Year of an Indie Writer: Week 14

The To Do just keeps getting longer and longer

New Quarter. New Writing Cycle Begins

Monday marked the start of a new month as well as a new quarter. The entire quarter consists of ninety-two days. If you wrote 1,000 words a day for the entire quarter, you'd have 92,000 of new fiction. Imagine what you could do with that amount of new words. I wrote about it earlier this week, but here's a hint: you can do a lot. And you'd have anywhere from one to, say, eighteen items you can then offer to readers. It's an exciting time to be a writer.

To Do List Grows

I wrote what I needed to accomplish in the month of April. The more I thought about it, the more things landed on the list. Prepare AZTEC SWORD, the third Calvin Carter novel, for publication on 1 May, both the paperback and the ebook. Upload the ebook with enough lead time to land it on the first day of May. Layout both AZTEC SWORD and HELL DRAGON in paperback. Finish the novella I'm currently writing. And then keep writing.

Not complaining, but when you're a company of one, you do everything, and you have to plan it all.

Getting to a Schedule

I work for an oil and gas company, and we're gearing up for the Offshore Technology Conference here in Houston. It always is set for the first full week of May. As you can imagine, there are lots of things to do to prepare all the marketing efforts my company does. Lots of things.

I still take my lunch break and I still write. Mostly, I'm pretty good at blocking out the day job stuff for a hour so I can do some writing. However, this week, I discovered my brain didn't 100% turn off from the day job during the lunch hour.

Irritating.

But, as the week progressed, I think I might've found a solution. These blogs I have started writing every day don't always take a lot of time and I can write them without too much thought. As much as I would love to have both my 4:30-am writing sessions and my lunch-hour writing sessions both be devoted to my fiction, I'm thinking I'll let the lunch hour be the blog writing time. That'll leave the morning sessions for fiction. I'm fresh at that time, with the cares of the day not yet invading my thoughts.

So, starting Monday, that'll be the schedule I try. Hopefully, it'll work well.

Two Very Different Books

I reviewed a couple of books this week. CRASHING HEAT by Richard Castle and HAN SOLO AT STARS' END by Brian Daley. Enjoyed them both to different degrees.

The Matrix at 20

Last Sunday, The Matrix turned twenty. Yeah, really. I watched the movie again and wrote a few thoughts.

The Author Newsletter and a Surprise

I try and send out too many newsletters to the good people who have subscribed to my mailing list. I don't always get too many responses, but this week, I did. They were nice and encouraging.

What surprised me was the initial response to Chapter 1 of "Amber Alert." It's a different type of story for me. I wasn't sure how folks would respond. Judging by some of the comments, the old adage of a writer not being the best judge of his own work seems to be true.

I encountered a few issues this past week, but "Amber Alert" will be out this week.

Shazam Soars!

I saw Shazam last night. I'll write a full review tomorrow but here's what I wrote on Facebook:

There is so much happiness, charm, and heart in SHAZAM! Hilariously funny with a real whiz-bang vibe about it. But there is one moment that brought me—and others in the audience who applauded—so much joy it actually got me emotional. Didn’t think I’d ever see it it. And I did. SHAZAM knocks it out of the park!


That's about it for me. How was your week?

Crashing Heat by Richard Castle

Sometimes it pays to open up those emails from GoodReads.

Would We Get Any More Books?

When the TV show Castle ended--still one of my all-time favorite shows--there was one more Richard Castle book already in the pipeline. That was HEAT STORM. As much as I enjoyed the shows and the real-life books that accompanied the series, I reckoned there would be no more.

Imagine my surprise when CRASHING HEAT showed up.

The Return of Nikki Heat

The Nikki Heat books are a good blend of twisty mysteries wrapped up in a set of characters enjoyable to be around. Where other books might draw you in based on the premise of the mystery, here, the mystery serves as a framework in which Nikki Heat and her husband, Jameson Rook, can interact. And this mystery is a doozy.

Rook, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, has been invited to spend a semester at his old alma mater as a writer-in-residence. Seeing as how this school largely shaped his own world view and career, Rook eagerly accepts.

Much to Nikki's chagrin. As the captain of the Twentieth Precinct, she can't just hop around, going wherever her globe-trotting beau goes. She has to stay at home in New York, missing him and trying to convince her heart and brain there's nothing to worry about. Even if Chloe Masterton, a young lady, a senior at that very school, cannot wait to meet the veteran journalist at a charity event. Chloe is, as Nikki dubs her, "the president of the Jameson Rook fan club." Rook assures Nikki her fears stand on nothing.

Then the call comes.

The Call That Changes Everything

A few weeks after his departure, Rook, with his usual bluster evaporated, calls Nikki and lets her know he's in trouble. It seems Chloe is dead, in his house, in his bed, naked. What would you think were you in Nikki's position?

Well, the trained detective is not going to let her husband's fate rest in the hands of small town cops, so she heads upstate to help.

What follows is a pretty standard mystery, the likes of which you'd have found on any random episode of the TV show Castle, from which these characters emerge. There's not a lot of twists and turns, but enough to make this book an enjoyable and welcome read. Narrator Robert Petkoff again nails the Nathan Fillion-like quality to his voice so much so that you'd almost guess it was the actor himself reading the novel.

Again, it's the interactions between the two leads that you're reading this book. Heck, you could probably just follow them around on a typical day, seeing them play off each other, and you'd probably enjoy the experience. In all these Nikki Heat novels, I've loved seeing their interplay, how it's grown and matured--mostly. Rook is still Rook, which means he's like the character Castle from the TV show, which means he's like star Nathan Fillion. And if Rook's Fillion, then Nikki's co-star Stana Katic. There's no point in trying not to see them at their charming best when reading this new novel.

CRASHING HEAT is a welcome surprise to the books of 2019, and I hope--just as I hoped when the last Nikki Heat novel was published--that there are a few more in the future. I'll always buy them on Day One, just as I have since 2009 when HEAT WAVE hit the shelves.

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@Barrie Summy

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 12

One event dominated this week. Another was just fun.

BATMAN's UNDERWORLD OLYMPICS

Being the Bronze Age kid I was growing up, the comics of the 1970s are the ones that shaped what I like about comics. The Jim Aparo Batman is my favorite Batman. He's the one I think of almost always first when I hear the Caped Crusader's name.

I own a ton of comics and I started re-reading some of the Batman titles I have, and a small run of four issues caught my attention. Published in 1976 to coincide with the Olympics that year, the Underworld Olympics find criminals from all over the world converging on Gotham City to try and best Batman.

Yeah, really.

I read these four issues (272-275) and, naturally, I wrote about them. Here are the links.

Batman 272
Batman 273
Batman 274
Batman 275

A BOWIE CELEBRATION

Wednesday night here in Houston, my wife and I were treated to something very special. A group of folks from David Bowie's touring bands now put on shows that showcase and marvel at the music of the Thin White Duke. Spearheaded by pianist Mike Garson, A Bowie Celebration is just that: a celebration. No, it isn't a tribute band, so don't think that. Heck, even writing those words does this group an injustice. These are professional muscians interpreting Bowie's music but adding their own individual spins on the songs.

It truly was something special. How special? Well, the length of my review pretty much says it all.

A Bowie Celebration Exceeds Expectations

PUBLISHING UPDATE

I am readying the next story that'll be published on 1 April. I am readying the next story that'll be published on 1 April. By this time next week, I'll have the description ready. Boy, sometimes these are tough. One book among many I use to help is Dean Wesley Smith's HOW TO WRITE FICTION SALES COPY.

I'm also looking ahead to May when the third Calvin Carter novel, AZTEC SWORD, will be released to the world.

READING 

Here in Houston, if you look past the giant plume of black, chemically laced smoke, the week was one the chamber of commerce wishes would happen more often. The sun was bright, the sky mostly clear of clouds, and the temperatures ranged from the uppers 70s to the low 80s.

It was picture perfect. (Truth be told, I'm sitting outside my office on a picnic bench, table umbrella shading my screen, and loving that winter is finally in our rear-view window.)

With the change of seasons comes a change in what I prefer consuming. When the sun's out, I like action/adventure stories. Tales bigger than life. Beach reads, if you will.

I'm still reading Brian Daley's HAN SOLO AT STARS' END for my science fiction book club. And APOLLO 8 is still on my Audible.

But the book I will be finishing this week is the latest by "Richard Castle." CRASHING HEAT is the latest (last?) inspired by the TV show, "Castle." We all know who the real-life author behind the Richard Castle moniker is, and his prose is effortless. I learn a lot from how he structures a story, breaking down the book. I'll do it for CRASHING HEAT as well as soon as I complete my initial read.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

The cover story of the March edition of TEXAS MONTHLY features the genesis of Buc-ee's, the chain of stores dotting the Texas landscape that have become destination spots for all travelers. I really enjoyed learning of its origins as well as the man behind the empire.

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 11

This was almost Week 3 redux.

QUIET TIMES

Back in Week 3, I mentioned that there would be down weeks. It happens in just about every profession you can imagine, and it certainly happens in the writing life.

It was Spring Break here in Houston. Fewer people were actually in the office at my day job and the traffic was wonderfully light. Except for Monday when I took the day off, I woke at my usual 4:45 am (getting used to daylight saving time means no 4:30 for this week), exercised, and then wrote. It made for a quieter-than-normal week.

And it was nice.

ANTIQUING FOR RECORDS

On the day off, the family and I traveled north of Houston to Spring and the giant antique store up there. A few years ago when we last went, a book dealer with shelves was there. Well, it's not there anymore, but that was okay. There were about five dealers with hundreds of records.

And we looked through most of them.

I came away with only one LP: Chicago XI, Terry Kath's last. The wife purchased two, while our boy took home four. Yup, the teenager bought more records than his parents combined. Go figure.

It's a funny thing when you have a teenager and he wants a turntable. Now our game room/his fun room has a turntable to go with the stereo system. We can all jam to records while playing video games.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF WHERE YOUR STORY GOES

The new Ben Wade story is inching its way up to novella territory. Novelette for sure. It's up to Chapter 10 and I've got the big finale to finish with the obvious denouement afterwards. What struck me during the process of this story is that it's definitely not like the three Wade novels I've already finished. I mentioned in week 7 this novella is written in third person, not the usual first person POV. That's just a prose choice. What I'm finding interesting is the style. It's a shade darker than the three novels. Things happen that actually move Wade along in his character development.

It also means I'll have to publish Novel #3 first before this story goes out into the world.

Which means I'll need another short story ready for 1 April.

CASTLE IS NOW TEN YEARS OLD

The big news this week was one I actually missed last Saturday.

"Castle," one of my all-time favorite TV shows, turned ten on 9 March. I wrote a lengthy post about it, and received some of my best feedback. I got lots of comments from folks over on my main author blog. It was really nice to revisit all that I love about this show.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Speaking of Castle, out of the blue, a new Richard Castle novel, CRASHING HEAT, was published on Tuesday. I had pre-ordered the audio and started listening on day one. Within seconds, I was back in the groove with Niiki Heat, Jameson Rook, the prose of "Richard Castle," and the narration of Robert Petkoff. He's got a great knack of getting the nuances of Fillion's voice without actually mimicking him.

The Castle novel put APOLLO 8 on the back burner for a couple of days, but I got back to it yesterday. What I enjoy about simultaneously listening/reading both non-fiction and fiction is being able to go back and forth depending on my mood.

In the chapter I listened to yesterday, the mission of Gemini 7 was described. Can you imagine spending two weeks in space inside a capsule little bigger than a Volkswagon? Yeah, I can't either.

MOVIES OF THE WEEK

I saw both Captain Marvel and Bohemian Rhapsody this week. I reviewed them both.


How was your week?

Castle: A Ten-Year Appreciation

This show had me at the trailer.

Love at First Sight

Somehow, it's been ten years since the TV show "Castle" first debuted. It was 9 March 2009, a Monday. It was in the 9pm slot, opposite ratings juggernaut and personal favorite show "CSI: Miami." But on that night, there was never a doubt at to which show we'd watch live and which show we'd tape. Sorry, David Caruso, you got bumped.

And every subsequent Monday night.

You see, "Castle" was right up my alley. The show starred Nathan Fillion, the guy from the cancelled show "Firefly." The wife liked Firefly and it was an easy sell to get her to watch Castle live, at least the first night. That was the nibble. The story and the characters of that debut episode, "Flowers for Your Grave," set the hook.

Every Monday night for eight seasons, I was glued to the TV. If the phone rang anytime during the 9pm hour on Monday, it wasn't answered. I was too focused on the show. Each week, I was entertained, charmed, and, truth be told, educated in how to write this kind of twisty mystery story.

A Writer's Education

I would love to be able to say that I watched Castle then became a famous novelist myself. Nope. But I learned the vibe of the show, the play-off of each character against the rest of the ensemble, and how story is structured. I know I absorbed that information because I can recognize it in my own writing.

I have watched various episodes over and over, breaking down the beats and outlining the story, just to understand how a story is constructed. The writing was always strong on this show, but a script is only words on paper. You need strong actors to bring these characters to life, and "Castle" struck a mother lode of talent.

A Gem of a Cast

Sure, Nathan Fillion is a famous actor, but he always comes across as that good friend who has connections that'll get you backstage at a Comic Con so you can meet the latest Hollywood actor. Truth be told, I think Fillion brought a lot of himself to the role of Castle, and he took the fictional character to another level. I don't think even creator Andrew W. Marlowe knew how well Fillion would fill out the role. It's safe to say that if any other actor was cast in this role, the character of Richard Castle would have been something else entirely. With Firefly, we pretty much knew what were going to get with Fillion as Castle, and he knocked it out of the park every single week.

But with a TV mystery show that centers itself on a romance, Fillion would only be as good as the actress cast opposite him. And in Stana Katic, the creators found perfection.

For longtime fans of the show, I think a lot of us contend the show could have easily been titled "Beckett." Katic plays Detective Kate Beckett, hard-nosed NYPD homicide cop who is as by-the-book as you could get. From episode one, Castle correctly guesses what drives her: the death of a family member. In this case, it was Beckett's mother who was killed, and that was the turning point in the young lady's life. She became a cop, and sought out justice on behalf of those who could not.

Katic didn't merely play Beckett as a no-nonsense cop. She brought real depth to the role. She fleshed out the character way beyond what was originally intended. In a show with Fillion's name more or less at the top of the marquee, it was Katic's Beckett who turned out to be the true star of the show. That's not taking anything away from Fillion or any of the other cast members. It's just that Stana Katic was that good.

Characters as a Family

In nearly every TV show, the core cast become a sort of surrogate family. And if Beckett was the mom and Castle the goofy dad, then Detectives Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Seamus Dever's Detective Kevin Ryan were the kids. The two mismatched detectives--Esposito, the tough former soldier, and Ryan, the smallish but dogged former narcotics cop--were a fun B story each week. In the eight seasons, the two actors were able to bring a lot of chemistry to these two characters, so much so that I would have watched a spin-off series with just them.

Speaking of family, the divorced Richard Castle lives in a nice New York apartment with his teen-aged daughter, Alexis (Molly Quinn), and his mother, Martha Rodgers (Susan Sullivan). As goofy as Castle could be with Alexis--playing laser tag indoors, cosplaying as some space cowboy with a brown coat--he dearly loved his daughter and mother, and they him. These three actors forged a bond so good you'd be surprised they weren't actually a family. And as time went on, as Castle's relationship with Beckett blossomed, the two stalwart ladies in Castle's orbit welcomed her with love and open arms.

Will They or Won't They

Speaking of the relationship central to the series, the creators did an excellent job of maintaining the romantic tension for four years. Look, from the outset, we knew Castle and Beckett were going to end up together. We watched to see how. And to avoid the pitfalls of previous shows.

Two favorite shows that pre-dated Castle were "Moonlighting" and "The X-Files." In both shows, but especially Moonlighting, when the two leads ended up romantically together, the show fell apart. I'm confident Marlowe, Rob Bowman, and the other showrunners were dead-set on crafting a show that kept the sexual tension high, but not prolonged past its inevitable prime. When the pair finally had that steamy, passionate kiss in the finale of Season 4, it was well and truly earned. I'm a romantic at heart and now, remembering that scene and writing about it, makes me fell all warm and toasty inside.

Going into Season 5, everyone wondered how the united Castle and Beckett (AKA "Caskett) would work. Would the show be another Moonlighting casualty? Fans needn't have worried. A template for how the pair could co-exist was already out there in plain sight.

The Meta Nature of Castle

In the series premiere, novelist Castle is suffering from writer's block. He has killed off his main character, Derek Storm, but doesn't know what to write next. The events of that episode--someone is killing people and staging the corpses the same way Castle did in his books--leads Beckett to Castle for some insight. She's a fan and has read all her books, something he clues in on quickly. In the process of helping Beckett solve her case, Castle is inspired to write a new series about a no-nonsense lady detective by the name of Nikki Heat, based on Beckett. Castle uses his connections with the mayor's office to get himself assigned to the precinct so he can observe and gather details for his new book series.

By the fall of 2009 when the second season starts, the TV show "Castle" has the character Castle promoting his new book, HEAT WAVE. In an utterly brilliant bit of cross-promotion, you could go to your nearest bookstore and actually purchase the novel itself. On the back was a photo of Nathan Fillion as Castle. For all intents and purposes, this was a book by Richard Castle about the character Nikki Heat as inspired by Kate Beckett.

The Nikki Heat books are the mirror image of the TV show "Castle." Beckett is Heat, the character of Castle is Jameson Rook, journalist, while Esposito and Ryan become Detectives Ochoa and Raley, cutely nicknamed "Roach." But, more importantly, in the first book, Heat and Rook get together.

For a time, each new fall season of the TV show would bring a new novel in the real-world bookshelves. In the relationship of Heat and Rook, readers could see how how Castle and Beckett could still have tension between them and still be in love. I have read all of these books via their audiobook versions, and both narrators--Johnny Heller and Robert Petkoff--really nail the sardonic Fillion-like vibe.

These books became an integral part of enjoying this show for me, so much so, that when the show was cancelled, I knew the Castle books would end, too.*

That Final Season

Let's get one thing straight: I loved every episode of Castle, but there were some that didn't always reach the lofty levels of the best episodes. I think we can all agree on that, right?

As the seventh season neared its conclusion, the ABC network hadn't decided to renew the series or not. Wanting to please the fans, the writers ended the seventh season incredibly well. If that season finale turned out to be the series finale, it would be perfection.

But we got an eighth season. And of the episodes that didn't reach said lofty level, some were in this season. My wife, an avid watcher with me, peeled away from the series early on in the eighth season. I think it was mainly a reaction to the way Castle and Beckett were forced apart. Gone was the witty banter and fun of the show revolving around two character who had come to love and trust one another. In its place was a seemingly out-of-the-blue story arc that took Beckett away and left Castle with Esposito and Ryan. They have good chemistry, too, but the center wasn't as solid as before.

By the time the eighth season came into the spring of 2016, rumors were rampant as to a ninth season. Judging from the quality of the eighth, even I, a die-hard fan, started questioning whether or not the show should continue. When the news broke that the contracts for Stana Katic and co-star Tamala Jones would not be renewed for a potential ninth season, fans reacted with passion. How in the world could you have Castle without Beckett? You could, but it wouldn't be the same show.

In a wild reverse of how Star Trek fans lobbied for that show's renewal, Castle fans lobbied for ABC to cancel the show rather than have a Beckett-less Castle. Who can say if they truly played a role, but Castle was cancelled, ending up at eight seasons.

Still a Wonderful Show

I've met a few folks in the years since Castle ended who never watched the show and ask me about it. When I start in on my enthusiastic response and praise of the show, they probably wished they wouldn't have asked. I wax eloquent about this show, the characters, the stories, the books. It all comes spilling out. And, to be 100% frank, I often tell them to stop at season 7. That ending was perfection to a show I have loved since Day One.

It is a show that is among my favorites of all time. It holds a special place for me, and I will love it.

How long, you ask?

Always.


*Tomorrow, a brand-new book, CRASHING HEAT, comes out!

Heat Storm by Richard Castle

I fell in love with the TV show “Castle” from the moment I saw the trailer.

As a refresher, the character of Richard Castle, as played superbly by Nathan Fillion, is a rock star author famous for his thriller series featuring the character Derek Storm. In the series premiere, Castle is celebrating his latest novel, the book in which he killed off Storm. And he’s suffering from writer’s block. Cut to a killer who is using scenes from Castle’s novels and the New York City police, in the person of Detective Kate Beckett, come and question Castle. He ends up helping solve the case, complete with delicious sexual tension, and pulls some strings with the mayor to get a favor: allow Castle to tag along with Beckett as an observer while he does “research” for a new series of novels featuring his new character, Detective Nikki Heat, as inspired by Beckett.

Got that?

Yeah, it’s a mind twist when you write it all out, but what was even more twisty was when Season 2 premiered in the fall of 2009…and an actual Castle book landed on actual store shelves. It had Fillion’s face on the back and HEAT WAVE was the first Nikki Heat book. Every fall, a new season would start and a new Nikki Heat novel would be published. Heck, even Derek Storm himself was revived (he faked his death!) and new Storm novels were published. Graphic novels, too. It was heady days for fans of the show.

Ultimately, the TV show was cancelled, but the books kept going. HIGH HEAT arrived last fall and, with HEAT STORM, the series comes to an end. HIGH HEAT actually was published back in May, but with other books on my TBR pile, I decided to wait until September to read (actually listen) to this last novel. Even Nikki Heat novel has “Heat” in the title and every Derek Storm novel has “Storm” in the title, so you know exactly what happens with HEAT STORM: Nikki Heat and Derek Storm team up.

In a series of alternating POV chapters, HEAT STORM picks up right after the cliffhanger of HIGH HEAT. Storm has been tracking down Chinese counterfeiters and his trail has led him back to Heat, but not Nikki. Her mother, Cynthia. In yet another mind-bendy twist, the life events of the TV show character Beckett (who’s mother was killed and that prompted Beckett to become a cop) are also the same for Nikki Heat (her mother also was killed). But in the course of HIGH HEAT, someone who looks remarkably like Cynthia Heat is roaming around NYC. And the secret is revealed here in HEAT STORM.

I have loved every single novel as published by “Richard Castle” and have read some more than once. Oddly, NAKED HEAT, the second novel, is one I’ve read about 3-4 times, the latter two was when I deconstructed the novel to determine how the writer crafted such an easy going page turner. I’ve used that information on my own books.

HEAT STORM serves as a greatest hits. You’ve got Storm doing super-spy stuff and Heat doing her best detective work. She’s a great character who, over the course of the entire series, was given a chance to grow and breathe. Surprisingly, the character of Jameson Rook (the counterpart of “Richard Castle”) doesn’t feature too prominently so you certainly have to take that into account. But the author (you can likely find the answer if you search the internet) ends the book series in a satisfying manner.

The entire series is well worth your time. As both the TV series and the book series went on, what I loved was how the books reflected the TV show. It took Castle and Beckett something like four seasons to get together. In the books, their counterparts got together in book 1. It was a model of how to keep the romantic chemistry going even though the “will they or won’t they” aspect had already been revealed.

The entire Castle phenomenon was one-of-a-kind. I still miss the TV show and now, with the publication of HEAT STORM, the book series is also at a end. As melancholy as that realization is , the Nikki Heat series remains one of my favorite book series of all time.

(This is the October 2017 edition of Barrie Summy’s book review club. For the complete list, click the icon below.)

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@Barrie Summy

Dreading the End of "Castle"

It was never just about one person.

Last night on “Castle,” the 21st episode of season 8, we likely saw the last of the "real" Castle.

By real I mean that there are two lead actors: Nathan Fillion in the titular role and Stana Katic’s Capt. Kate Beckett. From day one, despite the fact that her name is not in the title of the show, Beckett has been an integral part of “Castle.” There were times, deep in seasons 2 through 4, when I came out and said that they should just switch the show name to "Beckett" because that's how powerful the stories about the character were. In fact, after watching last night's program, I re-watched the behind–the–scenes DVD extra from season 1. In discussing what makes the television show "Castle" work, creator Andrew Marlowe summed it up best: "She grounds the show."

I think it's pretty much common knowledge now that the ABC television network has fired Katic as well as Tamala Jones who plays ME Lanie Parish, two stars present from episode one. When the news broke, I think most of us were shocked. That's not an understatement. The reason given was budgetary. I guess Katic just cost too much. But what shocked me more was the brazen attempt to change the chemistry of the show merely for money. I strained to think of something comparable to the firing of one of the two co-leads of a television show. It would be like if Leonard Nimoy was fired from “Star Trek.” It would be like if Gillian Anderson were fired from the “X-Files.” It would be like if Dezi Arnez was fired from “I Love Lucy.” It would be like if Patrick Dempsey was killed off from “Grey's Anatomy.”

Whoops. Bad analogy. That one actually kept going. But there's a key difference: “Grey's Anatomy”is an ensemble piece. It is more than two characters. It is a group. Inasmuch as “Castle” has become an ensemble show — with Ryan and Esposito, Alexis, Martha, Lanie, and whichever commanding officer is in charge — "Castle" is a binary system. Everything revolves around the two co-leads. You can't take one and think you going to keep things the same. It simply won't work.

So what are we left with? ABC has still not said yes or no to a potential season 9. The rumors suggest that if season 9 is a go, it would be a shortened 13–episode season. Really? Look, I know the show began as a 10–episode midseason replacement, but it has grown to be a full 20+ episode series ever since. The show was already in syndication and is already surpassed the 100–episode mark. So, unless there is other number that has to be reached, having an extra 13 episodes in a series seems like a dumb move.

But to take something that is so beloved by so many and literally rip its heart out—let's be honest, Beckett was the heart of the show, maybe even its soul—seems like such a waste. I never watched "How I Met Your Mother" but I know that the series end disappointed many fans. Heck, I'm an “X-Files” guy and that series finale was less than spectacular. Many series finales don't live up to all the time and emotional investments of fans. There are a few exceptions: “MASH” comes to mind and is a beautiful example of the series finale. Heck, thinking about it now, it seems like more shows just peter out than end strong and satisfyingly.

More and more, I’ve come to the realization that “Castle’s” season 7 finale was the perfect ending. When the episode was written, the creators didn’t know if they would be picked up for an additional season, so they wrote the final episode not as a cliffhanger but as a summation of all that had come before. It was beautiful. I remember thinking, even at the time, that they could've ended the entire run right then and there and everyone would be happy. When I discovered that a season 8 of “Castle” was going to be a real thing, I was overjoyed. More Castle was always a good thing. Right?

Wrong. Sure, I have enjoyed most episodes this season, but not like past seasons. I have rolled my eyes more than once with the whole Loksat arc as The Thing to keep Castle and Beckett separate. That Castle himself has become the comic relief in his own show is irritating. Ryan and Esposito are, as always, wonderful. If executives wanted to spin off “Castle” and create and show with just the detectives, I’m game for that. And the absence of Beckett wore me down. I’m not a viewer who knows what goes on behind the scenes. And, ironically, the day the news broke about Katic I didn’t have access to the internet (and only watched that night’s episode via regular TV antenna!), I thought “Beckett’s not in this show much anymore.”

I have been a fan of "Castle" since the original promo. When I think of “Castle,” and particular episodes or moments come to mind, the ones that I remember best all happened in the first seven seasons. The swing set. The science fiction convention. The 1940s one. The early episodes when Beckett, as a reader and fan of author Richard Castle, was all but pinching herself as she got to work. The playful banter between then that slowly morphed into genuine affection and then love. The Johanna Beckett episodes where Katic got to show just how good she can bring Beckett to life. The arrest of Senator Bracken. The one where Ryan’s gun was stolen and used to kill someone. The one where Ryan and Eposito were trapped in the burning building (is that 7). The freezer. The one where they first kissed as part of a ruse. The fun references to Firefly. And, also, the reading of the Nikki Heat books *in real time* and how they were a great counterpoint to the show. They all go together to make Castle the special, special show.

The executives have all but stomped on those memories and tarnished them.

Actually, that's not correct. We will always have seasons 1 through 7. I’m a Star Wars generation kid. That movie series helped shape my life. When the prequel trilogy didn't live up to expectations and folks complained that Lucas destroyed their childhood, that’s not really the case. Those childhood memories are still there, intact, a virtual time machine in the subconscious. I can always go back and remember how much fun I had living a life with Star Wars.

So, too, with “Castle.” We are T-minus six days until the finale of “Castle” season 8 and the end of “Castle” as we know it. Katic will make her inevitable departure to the series. I've not read any spoilers—and won’t—but come on. How else does Beckett leave the series? I will have my tissues ready on Monday night because I know I will shed tears not just at what happens to Kate Beckett but what is happening to one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I know I’ll be upset.

But I have a surefire way to assuage my sadness. Around 10:10 p.m.—after just enough time to commiserate with fans on Facebook and Twitter—I'm going to have the season 7 finale queued up. And I’m going to re-watch it (I haven’t seen it since last year). That will be my happy ending to the show. By 11:00 p.m., I’ll be smiling again. I’ll still be irritated that some executives thought that the best way to keep the show afloat and reduce costs was to fire a co-lead rather than, say, negotiate a rate reduction or film elsewhere or anything. But I’ll be happier.

Why? Because I'll probably just consider season 8 as a weird Patrick Duffy shower scene. I'll just pretend that it never happened.

The Simplicity of Travel

In an ironic bit of serendipity, my fellow author, Joelle Charbonneau, wrote about the increasing difficultly in unplugging when traveling on vacation. I, too, had that topic in the hopper as a topic worthy of discussion, but hadn't got around to it until now.

A little over a week ago, my family and I took a little vacation to Camp Wood, Texas, a small (768!) town about 2 hours west of San Antonio along the Neuces River canyon. We wanted to cap off the summer and get us ready for the new school year. As a reader, one of my favorite things to do is decide what reading material I'll bring. In the past, in order to have on hand any book that I *might* want to read given the destination--I'm one of those weird folk who tailors his reading to the vacation location--I'd be hamstrung with bringing a backpack full of things. I'm not kidding here. We'd have the suitcases, the carry on bags, and then there'd be the "book bag." The wife was puzzled. I'd shrug my shoulders.

With my Nook and the iPad, that bag full of books now became two slim electronic devices. Couple my composition book (the marbled-looking kind) and my bluetooth keyboard (to link with the iPad), my reading and writing material was wonderfully self-contained. I could have packed them in the suitcase, but opted for a backpack that was basically not needed. And, because I simply cannot go on a vacation without at least one physical book of some sort, literally on the way out the door, I grabbed my copy of Merle Miller's Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry Truman.

While my wife and I have cell phones, they are not smart phones. Yes, I'd love to have an iPhone, but, as of now, I don't have one. The only place in Camp Wood that has wifi was the public library, but, since I had no reason to go there, and since the hours were not a regular 8-5, I knew going in that I would not have internet access. The little house in which we stayed had DirectTV but we were blessedly away for the evening national news most days. We would glance at the local 10pm news out of San Antonio so we knew basically what was going on, but we weren't real worried about stuff. It was a vacation, after all.

Now, Joelle is a published author while I am, to date, not, so, understandably, she has many more deadlines that I have. The ones I have are all internal, on my own clock. It's a tad easier for me to just unplug. Going into past vacations pre-iPad, I never took my laptop, even as I was writing my first book. I'd always take the comp book and "unplug" from the electronic devices, too. I gave in with the iPad/keyboard combo and it wasn't bad at all.

What was great about the trip, what was simple, was that "my stack" of stuff consisted of the iPad, the Nook, the keyboard that I keep in its original box, and the Truman biography. Stacked together, they measured less than six inches tall. Everything that I brought occupied a nice, small, compact space. I didn't have my shelves of books I have here at the house with their spines staring down at me, calling me like sirens. I didn't have the other long boxes of comics doing the same thing. I didn't have the internet to use to chase some odd tidbit down a rabbit hole (still my biggest time waster). I had only that which I wanted to read and two modes of creating text.

And that's all I really needed. It was such a simple few days. I rose early like I always do, put on the coffee, and read the Truman biography for about an hour. Miller's book is basically a bunch of transcripts of his interviews with President Truman and his associates conducted in 1962 for a television show that was never made. If you've always heard about Truman's outlook on the world and his particular way of saying things, you should give this book a read. In our digital age, I'd love for those actual tapes to be digitized and made available. After an hour or so with Truman, I'd fire up the iPad/keyboard and bust out an hour's worth of whatever before the rest of the family began to stir. It was so simple.

Then we returned home, with all the shelves, the comic boxes, the internet, all of them begging to slice away just a little of our day. I'm not saying that I want to rid myself of my stuff, but there's a nice simplicity when you travel and you end up taking that which you need. When I pared down my actual reading needs for those few days, all the clutter here at the house seems, well, too much. I've still spent my mornings with Truman and I've finished the novel (the three novella Derek Storm story by "Richard Castle") I started in Camp Wood, but I still see all the things I *could* be reading when I sit in my library and read something. I do tune them out, but they still stare at me.

That's why I like vacations and the simplicity of travel. It's a chance to par things down to the essentials and, upon returning home, gives you a chance to reevaluate some of the things that might be cluttering up your life, be they digital or physical.

Book Review Club: Heat Rises by Richard Castle

(This is the October 2011 edition of Barrie Summy’s Book Review Club. For the entire list, click the icon at the end of this review.)

Tell me if you’ve heard this one. A priest walks into a bondage bordello and… No? You haven’t heard that one? Oh, you think my joke is tasteless. My apologies, but I’m not the only one telling stories like this. The new book by Richard Castle, Heat Rises, starts the same way. Really? Well, go on then, if you’d rather read that book and not hear my joke.

Anyway, Heat Rises is the third in the Nikki Heat series of books in the ever meta world of Richard Castle, the TV show “Castle,” the actors that portray the characters, and the still-mysterious person writing these books. Oh, my bad. It’s really “Richard Castle” writing these books, and I’m here to say that he should increase his proficiency and bust out more than one book a year. I love these things.

In this new mystery, Detective Nikki Heat is called to the S&M dungeon where the body of man who turns out to be a priest, Father Graf, is found strapped to an apparatus, dead, with evidence of torture. Was that torture part of some hidden, kinky game Graf was involved in, or something worse? Heat, her partners, Ochoa and Raley (standing in for Esposito and Ryan from the TV show), have little to go on, but soon uncover a rather intricate plot that waxes over numerous suspects and leads.

In the season finale of the TV, it was revealed that Captain Montgomery was a part of the conspiracy surrounding the death of Kate Beckett’s mother. In this book, the author has Montgomery’s stand-in—Montrose; need a scorecard?—involved with this murder. He’s been acting strange and re-directing Heat’s investigation to a direction they both know will lead nowhere. Why might the captain be doing that? What is he hiding? As the evidence mounts, Heat is convinced, but doesn’t want to believe, that her mentor and captain is in on this thing.

One subplot is Nikki Heat’s potential promotion. On a lark, she took the promotion written exam and aced it. The open secret is that Heat will earn her lieutenant’s bars, and the interview portion of the process is a mere formality. Castle handles the politics of promotion so well that you get the impression that’s how things really go. Guess he learned that on his ride-along with Heat a few years ago.

The problem is, of course, that Heat gets too close to the truth and is stripped of her badge, her gun, and her job. Suspended, she has to turn to the only person who has the freedom to help her: Jameson Rook. Now, a word about Heat and Rook. Every week, the writers of the TV show have perform the delicate dance around the relationship between Beckett and Castle. Many viewers fear the “Moonlighting” Effect—that is, once the two leads get together, the show goes downhill. You could make the same case for “Lois and Clark.” Can’t speak to “Bones,” but by the time Mulder and Scully got together, “The X-Files” was already a pale shadow of what it used to be. I, for one, enjoy the dance and don’t want to see Castle and Beckett together anytime soon. But I do expect them to have their moment.

In the mirror universe that is the Nikki Heat books, they two leads do get together, and it can serve as a nice blueprint for the TV show writers. Heat and Rook clearly like each other, but things still get in the way. Since these books are almost exclusively told from Heat’s POV, you get to understand just how important it is for her to have a man like Rook—a non-cop—act as a refuge from the daily grind of the job. I find the relationship to be just right, and look forward to seeing how it plays out in future books.

In all three books, there has been a central action sequence that is written with such style and professionalism that it’s almost a textbook example of how to do action. The first book, Heat Wave, had Nikki fighting an intruder in her apartment after she’s left the bathtub. The second, Naked Heat, had Nikki battling a professional killer in Rook’s apartment. In this third book, the stakes are raised by ten. Nikki is trapped in an underpass, with a black suburban driven by a sniper behind her, and three trained riflemen approaching from ahead of her. She gets off a few rounds, but then loses her gun. How she escapes is pretty remarkable.

I have enjoyed all three of these Nikki Heat books, the second just slightly more than this one. But all are wonderfully enjoyable and Castle the writer—or whomever is really writing these things—has an effortless grace with his/her prose. It’s a page-tuner, but not the typical cliffhanger-every-three-pages type thing. It just moves and moves.

For those who watch the TV show: there’s the scene in this season’s premiere episode where Beckett and Castle talk after one of his book signings for Heat Rises. They discuss two things. One is the dedication. I’ll go ahead and divulge it here since it’s not a spoiler:

To Captain Montgomery, NYPD

He made a stand and taught me all I need to know about bravery and character

(Doesn’t your head spin with the meta nature of it all?)

Two, they obliquely discuss the ending of the book. Here’s a link to the episode online.

Beckett: Must’ve been hard to write that ending.

Castle: Yup, considering the circumstances.

For that to truly ring home, folks, you’ll have to read this darn good book.

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"Castle's" Season Finale Shocker

Were you as surprised as I was last night with the season finale of "Castle"? I've got my take on it over at Criminal Element.

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2019 Update:

(Now that it has been eight years, I'm posting my review here in case the Criminal Element link disappears.)

Did Andrew Marlowe, the creator of the TV show Castle, misname the show?

Think back three short years ago. Castle appears as a midseason series with only ten episodes written and produced. From the first sequence, we learn most of what makes this show so charming: the juxtaposition of glamour shots of author Richard Castle (actor Nathan Fillion) at a swanky book launch party and crime scene shots of Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). Two worlds destined to intertwine.

Note: If you don't want intertwined SPOILERS, read no further, until you watch the finale for yourself.

For all the witty allure and fun, light banter between the two leads, there is only so much crime-of-the-week storytelling viewers can take before the tales begin to blur. A series succeeds based on its underlying backbone, a far-reaching story arc that can tie multiple episodes together. The X-Files had Mulder’s search for his abducted sister. Adrian Monk constantly searched for the man who murdered his wife. Ditto for CSI: Miami’s Horatio Caine.

Richard Castle is basically a man-child, a kid in a grown up body. While he has emotional baggage, it’s not the stuff that makes good, compelling drama. Since this is a cop show, there has to be a character that can’t move past The One Case that’s stymied everyone else. There always has to be a detective that will shoulder the burden for that one special case and forge ahead, finding clues here and there,and  never giving up. Kate Beckett is that cop. She has that case. It just so happens to involve the murder of her mother.

Early on, in the pilot episode, Castle tries to put Beckett in a nice little box. Using his writerly imagination, he postulates why she became a cop and, then, detective. In one of the best scenes of the entire series to date, the camera lingers on Beckett’s face, her façade of toughness visibly eroding before our eyes. With that one scene, you get additional information that echoes throughout the series: Castle often goes too far, and Beckett hides more than she reveals. He is intrigued by what lays hidden behind her steely cop face, and, over three seasons, more and more of her backstory is uncovered.

Season 3 demonstrates how to move a story forward without reaching the end and resolving the very dramatic tension that propels the show each week. In the episode “Knockdown,” Beckett and Castle are interviewing the former detective who investigated the murder of Beckett’s mother, when a sniper’s bullet kills him on the spot. The subsequent investigation uncovers the presence of a mystery man behind everything, including the hiring of professional hit man Hal Lockwood (Max Martini). As Lockwood goes to prison, Beckett swears to him that she’ll visit the prison every week until he names the man who put out the hit on her mother. The events of this episode not only show how ragged, determined, and blinded Beckett can be when it comes to the subject of her mother, but it also gave us The Kiss. (link and scroll to watch or re-watch in action.)

Granted, it was designed to be a distraction for the bad guys, but Rick and Kate lingered for just a moment, their eyes meeting. For a light-hearted police procedural, the acting is, at times, superb. After three years of will-they or won’t-they suspense, they finally took a step. And, yet, what marks the writing of Castle is how many times Rick and Kate can make a move forward, only to have them take two steps back…and make it believable.  “Knockdown” ends with the plausible event: Beckett’s boyfriend arrives to comfort her. Thus, Castle and Beckett are apart again.

Interestingly, the title of the season finale is “Knockout,” an obvious move to link the two episodes. On one of Beckett’s visits, Lockwood offs a convict (one of the two former detectives who investigated the murder of Mrs. Beckett) before having a confrontation with Kate. She smiles grimly when referring to Lockwood’s mysterious employer: “He can’t hide from me.” Lockwood merely returns her stare: “You can’t hide from him.” During an arraignment hearing, Lockwood escapes with some trained hit men dressed to look like NYPD cops. A manhunt ensues and, during the squad room scenes, Castle postulates that there has to be a third cop involved in the cover-up. Thus, not only do the police search for Lockwood, they also sift through years-old information searching for the identity of the third cop.

In the three seasons this show has aired, there have been some genuinely great moments. “Knockout” had more than its fair share. Jim Beckett, Kate’s father, talks to Castle to urge him to help Kate back down. Captain Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson in perhaps his best episode ever) and Castle have a scene together where we learn how the captain and Beckett first met. Naturally, Castle and Beckett have a fight when he asks her to back down. The good thing is that they get to address the elephant in the room: their romantic feelings for each other. And, like every other episode, it’s left unresolved. Why else would we tune in each week? Finally, there is the first of two scenes between Montgomery and Beckett. With exquisite somberness, the captain admonishes Kate not to let this case consume her. “We owe the dead justice,” he says, “but we don’t owe them our lives.” Life is a series of battles where there are no victories. “I will stand with you, detective,” the captain says.

In following leads, Detectives Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) discover the truth about the third cop right after we viewers have: it’s Captain Montgomery. In what is perhaps the most excruciating scene between Ryan and Esposito to date, Ryan, in shocked disbelief, speaks the words that the captain has to be dirty. Esposito decks him and the two fight. The anguish in their faces and voices is palpable, real even, and brings home the obvious fact that these two characters are as essential in Castle as Rick and Kate. If there was an Emmy Award for Best Co-Star Team, Huertas and Dever should be nominated annually. As they stand in an alley, backlit so that only their dark profiles are seen, they faced the unspeakable truth, and realize they must warn Beckett.

Stana Katic as Detective Kate Beckett in Castle Season 3 Finale
Bad News Keeps Coming for Beckett in Castle’s Season 3 finale
She is already at an airport hanger, brought there by Montgomery’s phone call. She gets a text message from Ryan and confronts the captain with it. In an episode already dripping with heart-wrenching scenes, this one hits it out of the park. As Beckett implores Montgomery to reconsider—even going as far as saying (begging?) “I forgive you!”—he just looks at her with all the paternal grace he can muster, and tells her “This is my spot.” Castle drags/carries a screaming, moaning, inconsolable Beckett away to safety. Montgomery, dirty cop that he is (or was), goes down and takes out all the bad guys with him, including Lockwood.

The funeral scene, complete with eulogy by Beckett is touching, but the moment is ripped away as a sniper’s bullet (again?) hits Kate. Castle, hovering over her, pleads for her to stay with him. In a moment of desperate clarity, he utters the words we all know he feels: “I love you.” She smiles, a tear running down her cheek, and closes her eyes.

Going into the episode, I knew that one of the team was not going to make it. After hearing that Montgomery was going to retire, I pretty much pegged him as the victim. I did not, however, see the turn of events that put him in the middle of the giant conspiracy surrounding the murder of Beckett’s mother. I can’t imagine that Andrew Marlowe, the show’s creator, had the captain as a bad guy from the start. But it works, and it doesn’t come off as some gimmicky, out-of-character thing like what happened to Clarice Starling at the end of Thomas Harris’s novel, Hannibal (when she willingly went off with Hannibal Lector).

In a show with humble beginnings and a funny premise, Castle is marked more by the episodes of intense drama than the humorous, crime-of-the-week variety. In fact, while watching last night’s show, I realized something: the humorous show, Castle, does drama well in the same manner that the serious show, The X-Files, did humor. From a midseason replacement series, Castle has grown and matured fast, both in the writing and the acting. For a program that is more about the characters than the plots, it is the interaction of the cast that gels this show into something greater than the sum of its parts. Yet, for all the charm and wit and charisma of Castle, the brotherly comradeship between Ryan and Esposito, and the dynamic between father and daughter and son and mother, the emotional core of Castle is Kate Beckett. It is her story that underpins the entire series.

And it is her story that might have just ended with this cliffhanger of a finale.