Hi everyone! Here you have my Book Trailer #2. I hope you like it.
Tag: History Page 1 of 3
Today is a very special day, as my book’s first review has been published. You can read the whole article in the below link (in Spanish):
A special thanks to professor Xavier Diez, a historian, author and professor at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, for his invaluable support.
HR
Last month I started to send ARCs to authors, academics and journalists who are interested in reviewing my book, prior its release date.
If you know anyone who may be interested in reviewing my book, please feel free to contact me at noticias@es.hectoraliruiz.com
(This applies for the Spanish version, as the English version is currently being edited).
Thank you!
As an independent author -and also self-publishing-, I have bee walking what I refer to as “The long journey to make it…” Definitely it’s not anything new, as hundreds of thousands of writers before me have transited it before.
Sometimes I think on how hard the competition is out there. How many thousands of authors like me are trying to fit in and have their works heard and read. But then I think about how lucky we are for living in the present time, where we have plenty of resources to make our journey worth it. It brings perspective to the meaning of the phrase “enjoy the journey, more than the goal”.
HR
Today is a very special day, as I am releasing the first Book Trailer of my book as you will see below.
Note: This is the book trailer for the Spanish edition, as the English edition of the book is still in the works, but for those English speakers who are also fluent in Spanish, I hope you enjoy it.
Hi guys, I just wanted to give another update on the status of my book.
I have been working intensely over the past weeks doing more revisions over the structure, as well as the editorial aspects of the manuscript. Looking back, I thought 2020 was going to be the year I would have it published, but with every passing day, it looks like I’m going to have to push it back to the and of Q1 2021.
The more I work, the more far away it seems I am from the finish line. I know it’s the opposite, and in reality I’m getting closer… but it feels painful and tiring.
Still, I keep pushing through…
HR
I have spent the last days organizing files from my old backups. Really old backups.
Not surprisingly I ran into all of my other books and drafts I have written in my life. I didn’t count how many I had in total because I was fast-clicking and sorting them very quickly, but I estimate there are probably fifteen of them. I opened a few of them, read a few pages and two things struck me: 1) I have drafts that dated over twenty five years ago, and still you can tell by their writing, that they came from me. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, but my writing style has definitely been consistent in time. 2) Despite having great and interesting ideas in most of them, I left them unfinished because I ran into a writer’s block (is that’s what it’s called?), and I never came back to them again.
Maybe I should quit being a baby and start working on them again. Maybe I can finish all of them. But I have to publish this one first!
HR
I haven’t posted anything about my book in the past months… mostly due to me having to adapt to working from home, my workload that thankfully I must
say has been huge and I’m happy that’s the way it is, and of course the new set of priorities that come with this new way of life. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been working on my baby.
As I stated in my previous update about my book, I’m taking this time to go over the finished manuscript, revise it once again, making sure I’m happy with
everything, and also conducting research on all the topics I covered, as well as the analytical approach I discuss throughout all its chapters. Part of this research includes having finished reading a book called “Once Upon a Revolution” about the series of protests that took place in Egypt to remove Hosni Mubarak as president, and the subsequent transition that led to Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s election as current president. I bought this book because I thought it would be similar to mine, but found out it lacked the social analysis that I focus on in Venezuela’s case. The initial stage of the events that took place in Egypt are quite similar to those that happened in Venezuela, however about a third into the book, the parallelisms began to diverge from each other.
It was an interesting read altogether, but sadly I must say that I couldn’t draw too much of it to use into my book. Still, my congratulations to the author. Hopefully one day he’ll be able to get his hands on my book and tell me what he thinks about it.
HR
This last weekend, I re-watched Star Wars (the original 1977 film) for the 4395th time, and what a wonderful movie it is. Is it a masterpiece comparable to Godfather, Citizen Kane or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest in terms of script, acting, and directing? No, and not by a long shot. But it’s an extremely competent movie that has been able to stand the test of time thanks to the fantasy world it created and its memorable characters. After watching it, I was so in awe that I decided to watch the entire original trilogy and came up with the same conclusion. Then, I decided to re-watch the prequel trilogy, you know… to give them sort of like a second chance, and oh my…
I remember that back in 1997 when word was out that George Lucas was doing a prequel trilogy, the first thought that came up in my mind was: “This sounds like a great idea… financially speaking. Now from an artistic point of view… I’m
not quite sure.” I never wasted any money watching Episode I or II on theaters, because I pretty much realized that by me spending any money on them would be complying and condoning the production of these terrible movies, a logic that was confirmed after I would eventually see them. I’ve never really cared for George Lucas as a filmmaker and I never really understood the need of playing with the Star Wars universe other than to milk the franchise for everything that is worth it and more, and of course, dividing the Star Wars fan base even further. You see, before the prequels, there were two types of people: 1) people who liked Star Wars, and 2) people who didn’t care about Star Wars. Now there are four types of people: 1) people who like the original Star Wars and dislike the prequels, 2) people who still don’t care about Star Wars, 3) people who don’t care about Star Wars but still go see it in theaters because they didn’t have anything else to do or because their sons made them go see it, and… 4) people who blindly follow Star Wars and believe everything produced about Star Wars is the best thing ever since the invention of the printed press.
What caused this? Sadly, mediocrity.
People who criticize the prequels (and now the sequel trilogy) argue that money destroyed the magic of Star Wars, because of the millions of Dollars these movies make. Their logic is that Star Wars went from being a product that came out from a group of rogue rebels in the 70s who were against the system, to becoming this new product from those same people who became part of the system. I disagree with this logic, because there are several
examples of blockbusters that have made millions, while still being great movies, including the original Star Wars. A poor choice for the director’s seat, a sloppy script and terrible casting and acting performances are to blame for
Star Wars falling from grace in terms of quality, not of revenue. An extremely efficient marketing plan that realized loyalty plus consumerism equals hundreds of millions in profits are to point for Star Wars’ unbelievable success at the box office. Why? Because as long as people keep paying money for movie tickets and toys, this movies will keep on going. It’s simple math: Star Wars’ success comes from the regular movie goers + the faithful cult-loving Star Wars hardcore fans. Simply add the numbers of people who go see Black Panther with the number people who are loyal to Star Wars. Financially, it’s a no-brainer recipe for success.
Artistically, the result is a considerable percentage of the population receiving constant political and social indoctrination from a universe that isn’t even close to our reality. Nowadays Star Wars has become an outlet to voice political problems, social injustices and dozens of topics that shouldn’t be part of a fantasy science fiction film. People are taught to repeat and follow, rather than being taught to think and create, period.
That’s is why I now refer to Star Wars as The Indoctrinating Cult.
HR
I’ve been reading the recent news about this virus that is currently spreading fairly quickly across a few provinces in China, the Corona Virus 19. One of my co-workers has family in one of the cities that is under a lock down policy and from what he mentioned, the restrictions regarding travelling and even commuting in the city are pretty tight.
I’ve always talked with my friends who work in the healthcare industry about how humanity has gone to great lengths to evolve industries and technology, still has been lagging -if I may- in healthcare development. It kind of reminds me of how much money and resources were invested into the fraudulent company Theranos, and their useless technology. I wonder how much advancement could physicians and biologists make in their field, had that money absorbed by Theranos, been invested into true scientific research laboratories in order to develop vaccines and treatments for aggressive viruses such as this Covid-19 one.
Instead, what I’m wondering is what will happen to us living in the United States if a pandemic of similar proportions to the one currently spreading in China, would hit us, especially in such a highly-populated area as New York. Would be face similar lock downs and quarantine procedures as they do? Who knows.
Prepare for the worst and expect the best…
HR