Factfulness by Hans Rosling Part 2 of 2

February 5, 2020February 2, 2020 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

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Generalizing and categorizing are necessary for us to make sense of the world, however they provide an inaccurate picture and make us jump to conclusions. Many businesses miss out on opportunities for growth in other countries, falsely assuming the people there are too poor to buy their product. How you live has more to do with income than your country, religion, or culture. For example, westerners often lump all 54 countries in Africa together even though there’s immense difference in income from country to country and even within a single country. Continue reading →

Factfulness by Hans Rosling Part 1 of 2

February 2, 2020 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

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Most people think that the world is getting worse. However, when we look at the statistics, things have actually gotten much better. Why is our perception of reality so wrong? The media’s disproportionate focus on bad news is partly to blame, but the fundamental way our brains work is actually the biggest culprit. Evolution has made us good at making quick decisions. This is useful in many situations, but quickly jumping to conclusions without carefully considering all the facts also makes us prone to errors. Continue reading →

Doll Crimes by Karen Runge and Power by C. S. Alleyne

January 4, 2020December 29, 2019 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

Today, I’m reviewing two recent releases from Crystal Lake Publishing. I originally wasn’t planning on purchasing either of them, but immediately before Doll Crimes was published, its author, Karen Runge, was brutally attacked by poachers in a nature reserve. I felt the least I could do to help support her was pre-ordering a copy of her book.

Power is a short story that cost only 99 cents, and since I had an Amazon digital credit for that amount which was about to expire, I thought why not give it a try? Continue reading →

This House of Wounds by Georgina Bruce

January 1, 2020December 29, 2019 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

Several reoccurring themes emerge in this collection. Many stories reference Alice in Wonderland, as well as blood, doors, smashed mirrors, the beach, sisters, unreliable memories, madness, dreams, movies, men and women in conflict, doppelgangers, metamorphosis, people with dog masks, and out-of-body experiences. Also, several of the stories make references to the cover image. While the repeating images would normally feel repetitious to me, they don’t here, taking on thematic tones. It’s actually repetitious in a good way. The stories also make references to each other on several occasions, so many of them take place in the same world. Continue reading →

Deep Space Nine Season 3

December 29, 2019 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

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Continuing my Star Trek rewatch, I’ve reached the end of Deep Space Nine season 3. It’s still a bit rocky, which I think is largely due to the awkward transition a lot of TV shows were going through at the time between trying to have each episode stand on its own and also trying to make each episode a piece of a larger overarching plot. Early seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fall into this same category. Continue reading →

Mildly Interesting

December 7, 2019 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

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Noted H. P. Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi has written a review of Machinations and Mesmerism: Tales Inspired by E. T. A. Hoffman in issue number 26 of Dead Reckonings, a horror review magazine.

He only spends one sentence on my story, “Spinollio”, but as there are over a dozen stories in this anthology, it makes sense that he wouldn’t be able to go into depth on all of them. I’m actually flattered that he mentioned me at all.

He describes my story as “mildly interesting”, which I think counts as praise coming from him. What do you think? Should I put this quote on the cover of my next book? “S.T. Joshi raves that D.J. Moore is mildly interesting!” Hehe. Just kidding. Maybe.

Machinations and Mesmerism: Tales Inspired by E. T. A. Hoffman is available on Amazon and Lulu.

Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy

November 29, 2019 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

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I originally didn’t intend to write a review of Batman: White Knight. The premise is Joker becomes the hero of Gotham, which drives Batman crazy, thus reversing their roles. I felt like it was a nice palette cleanser after reading The Dark Knight Returns (which is inexplicably considered the best comic ever written by many people), but I didn’t have much to say about it other than that. Continue reading →

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

November 24, 2019 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

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The Dark Knight Returns was originally published in 1986 and is largely considered one of the best comics ever written. I somehow never got around to reading it until now.

The premise is that Batman decides to retire from crime fighting after the death of the second Robin. However, without Batman, crime in Gotham skyrockets, so he decides to dawn the bat costume once again, despite now being in his 50s. Continue reading →

Forward Part 2

November 13, 2019November 5, 2019 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

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Forward is a collection of short science fiction stories available for free download if you’re an Amazon Prime member, much like Amazon’s earlier horror collection Disorder.

“Ark” by Veronica Roth is a retelling of the Noah’s Ark story. Earth is being evacuated due to an asteroid named Finis and a team of people are putting DNA samples of plants and animals aboard a spaceship headed for another planet. Continue reading →

Forward Part 1

November 11, 2019November 4, 2019 ~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment