James Cullen Bressack

  A Facebook friend of mine, James Cullen Bressack recently made a movie called, 'To Jennifer'.  I did an advanced screening of it so that I could review it here.  I must say, the sequence of events is unpredictable.  I'm usually really good at knowing what's going to happen next in movies.  There were a lot of surprise twists that I didn't see coming.  This entire movie is shot on a cell phone.  It actually seems like just a bunch of friends going through a situation.  It doesn't even feel like a movie most of the time because the dialog is so natural and the chemistry between the actors is looks real.
  The reveal at the end about the true nature of the relationship between the main character and the title character came as a welcome surprise to me.  It changed everything I had thought about the dynamic of the characters up until that point.  For what it is, I'd say it is very successful and well put-together.

Author Spotlight

  The 'Novels On The Run' blog site recently posted an Author Spotlight on me.  You can find it at: http://www.novelsontherun.blogspot.com/2013/06/author-spotlight-paul-loh-zombie-genre.html.  I've got some other interviews and reviews lined up from various sources.  I also am doing an interview with one of my favorite zombie authors soon.  I'll post that as soon as the interview has been conducted.

Rave Review!

  On Facebook there was an opportunity for people to submit their vote for favorite self-published author.  I submitted Arthur M. Wyatt.  The page asks you who and why.  I told them how I admire Arthur's use of demon-possessed zombies in his story.  I just found out that somebody submitted me as their favorite independent author.  Here is what he had to say about me: "Paul Loh has a unique voice in writing style that relates a clear picture to his readers. His novel, The Greater Number, is a zombie tale like no other, you will not find the standard run of the mill storyline here that has become so cliche in the genre, instead you will get to meet believable characters that are well developed and easy to relate to. Also, you will be pulled along and deep into a perfectly structured storyline that keeps you reading. This is one of those books you can't put down and keeps you up all night wondering what will happen next. I don't know if Paul Loh has any plans to write another installment, but I'll definitely be looking into reading his other works and anticipating reading more by this indie author."  Wow!  Those are such kind words.  I don't know what to say.

Safe Haven

  I think I may have hit upon a solid reason from my upbringing that could explain why I love zombie stories so much.  When I was in the 2nd grade, my dad was stationed on an army base in Taegu, South Korea.  A TV station for English-speaking people was put out by the military called Armed Forces Korea Network (AFKN).
  Instead of commercials for products like we're used to here in America, AFKN had public service announcements about such things as Operational Security (OPSEC) and fire safety.  One of the fire safety announcements advised families to have an escape bag, which would be a bag full of important things to have should you have to flee your burning house.  Being seven years old, my important things were my toys so I had a bag that I kept under my bed, containing my favorite toys.
  Over the years growing up, I kept that bag updated with things as they became important to me with my changing ideals.  Also, over the years, my parents became more and more disappointed in me as a failure at school.  When I couldn't take the yelling anymore, I opted to stay in my room more and more.  I started to bring secret stashes of food and beverages into my bedroom.  It had become my safe haven.  I was eventually able to stay in there from as soon as I got back from school until dinner time and then until the next morning when it was time to go back to school.  I had music, books, magazines, toys and food, plus my escape bag.
  When I saw George Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead' for the first time, it connected with me in some deep way that I didn't understand at the time.  Looking back on it now, I realize that the people in that movie and in most zombie movies are stuck in a confined space and struggle to make sure that they have everything they need to survive in their safe haven isolated against overwhelming opposition.  In other words, it's the story of my life.

Coffee And Zombie Talk

  Today, I had a meeting with a local zombie author.  As you know, I don't like being a name dropper. I only use names when it will help the other person.  Anyway, he had contacted me through Facebook asking if I'd like to get together some time to have some coffee and talk about zombies.  Um, hell yeah!  So we set up a time and a place and it was really cool to finally meet him in person.  We've been friends on Facebook for about a year now.  I had found some of his books on amazon.com.  I had two of his books from the 'Elements of the Undead' series: 'Air' and 'Fire'.  He told me that he's currently working on the fourth book of the series, 'Ice".  I told him that if he's working on the fourth, that means I don't have one of his books.  He later emailed me a copy of 'Earth'.  I look forward to reading it!  We talked about all kinds of things.  He mentioned several authors that I am unfamiliar with and vice versa.
  What was cool about reading his 'Fire' book was that part of it took place in Tucson.  He actually mentioned street names like Speedway and Kolb.  Some of the action takes place at that intersection which I am familiar with.  But here's the ironic part, part of the action also takes place on board the USS Wyoming!  As soon as I read that part months ago, I messaged him on Facebook and told him about the fact that I had served on that very same submarine.  He was flabbergasted.  He only picked it because he used to go to Wyoming on vacations and he loves that state.
  He's doing really well at amazon.com.  He's been regularly selling thousands of copies of his books.  He told me that after his manuscript for 'Ice' goes through his editor, he's going to have it screened by some beta readers.  I told him that I'd be honored to be one of his beta readers and he agreed.  We exchanged phone numbers to that end.  We also talked about possible collaborations in a zombie story some time in the future.  He also writes science fiction and espionage novels.  I told him I'd be interested in a collaboration in sci-fi as well.  His profile just went up at Jule Romans' 'Zombie Authors' blog: http://zombie-authors.blogspot.com/2013/06/zombie-author-william-esmont.html#comment-form  Please check it out and also check his books out!

Just A Thought

  It has come to my attention that I cannot become spiritually healthy until I can hold in my mind every moment of every day that I am spiritually broken.  I asked myself how anyone can hold anything in mind every moment of any day.  With that in mind, I started reading 'Conversations With God' again.  One of the first things that is said in the book is about communicating with God and how he tries to get through to us.  He said that he uses feelings first.  Then he uses thought and experience.  The last thing he uses is words.  Words are the least effective purveyor of truth.  I asked myself, how can I hold my brokenness in mind at all times.  The answer came to me that I will only be able to when I care.  I asked myself, how do I start to care?  The answer came to me that I will only start to care when I care to.
  That's when it slowly started to dawn on me what it is that people care about.  Firemen will have fire prevention and firefighting on their minds all day, every day.  That is who they are and so that is what they care about and so that is what they think about.  In order to think about spiritual brokenness, I need to care about spiritual health.  In order to care about spiritual health, I need to be a spiritual person.  I only view my world through thought and words.  I'm not usually in touch with my feelings.  I definitely don't pay attention to my experiences in a way that is beneficial.
  If God is trying to communicate with me in many different ways, I need to listen to him in all those ways and not just a couple of them.  I need to explore my feelings about everything and truly open myself up to experiencing things with all of my being.  The Bible says to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  If I'm only loving him with my mind, then I can't be fully loving him.  I will be a spiritual being when I am feeding my spirit everything it's missing out on.  My spirit thirsts to experience everything fully.  That means not only my five physical senses, but the sixth sense and all my thoughts and feelings about my experiences.
  Even a baby is more in touch with their bodies than I am.  They cry when they're hungry, thirsty or uncomfortable in some way. I am missing out on so much of the world around me that I am denying myself the good things in life and allowing myself to continue living with the bad things in life.  Now, of course, I mean good and bad by my opinions on any given experience, not some generalization that's supposed to hold true for everyone.  I have given up fighting to have things that make me happy.  Where's my crying to be fed, so to speak?
  A big part of my problem is that I'm willing to do anything that's expected of me.  I say "yes" with my mouth, but as soon as I start to do something, you can see if my actions reflect an inner "no".  By this I mean, I am more likely to fail at any particular objective if I'm not putting my heart into it.  I will only do well at things I'm good at, care about or am confident in.  I need to know myself well enough to know what I'm good at, care about or am confident in or else I will never know why I fail at some things.  I need to find my inner "no".  If I can say "no" to the things that I don't desire to do, I will not just work in vain and feel like a disappointment to myself and to others.  Even so, with that being said, there might be things I'm not necessarily good at that I might choose to take on as a challenge.  I am much less likely to fail if I have confidence in myself even if I've never done something before.  My confidence should not come from my success, but my success should come from my confidence.
  'Conversations With God' by Neale Donald Walsch says that you cannot experience yourself as being loving until you have first experienced yourself as being not loving.  What this tells me is that I must own up to my faults.  Often I sugar coat them or try to downplay them.  I try to see myself as loving by seeing myself as not unloving.  I have it backwards.  That's why I have such trouble loving myself.  I have never truly experienced myself as unloving.  I have some excuse for every unloving deed I've ever done.  This will never get me to a place where I can know myself from the inside out.  I lie to myself when I turn a blind eye to my short-comings.  Once I have embraced my true nature, I can know myself well enough to make a choice as to whether I will be loving or unloving.  I can't make that choice if I don't even acknowledge what is unloving about the things I say or do in day to day situations.  It's like I'm blind, holding a bucket of red paint and thinking I'm painting my house green.

We All Help Each Other

  Someone asked me how I respond when somebody thanks me for my military service. Perhaps this is quirky of me, but I ask them what they do.  I then thank them for their service.  It was people like them who gave meaning to what I did.  This country is worth fighting for because of each and every one of us. I defended the freedom of the man who sold me a Big Mac. If he is able to do his job well, then I know I did mine.  What makes this country great is not its military, but the ones whom the military protects.

Sumiko Saulson's Interview

  Here is an interview I did last week.  I hope you like it!  http://sumikosaulson.com/2013/06/04/interview-with-paul-loh-author-of-the-greater-number/  Sumiko and I are now friends on Facebook.  I've been befriending lots of bloggers, reviewers and interviewers lately.  That's why I've had so many interviews.  I'd like to have some more reviews, but I'm sure that will come with time.  By the way, Chief Loh is now ranked #2 in Tucson on reverbnation.com/chiefloh!

Brady's New Leaf

  Last week, Jule Romans posted a zombie fiction writing challenge on Facebook.  The post had a link to her blog, 'Zombie Fiction'.  On her blog was the first chapter of a zombie story.  In this chapter were several characters.  The challenge was to select one of the characters and write an original back story for him or her.  There was a character named Brady, whom I selected to write about.  I connected him to an event that was mentioned in 'The Greater Number'.  Here is the link to my story. http://zombie-fiction.blogspot.com/2013/06/bradys-new-leaf-by-paul-loh.html

  Jule and I are now friends on Facebook.  She will soon be sending me some questions about myself so that she can publish an Author's Profile of me on her blog.  I asked her what will happen with the rest of the zombie story.  She told me that we are now waiting for back stories for the rest of the characters.  Once those are all published, we will proceed with new writing challenges to complete the rest of the story.  That is a fascinating way to go about completing a story.  Please check out the rest of Jule's blog using the link I have provided for you.  By the way, Chief Loh recently made it all the way to #3 in rank in Tucson on reverbnation.com/chiefloh.