AS an author, I’ve published over 60 works under a variety of pen names as well as co-authored two novels, one thriller and naughty LGBTQ work with the incomparable William Maltese entitled TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009 – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1434403556) and another techno-thriller with multi-award-winning thriller author A. G. Hayes entitled QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016 – https://www.amazon.com/dp/0996325530). QUANTUM DEATH is the sequel to A. G. Haye’s FINDING KATE (Savant ...

The K. Simmons Production of The STATIC Movie, in which I play “Will Gardner,” a curmongenous veteran facing the greatest challenge of his life, Alzheimer’s disease, airing 25 Sept 2021 on Hawaii’s KHON2, KHII and CW will now go NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL, via streaming during premiere day from https://www.khon2.com. 

For more on the film, follow https://kspllc.media/the-static-movie. 

For Behind-the-Scenes footage on its filming as well as posters, trailer and special actor intervi...

YESTERDAY I posted on the dark side, so today, in the spirit of “Koyaanisqatsi” I want to restore balance by posting on the lighter, even brighter side. An odd adjective pair? Well, one of the weights on the other side of the balance from dark is light comedy. Aristotle supposedly defined comedy as an imitation of men worse than the average (where tragedy was an imitation of men better than the average) — (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy). Ha, ha! But I’m not talking satire, paro...

THE “beast” plays a prominent roll in much of humanity’s literature, religious tomes, contemporary conspiracy theories and social media. Oxford Languages (defines “beast” as (1) an animal, especially a large or dangerous four-footed one; and/or (2)a domestic animal, especially a bovine farm animal.

In the Christian book of Revelation, two beasts are described: The first comes “out of the sea” and is given authority and power by “the dragon” (alt. Satan, the Devil, Lucifer);...

ACCORDING to UC Berkeley statistics (https://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/Real-World/million.html), the following have a one in a million chance:

20 coin tosses (by me) all coming up Tails.

Winning the current California State Powerball lotto game if you buy 6 tickets a week for a year.

A major earthquake on the Hayward fault in the next 50 minutes.

One of the next 24 babies born in the U.S. will become President.

Casting the deciding vote in a California Statewide election that opinion pol...

THAT’S right. It’s Sunday and subtlety is what it’s all about. Looking at the City from my apartment, everything looks, well, abnormally normal. Not much traffic. Brilliant day. Not too hot, not too cold. Sun rays peeking through scattered clouds, highlighting the colors of various buildings, as if each highlighted building had a special story to tell. But I’m calling it a subtle Sunday for a reason.

Climate change. Trash in the deepest points of the oceans. Covid-19-delta/lambda/etc...

MANY of you know that in addition to authoring, I am the lead actor in the “STATIC” movie (Google: “the Static Movie Honolulu”), which finished filming on 1 August 2021. Today, I’m pleased to announce that the first official poster and trailer (of likely several) has just been released and can be seen from my website at https://janik.yolasite.com/actor.php. Enjoy, and, while you’re there, check out some of the other interesting “hats” I’ve worn through the years.

Oh, and ye...

WHAT the heck is happening to book readership? More importantly, what the heck is happening to publishing? Is it the Great Fight of the Big Guys (in this case Barnes and Noble, Ingram and Amazon)? COVID-delta? Nationalism? Global Economic Restructuring? Or perhaps printers are finally running out of virgin trees to make paper and not recycling? Is it Universal Greed and resulting Uncontrolled Inflation? Is it that no one wants to work anymore? Is it global mass migration? Is it that propagand...

I’M often asked where I frequent when not actively acting or authoring. The answer, at least in my mind, is Gertrude Stein’s 1920 Paris Salon at 27 rue de Fleurus. It might be more accurate to say where Gertrude “held court” especially on Saturday nights. If ever there was a setting in this world emotionally akin to that in the Amazon genre bestseller, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, it would have to be there. With drop-ins like Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F....

HERE it is mid-August 2021, and instead of slowly exiting the COVID pandemic, we’re falling quickly back into it, albeit, COVID-delta. I’ve noted over my years, that most things “natural” (e.g. liking coffee, or gender preference) seem to follow a bell-shaped “Gaussian” curve with “extremes” accounting for 10% (5% at each end). Not so with people’s thoughts about COVID, especially folks who currently decline vaccination, refuse masks and/or are residual Trump-won-the-electio...

THESE are the times that try [hu]man souls, for sure. With COVID-delta cases once again seizing control of medical facilities in state after state in USA and around the world, I sense another Magrathea, the illusory planet in THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY that went into closure, on the horizon. It’s not a pleasant sight. The world, USA and San Francisco are still reeling from the effects of COVID-null. Another local or, God(dess) forbid, national lockdown, like several nations are ...

TO follow or lead – that is the question. The publishing world is in such change these days, that much of what we authors used to be able to depend on regarding publicity and marketing is now “out the window” and there’s nothing I’ve seen as yet to replace it. The only solid baseline is and continues to be direct guerrilla publicity and marketing from the author, and, with the rapidly increasing numbers of authors, even it’s impact is slowly being diluted out. I recently finished ...

OKAY, so you’re reading this because you’re an author (hopefully, or an avid reader at least) wondering about what it all means. The “short of it” is about the myriad frustrations with publishing. Publishing wasn’t doing exactly well when bookstores started disappearing (remember Borders, Crown, Waldenbooks, may the rest in peace?), the last behemoth bookstore chain Barnes and Noble was bought out by UK hedge fund Elliot Advisors, distributors, well, began having trouble distributin...

EH? What’s falling, you ask? Well, not the sky: It’s the price of a copy of the multi-award-winning, Five-Star Rated, Amazon genre bestseller, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor!

Printed version: Suggested Retail Price $16.95, now — $12.95 — through August at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859

Kindle eBook version: Suggested Retail Price $7.95, now — $2.99 — through August at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08B1663ZZ

Audible audiobook version: Now — FREE — thr...

OVER my 40+ years authoring, I’ve often pondered on what, if anything, comes after books. With bookstores declining and the remainder slanting to “used” (in the auto industry “previously owned”) books; publishing and publicity in COVID disarray; the rise of “anyone can be an author” self-publishing; and the much-tooted decline in readers (thought I wonder if “readership” might not be the better word), what comes after the printed, digital and audio book?

This question was r...

I’VE always loved that phrase, and am oh-so-pleased to devote today’s post to what I consider one of the most precious attributes of humanness. There’s no one key word here. It’s about affirmation, positivity and loving kindness, without any hidden or further agendas. Okay, so it might be flattery, but who doesn’t like a bit of flattery now and then? Having survived life to this point, don’t each of us deserve a bit of flattery to warm the heart and melt away those myriad demands ...

OKAY, so this last weekend, 31 July to 1 August 2021 was our last on-location film shooting. So, as they say, "It's a WRAP!" Check out the unofficial photo/video montage at https://youtu.be/ZUpRpzOAKDw or all eleven at https://janik.yolasite.com/actor.php.

With the filming for The STATIC Movie Honolulu now complete, the project moves from production to post-production, with editing, scoring, special effects, closed captioning and opening and closing credits to be added. With less than 54 day...