shot I took of of the video looks almost exactly the same as one I took of the original last year.

I know what you're thinking: How much attention did that bring to your books, Mark? None, that I know of. The thing about promotion and publicity is that only 5% of it actually works, and no one knows which 5%. So authors have to continue to give it their all in the hopes of keeping the balance sheet in the black, and that's pretty much the same for all small businesses.

It's one reason why so many authors still submit to traditional publishers. They don't do all the work, but they do a lot of it--in return to taking a much higher percentage of the sales. Meanwhile, the author still has to do a lot of promotion.

This is why many good writers choose not to publish at all.

You can preorder, order, and generally make contact here:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Ghosts can’t read, so you might have to read for them.

Movie review: Superman

Three things were clear to me after watching James Gunn's version of "Superman":

First, every future version of the Superman story, be it movie, TV show, or animated, should be required by federal law to utilize John Williams' 1978 score. They should even include the sheet music in the comics.

Second, that dog stole every single scene it appeared in.

Third, James Gunn understands comic book movies.

This latest version of Kal El's story starts in mid fight, with Superman getting the worst of it. Gunn wisely avoids still another version of the origin story: It's been three years since Superman donned his colorful outfit, complete with underwear on the outside. As Clark Kent he's already a star reporter, dating Lois Lane and perfecting his alter ego. But as Superman he's overstepped his bounds by interfering in a foreign war, giving everyone's favorite arch-enemy, Lex Luther, the chance to sink his reputation.

Luthor's master class in villainy causes Superman to not only lose public support, but to question himself and his reason for being on Earth. Also, he can't get that darned dog to behave. Soon Supes is hitting rock bottom, part of Luthor's master plan.

David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan fit right in as Superman and Lois, and in general the supporting actors do great. I had a little trouble warming up to Nicholas Hoult as Luthor, mostly because his voice was so different from Gene Hackman's, but by the end he was perfect. (Although the character's motivations seemed particularly petty, even for him.) Like Krypto, Nathan Fillion steals every scene he's in as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, a kind of anti-Superman from a personality standpoint.

Milly Alcock has a fun cameo as a new hero, and Fillion's Gardner made for a great comic trio with Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific and Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl.

Speaking of those characters--the "Justice Gang"--that's one of the things Gunn does very well. He knew better than to jam major heroes like Batman or Wonder Woman into the first movie of a possible future franchise. Instead, he made a deep dive into comic lore for supporting characters who could be both interesting and fresh. When's the last time you saw Metamorpho in a live action show? I barely remember him from when I was reading comics.

Gunn also understands what made Superman great to begin with, and he took the character back to the beginning, to even before Christopher Reeve times. Superman isn't dark. Superman is a Boy Scout. Not only does Superman wear his underwear on the outside of his costume, he pauses in the middle of city-wide destruction to save squirrels. You want to enrage him? Kidnap his dog.

This is what makes "Superman" a great movie. It's a throwback in the best possible way, and it shows that truly nice guy can still be the hero of the story. Not only that, but a movie starring that character can still be fun.

We can only hope this is the beginning of a universe every bit as entertaining as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, back in the day.

You can find our non-superhero but still adventure-filled books here:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter