Justin Dennis' Official Blog

Update

2012-02-10T12:35:00.000-08:00

I've been reading back through Through the Portal in an effort to create a detailed synopsis and a descriptive list of all the characters, animals, and other things of Callisto. Probably should have done that as I was writing it, but now I'll be able to reference that rather than searching back through the whole book to find how I described someone or how a certain creature behaves, etc.

When it's completely done I think I could make a page listing all the characters and creatures that are mentioned in Through the Portal, but I'm unsure about that. Also wondering if I should create a page for the origins of names and places. These names aren't random; most of them mean something in some language. What do you think?

Book Two is coming along swimmingly. (Can I use that word?) It's still untitled but I have a few options and one that I'm really leaning towards. What is it? Well, I can't tell you, sorry. It's a secret until Book Two is up and published. :) I'm about halfway through the writing process, which means many more chapters of writing and then a TON of revising, editing, and formatting before it actually hits the Kindle/paperback.

I wish I had more time to work on it. It's this damn school that keeps getting in the way. (That was a sarcastic "damn," by the way, I actually love this school.) My classes this semester are really very interesting, and I'm working hard at them. Unfortunately, that means less time writing. But I'm doing my best! I love the plot for Book Two; I think it steps up the intensity a lot from Book One and I'm really looking forward to getting it out there and moving onto the finale: Book Three.

Anyway, that is about the wrap-up for my writerly life. There's a red squiggly under that word "writerly," but I'm going to pretend that it's a word regardless. I should start making a list of annoying grammatical things, like the subjunctive was/were debate, toward/towards, who/whom, use of the em dash, etc. Okay, sorry, now I'm just thinking out loud (er... blogging out loud? Thinking into my blog? Who knows).

Have a wonderful day!

Review: Lord of the Rings - The Hobbit - The Silmarillion

2012-01-21T23:42:00.000-08:00

I have just finished a TON of reading. All six Lord of the Rings books (yes it's six books, split into three parts) and The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. You know, it was pretty good. But it wasn't as amazing as everybody has hyped it up to be. So I would say four stars out of five.

My first problem is that it's a pretty sexist, male-dominated story. Almost all of the main characters are male, and even the one woman, Eowyn, who *spoiler alert - highlight to see* stabs the the Witch-King in the face, is dependent upon Aragorn and only comes out of a depression when Faramir comes to her. So despite being a fighter, she is still the stereotypical dependent-upon-men kind of woman. It's easy to see that Tolkien grew up in a male-dominated society and didn't exactly try very hard to create strong female characters.

There also seems to be a lot of talk of fate in this book. Most of the characters at one point or another alludes to someone's fate to do something later in the story. It's just weird that everyone has this sense of everything that is going to happen already and doesn't really make sense. And as far as fate goes, after looking into the history of LotR the whole story seems to fall apart because the super-god/creator Eru Iluvatar just lets all this bad stuff happen. Sauron, the major bad dude, is actually a part of Iluvatar that went bad, but Iluvatar just kinda lets him do his thing and hopes that things will work out. I feel like the more powerful characters, like Iluvatar and his super-powerful minions, could do more to stop Sauron and prevent all this terrible suffering from happening.

Oh and this world, Middle-Earth... is it flat?? Because all the Gods/Elf/Super-People live in the "west" and no one else is allowed to sail west. But there's a whole ton of stuff in the east. So, if someone were to go really far east wouldn't they eventually make it to the west/god-land? I feel like someone should have explored this whole world by now. And communication between all the areas takes days/weeks even though people like Gandalf and Saruman have magic.

Also, there's a lot of traveling. A lot. Half the book is just people traveling across plains of nothingness. Pages and pages of this, seriously. Gets old after a while, Tolkien. And he has a very antiquated way of writing which completely makes sense as this is designed to be ancient mythology and he was a philologist, etc., but I just don't enjoy reading that kind of style.

And my last bone to pick is the sheer confusingness. The Silmarillion is definitely just a bunch of names of all these LotR ancestors doing all sorts of things: very confusing. Lord of the Rings alone is less confusing, but there are still all sorts of places and names and things that just become overwhelming.

Really though, it was a good entertaining story. I enjoyed The Hobbit the because it was a fun, fast-paced little adventure (but it did become repetitive: get captured, escape, repeat). I did not very much enjoy The Silmarillion although I can see the appeal for the LotR fandom. LotR itself is quite epic, and has lots of sheer awesomeness despite it's flaws. It does have good themes like working together and trusting each other rather than isolating yourself and distrusting everyone. The ending with Frodo in Mount Doom is clever. I love the relationship between Legolas and Gimli. Gandalf of course is a boss, and Merry and Pipping are pretty funny when together. I'm amazed that Tolkien was able to put this all together and formulate it into this massive story.

Well that's about it. LotR certainly has it's flaws, but it's still a fantastic story and I have enjoyed this class (studying LotR and Tolkien) thoroughly. Now to get back to writing Through the Portal Trilogy #2 ;)

Lord of the Rings: Chapter 1

2011-12-30T19:39:00.000-08:00

So I've begun reading Lord of the Rings for my class that I will be taking in January. It is a class on Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien, and I am super excited for it! I realize that LOTR is the epitome of a fantasy novel and it must be some form of heresy that I haven't read it yet, so I'm glad to have the opportunity to not only read all the books and accompanying books, but also to discuss and learn about them.

I also learned in the "Note on the Text" at the beginning of my Kindle Edition of LOTR that it is really one novel, split into six Books and three Parts. So it's not a trilogy. Confused yet? Because that is a massive novel! Anyway, I need to have Fellowship of the Ring completed by January second, so I'll be spending a lot of time hunkered down with my Kindle for the next few days. :)

However, after reading the first chapter, I just have to wonder: how did this get published?

I'm not saying that LOTR is a bad novel; on the contrary, I believe that it will be quite an epic read. The first chapter however, is entirely about Hobbits and stuff that I can't believe will hold any relevance later on in the story. Bilbo Baggins, Frodo's "Uncle" (but really his "first and second cousin once removed," because of some serious of strange marriages and what sounded like incest), has his eleventy-first birthday, which is a funny-sounding version of his 111th birthday.

This chapter felt more like a comedy than an epic fantasy. The Hobbits are funny, quirky creatures and their dialogue is laughable. It includes a lot of information and it is obvious that Tolkien took an extraordinary amount of time in constructing this Hobbit world and all who inhabit it. However, it really doesn't seem to matter much to the rest of the book besides Bilbo finding the ring and eventually passing it down to Frodo. Much of this chapter could've been cut out, and the rest of the novel would still make perfect sense. You don't need to know all the presents Bilbo gave to his guests and why, and you don't need all the extraneous details about other Hobbits in the Shire who won't make an appearance in the rest of the book (that's kind of a wild guess, but since I know Frodo and Sam are headed for Mordor, I don't imagine the rest of Hobbiton will be very vital).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the rest of the story, that is merely my first impression. I can't imagine presenting this to a publisher or agent and saying, "No, really, it's an epic fantasy about this ring and evil orcs and stuff!" Because they would laugh and say, "No, it's a silly book about small-people!" How he got it published back then, I'm not sure--although I'm sure I'll know by the end of this class!

Book Review: Edge of Dreams

2011-12-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Edge of Dreams, by Debbie Bennett
Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy
Justin's Rating: Five Stars.

Personally, I've never read much contemporary fantasy, but this book has really made me enjoy the genre. I like this little quip in the blurb:

"A contemporary fantasy, certified 100% vampire-and-werewolf-free. No elves, faeries, dragons or wizards. Not even any zombies. Anywhere.

No, really – there aren’t."

Now I love my fair share of elves, faeries, dragons, and wizards (not exactly a fan of vampires), but this book did a very good job of incorporating fantasy into the regular life of Ricky.

Anyway, for a quick overview, you basically have Ricky, who is just a regular kid who has funny dreams about someone named Calith with crazy-colored hair. But then his dreams start to become real, as in Calith appears before him in real life. Without giving anything away, all I can really let you know is that there are dream-worlds that don't exist in any physical place but are just kind of, there. Vayan is the leader of one, Venn, and Saxen is the leader of another, Kelrinna. As Ricky gets dragged into the competition between these two real-dream-worlds, he learns that Calith was raised by Vayan, but left and was taken in by Saxen. Because of his past, nobody trusts Calith, and being the temperamental brat he is, I don't blame them.

Calith was an interesting character because of this storyline. You want to smack him across the face as he sasses everyone, but then again you feel exactly how he is trapped by unfortunate circumstances. I found myself second guessing how I felt about Calith on every other page, and that's the sign of a very well designed character.

Ricky is your classic main character. Bored of his regular life, trying to get involved in this magical world, yet always being blocked out and not really let into everything. You have to feel bad for Ricky, who only wants a little excitement in his life and ends up getting into a whole mess more of trouble.

Another character who becomes more prevalent about halfway through the book is Louise, Jem's younger sister. She plays an interesting role because it isn't the typical main character falls for the one female character scenario. Calith sees her as symbolic of everything he's never had: freedom, friendship, love, and to not be judged. But being as she's Ricky's sister, and Ricky disapproves, it gets the reader asking: should Calith really like Louise like that? Or is it wrong because it's Ricky's sister?

As you can tell, the book gets you to ask a lot of questions and guess your feelings about characters, and I think that any book that can make me think is a good book. The story moves quickly and I was never able to anticipate where it was headed next. The way they use their powers to jump between real and dream worlds is really cool, and almost unexplainable, but the author does a good job of describing very detailed mental powers. I think it would be cool to see how this story would be portrayed in a movie with their powers.

So if you're looking for a good fantasy read, I would most definitely recommend Edge of Dreams, and I will be eagerly awaiting the second book, Flashpoint.

You can buy Edge of Dreams at:
Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Amazon de, fr, es & it (kindle format), Sony(sony), Barnes & Noble (nook), Apple(ibook) & Diesel (various) orSmashwords (all formats).

Or to keep in touch with the author, Debbie Bennett, visit her website: http://www.debbiebennett.co.uk/

Through the Portal by Justin Dennis now available in Paperback!

2011-12-14T15:14:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to the Paperback of Through the Portal by Justin Dennis on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Through-Portal-1-Justin-Dennis/dp/1466311134/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323904203&sr=1-2

This is the cover of the book, only slightly different from the eBook version. It is 246 pages in print, with 11 point Garamond font and 6 x 9 pages. This is the coolest experience for me, that my book is now available in print. I hope you can all enjoy it as much as I do. :)

Physical book!

2011-12-12T14:15:00.001-08:00

The print edition of my book just arrived in the mail!!! This is unreal. It will be available online soon.

Hanukkah Giveaway!

2011-12-11T20:06:00.001-08:00

I'm participating in a Hanukkah Giveaway for the holiday season :) Here are the rest of the authors participating. Please go visit their blogs and follow them on Twitter. At the bottom is a link to enter to win ALL of the books listed. Be sure to follow and like as many as you can to have the best chance at winning!

Stephanie Abbott writing as Emma Jameson, author of Ice Blue (a cozy mystery): Blog and Twitter.

Danielle Blanchard, author of Death Wish (paranormal romance): Blog and Twitter.

Justin Dennis, author of Through The Portal (YA Fantasy): Blog - Twitter - Facebook

Lisa Grace, author of Angel in the Shadows and Angel in the Storm (YA fantasy): Blog and Twitter.

Jonathan Gould, author of Doodling and Flidderbugs (both humorous fantasies): Blog and Twitter.

Craig Hansen, author of SHADA (YA thriller): Blog and Twitter.

Larry Kahn, author of The Jinx (thriller) and King of Paine (suspense): Blog and Twitter.

Emily Ann Ward, author of Finding Fiona (YA Sci-Fi) and Passages (YA short stories): Blog and Twitter.

Followed and Liked all the authors? Enter the Giveaway HERE.

Canceled KDP Select

2011-12-09T22:20:00.001-08:00

I made a rushed decision the other day to join KDP Select as soon as it came out. Luckily, they offer a 3-day cancellation period and I canceled today. (Side note: both "Cancelled" and "Canceled" are correct. Weird.)

So why? Well originally I thought that KDP Select would be good for me because I would be in a smaller batch. Rather than competing with almost a million ebooks, I'd only be competing with a few thousand in the Lending Library. But it's not that simple. Amazon makes it ridiculously hard to find "prime eligible" books anyway. So I highly doubt that anyone will stumble across my book while searching for one to borrow. Also, you only get one borrow a month. That's not a lot! Is someone really going to waste that one borrow on a self-published book that might be no good? Probably not.

So basically, not a lot of advantages for me. But disadvantages? A lot. I have to remove my book from every other retailer but Amazon for at least 90 days. Scary. That's almost like a contract, and the whole point in being an Indie Author is not having a contract.

I was looking forward to the 5 days of free book giving away thing, but again I don't think a lot of people would have found my book even if it were free.

So that's my decision. What's your opinion on KDP Select?

Through the Portal now available EXCLUSIVELY through Amazon

2011-12-08T11:34:00.001-08:00

Alright guys, so today Amazon announced KDP Select, allowing self-published authors through Amazon to make their books free through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

This means that if you have an Amazon Prime membership, my book is now free. Go look up the book on your Kindle and click "borrow" to have it instantly delivered to your Kindle for free.

Another benefit of this is that I can offer my book for free 5 days out of the next 90. This means that you should expect some promotions! Free books will be around, and the first round may be coming soon ;)

I apologize to anyone who wanted my book from Barnes and Noble or Smashwords, but I couldn't pass up the chance to be a part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, and the requirement is that your eBook be Amazon exclusive.

The paperback will still be coming out within the next week--this deal affects only the digital format of my book. So don't fret if you were planning on buying the paperback.

Anyway, if you have a Kindle, I highly suggest you get an Amazon Prime membership. The Hunger Games trilogy is available for free through the Library as well, and those truly are amazing books. Then go check out my book :)

Thanks for understanding everybody.

Print Edition!

2011-12-05T01:06:00.001-08:00

A paperback version of Through the Portal will be available within the next couple weeks through Amazon and my CreateSpace eStore. I've spent a lot of time formatting and preparing the book for print so I'm excited to finally see it happening. Right now a proof edition is shipping to me so I can look over it and be sure there're no last minute mistakes. Stay posted on when you can order a paperback edition of Through the Portal.

Although the eBook is $2.99, the Paperback will be $11.99 because of manufacturing costs. I actually make a larger royalty off the eBook though! Who would've thought?

The Beginning of Reviews!

2011-12-02T12:41:00.001-08:00

I have decided to begin review self-published Young Adult novels that fit into one of three categories: Fantasy, Science fiction, or Dystopian.

After posting on Kindleboards.com I've had a large influx of authors contact me with their books. Many of them look incredibly fascinating and I'm very glad I will have the opportunity to read and review them.

That being said: Finals start next week. I am going to have a lot of schoolwork to be doing, and on top of that I'm trying to put more writing into my second novel in the Through the Portal trilogy. Hopefully I will still have time to squeeze in some of these novels and post a few reviews within the month of December. Going home for Winter Break will certainly give me a chance to put many more hours into reading.

So, authors, feel free to contact me with your books and rest assured that I will do everything in my power to read them as quickly as possible--but please remember that I am ridiculously busy.

Readers and followers, look out for the next few posts to be reviews of some (hopefully!) amazing new indie books.

How to Get Kids to Read More

2011-11-20T13:17:00.001-08:00

http://www.booksrusonline.com/2011/10/how-to-get-kids-to-read-more-guest-post.html?m=1

Click the above link to see my guest post on Books R Us about how to encouraged children to read more.

Literacy is a great thing! Embrace reading. :)

Battery Technology

2011-11-19T13:20:00.001-08:00

Same-size lithium ion battery, 10 times the storage

If this new battery technology becomes a relating, the way we think about technology could change drastically. Right now, our cell phones, labtops, and tablets are held back by the lack of battery power. While screens and processors have grown, batteries haven't. This could be a real breakthrough into the next realm of advanced technology.

The English Language and its take on hair colors

2011-11-18T11:32:00.001-08:00

So if a woman has brown hair they are a brunette. If a man has brown hair he is a brunet. But both brunette and brunet refer to not only hair color, but also dark skin and dark eye color. Both words can be both adjective and noun.

A woman with blond hair is a blonde. A man with blond hair is a blond. While a woman with blond hair can also be a blond, a man with blond hair cannot be a blonde. Bothwords can be both adjective and noun, and imply light skin and eyes as well.

Redhead is a noun for a person, male or female, with red hair. Redheaded is the adjective. But it implies nothing about skin or eye color.

There is no adjective or noun for people with black hair. They simply have black hair.

The english language makes no sense in many, many ways, but its strangest in the realm of hair color genuinely confuses me. I do not think I would call a man a brunet--it sounds odd. I also think I have always written "blonde," never "blond," simply because it looks awkward without the "e." And I'm sorry for all the black-haired people out there. We don't have a nice noun for you like brunette or blonde. Really, quite a strange language we have here. And it really never is set in stone, so I'm sure this usage is up for debate and will change more in time.

Why tablets are a positive thing

2011-10-26T09:57:00.001-07:00

Study: Tablet Users Read More News, More In-Depth Stories http://techland.time.com/2011/10/26/study-tablet-users-read-more-news-more-in-depth-stories/

Here's why iPads aren't for businesses or schools

2011-10-18T11:11:00.001-07:00

For iPads in the enterprise, hassles aplenty

Schools, hospitals, and businesses seems to think that iPads are the necessary next technological step. I will agree that tablets are the future, but not iPads. They're made as shiny toys to entertain people, not for serious work. For that, look for the Windows 8 Tablets that will be coming out, or the BlackBerry Playbook.

Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard of Occupy Wall Street, you're not alone. It does get some media coverage but for the most part is ignored.

I fully support the Occupy Wall Street movement. I think our nation is thoroughly screwed up and we need a fundamental rethinking of how we operate. No simple policy changes can help at this point. We really need to change the system. People are in debt. Students can't pay off their loans. People are losing their homes. People can't afford their medicine. We need change.

If you have a twitter, follow #occupywallstreet or #wearethe99
This is the Occupy Wall Street website. And this is the Facebook page.
They might even have an event near you, like OccupyLA

What you here a lot of is something along the lines of: The richest 1% of our country control the money and therefore the power. The 99% of us are now fighting back. We want to put the power back in the hands of everybody, not just the rich. We are the 99%.

And I stand by this. Long ago we fought Government oppression. Now we must fight Corporate oppression. Which is kind of funny, since the Corporations actually control the Government (oh hey, Lobbyists!).

My point is, be aware. Who knows if this will lead anywhere. Maybe it'll be a blip on the radar of the extinction of the United States of America, or maybe it will be a turning point for us. I hope it's the latter.

The New Kindles

2011-09-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

You may have heard that Amazon made a HUGE announcement yesterday: NEW Kindles!!!

This makes me really happy. Why? Because e-readers are the future, and this is a step towards more inexpensive, higher-quality e-readers. I have a Kindle (which is now dubbed the Kindle Keyboard), and I won't be upgrading to a new one anytime soon--but still!

This is what my Kindle looks like:
And these are the new Kindles e-ink Kindles:
The first one is all touch, $99 for wi-fi and $149 for the 3G. That's with the "special offers" which just means that it shows you ads when you're not reading. So they don't interfere with your reading. If you get one without special offers, it shows pictures of random authors and stuff (which is what mine does!).

So those are awesome. Cheap, yet high-quality. Then the second one is not a touch-screen. It has that little directional pad at the bottom. It's $80 with special offers. That's super inexpensive. Buy like eight books and you've already made up your loss. But I imagine it would be very hard to type with this, since you have to navigate a virtual keyboard with the little directional pad. Still--it broadens the Kindle's range to those who want to save the $20 of not buying the touch one. Maybe you don't type alot!

Then there's this thing:
This is the Kindle Fire. Think Nook Color/iPad, but better. It's got all this sick Amazon stuff like Instant Video, Kindle, etc. And and and, it's only $200. Yes, it's a 7-inch tablet for e-reading, movies, web-browsing, email, etc., for only $200.

You realize the cheapest iPad is $500 right? Again, Amazon is appealing to people with less cash. This is good. It puts these devices into more hands, and that's so cool! These devices are limitless.

E-reading, it's the future, and it's getting cheaper and better. I still love my Kindle, but I'm incredibly excited for the future of Kindle and e-reading in general. You should be too! Go get yourself a Kindle if you haven't already! Then use it to read some books! Yay reading!

Troy Davis and Capital Punishment: The Death Penalty

2011-09-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, there has been a massive uproar after the Troy Davis execution. If you haven't heard about it, you can read about it here and/or here.

Basically, Davis was accused of murdering off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia on August 19, 1989. The case was very complex and I won't go into the evidence and whether or not Davis was guilty. Why? Because I wasn't there. This man was sentenced to death in 1991, two years before I was born. I can't pretend to know if he was guilty or not. But I can examine death penalty itself.

What if Davis was innocent? Our country may have just killed an innocent man. Can you comprehend that? It's bad enough that our justice system is inaccurate enough to incarcerate innocent people--273 people convicted of crimes before DNA testing have been exonerated since DNA testing became prevalent. 17 of those people were on death row--but the fact that we might kill innocent people is ridiculous. There wasn't overwhelming evidence in the Davis case (and even if there was, he still should not have been put to death, but we'll get to that later). This means that Davis may have been innocent. We don't know.

“If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated,” said former President Jimmy Carter.

I'm gonna have to agree with Carter. The system is messed up and unjust. But I'm going to go a step further and say that the system--Capital Punishment--should not exist. I know you've heard this a million times in the wake of the Davis execution, but please bear with me.

Let's look at the root of why we execute people. Bad person dies bad thing, we kill them, they stop doing bad thing. Right? Well in the United States of America, what kind of crimes qualify someone for the death penalty? Murder? Rape? Stealing a child's bicycle, crashing it into a pond, and laughing at them as they attempt to pull it from the mucky water?

Actually, it's mostly murder. And espionage and treason. Um. That kind of scares me. What do you consider espionage or treason? Is what Anonymous, LulzSec, or Wikileaks doing considered treason? Those terms just seem to vague for me. How free are we really if we can be put to death by the Government for their definition of "treason"?

And you may be surprised to note that rape is not punishable by Capital Punishment. Only "murder related to rape or child molestation."

So okay, we execute people who murder people. Makes sense, right? Probably discourages murder?

Sorry, I have bad news for you. I have evidence that the death penalty does not discourage murder.

Let's look at the state that has executed the most people since 1976, Texas. Why since 1976? Because the death penalty was actually found unconstitutional between 1972-1976. So most modern indexes start their count there.

Since 1976, Texas has executed 475 people. On the other hand, the death penalty is illegal in Michigan and the State has never executed a single person.

So if you are "pro-death penalty" at this point you should believe that people murder less in Texas than in Michigan, because they are so heavily punished.

In 2010, Texas' population was 25,145,561 and they had 1,249 murders. In that same year, Michigan's population was 5,686,986 and they had 155 murders. I would ask you do the the math, but I know that's a lot of work, so I'll do it for you: about 0.00497% of the Texas population was murdered and 0.00273% of the Michigan population was murdered. So... there were more murders in Texas than in Michigan.... This poses the question: If the Death Penalty does not serve its desired purpose, why do we use it? I think that's the question we need to be asking.

[By the way, if you think Texas and Michigan are anomalies--which is really irrelevant anyways because they are such opposite ends of the spectrum--then you should go to this website, scroll to the bottom and look at the murder rates for different states. Here's a list of the states that execute people.]

If you didn't know, the rest of the world has an opinion on Capital Punishment as well (yes, there are people with opinions that matter outside of the USA). And do you know that only 29% of the countries in the world still uphold the death penalty? 139 countries have ceased in law or practice, and 58 still carry it out. Out of those 58, the USA is #5 in terms of most people executed.

Yes, our country is fifth in the world for killing people. "Well, Justin, why aren't we first? I mean, America is number one in everything!" Good question, common American. Well mostly because China hogs a lot of the glory. I mean, come on, in 2010 they ~~murdered~~ executed thousands of people and we only executed 46.

Who else executed more people than us? Iran, North Korea, and Yemen. Yes everybody, those our America's idols. The ones not afraid to execute the wrong-doers! That was sarcasm, by the way.

Take a look at this cool picture of the globe:

English (en)

Death Penalty World Map

Abolished for all offenses (96)

Abolished for all offenses except under special circumstances (9)

Retains, though not used for at least 10 years (34)

Retains death penalty (58)*

*Note that, while laws vary among U.S. states, it is considered retentionist because the federal death penalty is still in active use.

You may notice that all of Western Europe, almost of the Americas, Australia, most of Africa, and most of Northern and Eastern Europe have all abolished the death penalty at least in practice or without exceptional circumstances. Who does this leave to do the executing? Pretty much China, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. Oh, and the good ol' United States of Execution.

The abolition of Capital Punishment just seems like another issue that has been met with global acceptance that Americans just refuse to be a part of it because it is not "American," much like socialized health care. Did you know the USA is the only developed nation that doesn't have universal health care? Sorry, off topic.

Another problem I have with the justice system as a whole is lawyers. Nothing personal lawyers, in fact, I used to want to be one of you. It takes great skill to be a lawyer and a lot of you do very great things for people. But I think the way the system distributes you is corrupt.

Think about it. Poor people get public defenders. Rich people buy expensive lawyers. Poor people get convicted because they were defended poorly (nothing against public defenders either. I know you guys juggle a lot and do the best you can. You are great too.) and rich people get off easy because their lawyer slick-talked them to freedom. You see it on TV everyday when celebrities get off easy.

Now, I know this is a problem with the justice system as a whole, not just capital punishment, but if our corrupt system is going to send poor people to prison more than rich people, we should at least allow them to live. There is a very apparent issue of class discrimination here, and I think it would be much easier to sentence a poor person to death than a rich person due to the difference in lawyers. Therefore, we should not be sentencing people to death at all if it is going to in-proportionally affect the population. We have jails. Use them. "But Justin, the jails are overcrowded!" Well then legalize drugs and stop arresting people for screwing up their own lives. Ah, sorry, off-topic again. Maybe I'll address that later.

Anyway, that is why the death penalty should be abolished. It is not effective, it kills innocent people, and it is not administered evenly.

Technorati Listing

2011-09-22T15:53:00.001-07:00

This code JZXE6GHE4A9A will get me recognized on Technorati, which is a giant directory of blogs. If you have a blog, you should go sign up for Technorati and get listed! But for most people, just ignore this post. It's simply so Technorati knows that I'm real and actually own this blog.

I have an interview!

2011-09-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to it: http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2011/09/welcome-to-author-justin-dennis-bio.html

Honestly, I think this is the coolest thing ever. I've sent out thirty-two trillion emails trying to get some sort of publicity: a review of Through the Portal, a giveaway, an interview, a guest post--something of those sorts. The woman who runs I Am a Reader Not a Writer, Kathy, was really kind and told me that while she was too busy to review my book, she could offer me a giveaway and interview. So I agreed of course!

Thanks Kathy, I appreciate all your help. Already there are seven comments from the greatest people who want to read my book. :) The people I need the most right now are blog-owners like Kathy and readers willing to accept a self-published ebook. I love you all, and thank to anyone willing to give my book a chance.

College!

2011-09-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

Dude. I'm likin' it.

I've got four class. Science Fiction Writing (awesome!!!), Spanish (mehhh, at least Jessica can help me), and two Sociology classes which I think are pretty interesting.

Like we were looking at why hip-hop is about drugs, guns, rape, murder, etc. instead of important issues, and it was like damn. 'Cause I like rap, but I try to go for rap with better lyrics. Like Will Smith, Lupe Fiasco, Greydon Square--I love Eminem and I know that sets off a lot of people but his lyrics are actually pretty legit. The Slim Shady stuff can get sketchy, but like the album Recovery is bomb.

Anyways, if you like hip-hop, keep lookin', 'cause there's some decent rap out there. You just gotta find it. And everyone, I hope we can learn to shun the gangsta rap that promotes robbery, misogyny, drug dealing, violence, stuff like that.

Stop Number Six

2011-09-04T11:05:00.001-07:00

Golden Gate Bridge!!

Stop number 5

2011-09-04T00:48:00.001-07:00

Ocean world!

Stop Number 3!

2011-09-02T21:15:00.001-07:00

Crater lake :) much bigger and more beautiful than I had imagined.

Stop Number 2!

2011-09-02T13:47:00.001-07:00

The Lilac Gardens :)

Road trip!!

2011-09-01T19:33:00.001-07:00

Me and my girlfriend left on our road trip to California today! Leaving my hometown :( but headed off to college!!:) I'll keep the blog updated with pictures of our stops. (Jessica has no idea where we're going; it's a surprise! muahahaha)

Road Trip stop #1

2011-09-01T15:19:00.001-07:00

Mt Saint Helens :)

2011-08-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to an interesting approach to speeding violations: http://money.msn.com/auto-insurance/town-slams-brakes-on-traffic-tickets-carinsurance.aspx

I always like the unconventional ways of solving a problem... and this definitely qualifies. Reduce speeding tickets while reducing speeding and accidents? Perfect.

Officially Available for Sale

2011-08-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

Through the Portal just hit the virtual shelves!

To purchase from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JEENAU

To purchase from Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Through-the-Portal/Justin-Dennis/e/2940013081468

To purchase from Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84302

Let me know what you think! :)

Uploaded!

2011-08-26T17:45:00.001-07:00

I am officially uploaded to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords! Still waiting for Amazon and B&N to publish it, should be only a day or two, and Smashwords should put it in the "premium catalog" in about a week, meaning it will be available in the Apple Store and other retailers shortly thereafter.

I'm really really really excited!! I think this book is a great addition to th Young Adult genre. Why? because it is an entertaining, readable book for children and adults alike. My biggest goal is to get more kids to read. If the adults would like to read it, that is awesome, but my main goal is to promote reading amongst the youth, so that they carry that habit with them for the rest of their lives! Reading is a great, great thing; take advantage of that!

Anyway, there will definitely be another post coming soon announcing that my book is available on the Kindle. I figure that is going to be my main market and the one i'm going to talk about and promote the most.

In the meantime, I need to find some book-bloggers willing to review my book. If you're interested, drop a comment; otherwise, I'll be out there hunting for some reviewers!

So it begins.
:)

Editing

2011-08-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

Editing is so tiring and time-consuming! I applaud anyone who can sit down and edit anything for long periods of time, because it is REALLY hard. I began at 8:00am this morning and am ending just passed midnight. If I take out a couple hours for eating food and using the bathroom (not at the same time of course), that's about 14 hours of editing in one day. I'm exhausted! But it's really important for me to get one final, complete edit of my book. Will be uploading to the Kindle store tomorrow (and hopefully B&N and Smashwords as well!) if all goes as planned.

Through the Portal is so close to becoming a published ebook. I'm almost there!

First Post!

2011-08-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Today my book--Through the Portal--is mostly done. I'm going to have a few people read it to help me gain some perspective on the changes that need to be made, and I'm going to read through it a couple more times. But then I'm going to publish on both the Kindle and Nook stores! I'm so excited :)

It will be available for purchase on or before August 27th (when my girlfriend arrives from California). We're driving down together! She is a junior at Whittier and I'm going to be a freshman. Really looking forward to that, but it also means I have a sharp deadline on my book.