my pen name is Madeleine Farraday. I am an amateur writer, mother of 2. I love flash fiction! I try to enter as many competitions as I can lately...

I am good at foreign languages and taught for several years in the public school system in the state of Indiana. Right now I work online grading homework and scoring exams.

Nice to meet you all,

M.

Forum: Meet, Greet, & Chat ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5839997 Fri, 11 May 2012 04:29:45 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5837146 Sally A Wolf is happily married woman, and the mother of four wonderful kids. For a profession she schools her children and works from home shipping the items her husband sells.  In her spare time she reads whatever she can get her hands on and writes.
I don't know what else to say about myself.

Forum: Writers' Circle ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5837146 Wed, 09 May 2012 15:05:27 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5835590

Forum: Art, Photography, & Graphic Design ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5835590 Tue, 08 May 2012 16:27:47 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5825708

  This month's challenge was to write a story under 1,000 words about 

Forum: Current Flash Fiction Contest ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5825708 Tue, 01 May 2012 18:54:01 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5821556

Forum: Writers' Circle ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5821556 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:26:27 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5820302

Forum: For Readers ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5820302 Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:29:36 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5814338 Back in 1979, I was a horror and science fiction hungry pre-teenager when I saw the serialized adaptation of this book on TV. The series (back in its day) was great. I haven’t seen it since and I can guess at just how dated it would be now on a second viewing. However, it stayed with me over the years and inspired me to read the source novel. This is a very different and absorbing “alien invasion” story in that we never see the aliens. Instead, as society crumbles, fuel and food shortages have driven the populations to desperation and violence, anarchy reigns on the urban streets in a nightmarish near-future, the young people around the planet have become like hippy, new-age wanderers. Calling themselves the Planet People, they are being hypnotically lured to various locations where they are “harvested” on mass, leaving only the old behind to face extinction. Are the Planet People, as they believe, being magically transported to a heavenly other-world, or is a malevolent alien race blasting the planet surface with a laser and slaughtering them? Professor Quatermass sets out in a race against time to save both his missing granddaughter and the rest of mankind from annihilation. You’ll never look at a stone circle structure such as Stonehenge or a hippy the same way again!

Forum: For Readers ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5814338 Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:51:02 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5814309 This is Steven Spielberg doing what he does best: the action blockbuster. What makes Spielberg’s movies stand out from the usual predictable dross is the attention to detail, and the high quality of the performances and script. Against the backdrop of an alien invasion we see a dysfunctional family finally pull together and work out their differences in the face of adversity.

Almost all of us have a favourite book from our childhood. Mine is The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells. I loved Jeff Wayne’s version on double-album vinyl (now audio CD), liked the 1953 movie adaptation, even though the tripods became flying machines and there were many important book plot points missing from the simplified movie script. A gem of a movie is The Night That Panicked America (1975), Joseph Sargent’s TV movie, based on the true story of Orson Welles’ live radio broadcast, on October 30, 1938.

Welles recreated the story of War of the Worlds so convincingly that many believed the martians had indeed landed, resulting in a nationwide panic. Welles is brilliantly played by Paul Shenar. To date this movie has been overlooked for a DVD release, to the chagrin of many fans.

Spielberg’s adaptation has excellent performances from all the cast: Tom Cruise as dock worker, Ray Ferrier, an “everyman” struggling to keep strained relations with his ex-wife Mary Anne (Miranda Otto), his son Robbie (Justin Chatwin), and daughter, Rachel (Dakota Fanning). Tim Robbins plays Harlan Ogilvy, a deranged survivalist who gives Ray and Rachel shelter in his basement.

There are also notable cameos by Lisa Ann Walter, as Cheryl, and Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, as the grandparents who appear briefly at end of the movie and were both the stars of the 1953 movie.

Despite the story being updated, it’s still a more faithful adaptation of the book, including in this version the “red weed”, a fast-growing organism the Martians let loose to spread across the surface of the earth, fertilized by human blood, in order to make the surface of our world resemble their own planet.

Just as many sci-fi stories, particularly of the 1950’s, were symbolic of the paranoia of Communism, in this movie there are visual and spoken references to 9/11 and our fears of terrorism. In the middle of a bright, seemingly-ordinary day, the world is changed forever by an attack that has come with no warning and has devastating results. Victims are reduced to dust, incinerated by the Martian’s “heat ray”.

The atmosphere is suitably ominous throughout and some of the images, like the initial attack, seem to strike from nowhere, particularly the scenes in which dead bodies float by on the lake and a runaway train thunders by with every carriage ablaze.

This is a more superior and intelligent modern sci-fi movie than many that have come and gone over recent years, with superb special effects, and a story that concentrates more on the dynamic of human relationships.

There are some nice touches: the dockside crane that Ray operates at his job is remarkably similar to the tripods; the earth and its micro-organisms defeat the Martians after mankind has been defeated, pushing out the alien invaders in much the same way that Rachel informs Ray that her hand will push out the splinter and, as Ogilvy points out: “Occupations always fail.”

Also recommended:

The Day That Panicked America The H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds Scandal (2005), a documentary covering Orson Welles radio broadcast and its aftermath. Included with the DVD is a CD with the original audio broadcast.

Forum: Movies & TV ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5814309 Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:27:24 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5814274 When I was a young kid, one of my neighbors was a long-haul truck driver. I’d see him climb into his rig and watch as he fired up the engine and drove away. The thought of thundering down the highways in one of those giant vehicles seemed to me, at that impressionable age, like a glamorous and exciting goal to aim for when I grew up.

Life didn’t pan out that way and I never became a truck driver, but I always remember my youthful dreams when I watched movies like Convoy (1978) and Black Dog (1998).

Written by William Mickelberry and Dan Vining, and directed by Kevin Hooks, Black Dog opens with the first of several well-staged car/truck chase sequences.

Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze), is an ex-con with limited choices and a wife and daughter to support. He finds himself caught between a financial rock and a hard place when he falls behind with the house payments. His boss, Cuttler (Graham Beckel), refers him to the coupon-clipping religious-maniac crook, Red (Meat Loaf), for a no-questions-asked driving job that pays well enough to save him and his family from eviction. Crews’ wife, Melanie |(Brenda Strong) urges him not to take the job, but the money is too tempting and he takes to the road with Earl (Randy Travis), and with Sonny (Gabriel Casseus), and Wes (Brian Vincent) following close behind the truck in a Camaro.

The consignment is a wagon load of toilets, until closer inspection also reveals a hidden cache of weapons.  The illegal run is then beset with further hazards when Red attempts a double-cross to hijack the load for himself.

Further complications ensue when FBI agent, Ford (Charles Dutton), and ATF agent, McClaren (Stephen Tobolowsky), have to put aside their differences and work together to bring the gun-runners to justice.

The title, Black Dog, is a reference to the insidious fatigue that can creep up on a driver during the long hauls, causing them to lose concentration, or even fall asleep at the wheel, which resulted in Crews serving a two-year jail term for vehicular manslaughter.

This, for me, is one of Patrick Swayze’s better roles. His career waned somewhat since the success of earlier movies like Point Break, Ghost and Dirty Dancing. He was a versatile actor, multi-talented and often better than the material he had to work with. His death from cancer, at the age of 57, was both tragic and untimely.

Some may sneer and call Black Dog a dumb movie and, in many ways, it is … but so what? The plot is simple; there are some clichés and lines of corny dialogue …. but it’s also entertaining and a lot of fun to watch. If you’re looking for something light to help you wind down at the end of a long day, you can do a lot worse than this movie. Black Dog doesn’t take itself too seriously and is no more improbable than other movies about giant CGI robots that create a lot of stupid migraine-inducing noise, zombies, people who can fly, become invisible, walk through walls, cast spells, suck people’s blood to hold off the ageing process, shape-shift into wolves, or aliens that burst out of people’s chests and run amok. Many people who sneer at Black Dog would most likely have no problem enjoying those others movies … if they admitted it.

Finally, it’s all about the trucks, the cars, the carnage, the speed, the spectacle, and the well-staged stunts, all of which combines to make Black Dog a fast and engaging ride.

Enjoy it for what it is.

Forum: Movies & TV ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5814274 Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:01:27 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5807407 This is novel 4.5 so he says.  Samantha Moom, private eye and a vampire.  Great story, fun to read. 

Forum: For Readers ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5807407 Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:41:22 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5807404 I am new to the craft and so I am still learning to show, not tell.  I am having a great time.  Taking a bunch of online classes offered by RWA and other Chapters. Looking forward to making new friends, learning and sharing.

Forum: Meet, Greet, & Chat ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5807404 Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:37:17 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5803047 here.

Forum: Art, Photography, & Graphic Design ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5803047 Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:17:07 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5801826 Forum: Dreams ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5801826 Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:38:56 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5801312 From the post, Devin, was kind enough to send to me on Facebook, this seems like it will be a wonderful community to be a part of. 

Forum: Meet, Greet, & Chat ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5801312 Tue, 17 Apr 2012 03:10:56 GMT http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5800479

Forum: Writers' Circle ]]> http://forum.devinwrites.com/post?id=5800479 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:55:09 GMT