The Golden Bird Quest, 2nd Edition!

   I finally revised my ebook "The Golden Bird Quest," adding a new illustration, and the original Grimm's fairy tale (in case you would like to compare the two, or relive the original adventure). If you ever got the chance to read the first edition (and few people did), I cleaned up every typo I could find (how did those get there to begin with?), tweaked/enhanced certain parts, and rewrote some of the ending.
   I think it turned out great, and I encourage you to at least check out the Amazon.com preview.

   It's an eBook, but you don't need a portable eReader to view it. You can download the free Amazon Kindle Application for your desktop, or laptop computer, or even smartphone! Here's the link:
Free Reading App

   And here's my book:
The Golden Bird Quest

   I really hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think!

—Charles

John Carter: Man Of Mars (2012 movie)

Months ago, when I watched the TV trailers for the Disney movie "John Carter," I was only mildly amused. Until I heard that it came from a story written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the distinguished creator of Tarzan. And the more I looked into the background of the story, the more intrigued I became, realizing how much I had come across other stories and art that were directly inspired by this series (such as a story line in the Marvel X-MEN comic "Excalibur," and tons of popular fantasy art).

So I just had to see this movie before it left theaters! But things kept getting in the way, until one week ago from today, when I finally got to see it with some family and friends, turning out to be the very last day it was in theaters! (at least in my area)

And I really enjoyed! Unsure of why it wasn't more successful. (During its 7 week run, it made about 75 million domestically, and 200 million internationally, totaling 275 million in ticket sales for a movie that I've heard cost closer to 300 million to make). The story, CG characters, and alien society weirdness were especially fantastic to me!

But it wasn't without its flaws. I thought, after a brief glimpse of what was going on among the martian people, they took too long to get John Carter there (I would have cut out much of his antics with those military officers). And once he did get there, his adjustment to the red planet's lighter gravity was... a bit awkward. Yet, perhaps the most damaging shortcoming, was how some of the sets – only early on in the movie, really – had a very cheap, B-movie look to them.

But overall, I really enjoyed the movie, and highly recommend it for Sci-Fi fans! The Video comes out June 5th.

–Charles M Warren

Eve's Dairy

Thanks to a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire question, I heard about this lovely little Mark Twain short-story titled "Eve's Diary." And though every detail of the first woman may not be entirely accurate, it is a wonderful little story, filled with fantastic pen & ink illustrations!

You can download it as a free ebook from Google! Here's a link: Eve's Diary

Some time after Mark Twain wrote Eve's Diary, he wrote one for Adam too, mostly focusing on their first child. But I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. It tries too hard at being humorous, and just doesn't have the same charm.

But here's a link to the free ebook if you want to check it out anyway: Adam's Diary