My Top Ten Sci-Fi Movies

There are two problems when it comes to compiling a list of my 10 favorite sci-fi movies: first, not everyone would agree that every movie on my list qualifies as science fiction; and second, how do I limit it to just 10?

Well, I agree that some of these movies aren’t really science fiction. I mean, that whole nonsense about being able to erase yourself from existence if you upset the “space-time continuum” in Back to the Future? Yeah, that’s great for the plot, but it has no scientific basis. It’s what Doctor Who would call, “Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.” But it’s still a great movie franchise with a pseudo scientific basis, so it stays. The Avengers, on the other hand, is one of my favorite movies of all time, but it didn't make the list because, well, I just don't think superhero movies qualify as science fiction, particularly when they involve Norse gods.   

And there were about 10 other movies I put on and took off the list, because there really are so many great sci-fi movies. I could play with this list forever, but I had to settle on a top 10, so this is it. Some are classics, while others are just personal favorites. Maybe some are your personal favorites too.

1. Serenity

The movie that followed Joss Whedon’s Firefly: a TV series about Captain Mal (Nathan Fillion) and his motley crew of outlaw space cowboys. Like anything done by Joss Whedon, it has the perfect combination of excitement, comedy, strong characters, awesome heroes, and even more awesome heroines. Netflix has both the series and the movie available for streaming, so if you can, watch the series first and then the movie. Prepare to laugh and cry. A lot. Shiny.

2. E.T.

A young boy named Elliot tries to help a friend from another planet get back to his spaceship. I’ve seen E.T. so many times, and I’ve cried every single time. E.T. will always hold a place in my heart.

3. Inception

A dream in a dream in a dream, and audiences argue which is reality. That’s kind of missing the point, though. This is really a movie about movies and how they affect us. That’s what’s real. Everything on the screen is a dream, and yet those dreams have the power to change our perceptions and our lives.

.

4. Star Trek

J.J. Abram’s reboot of the original Star Trek series is nothing short of brilliant. Star Trek Into Darkness is brilliant too. The only question is--where does the series go from here?

5. Blade Runner

What makes someone human? That question isn’t so black-and-white in this movie about a man who hunts down and kills renegade robots that have been programmed to think they’re just as human as the rest of us. This movie does what the best science-fiction does: it entertains while making you think.

6. Back to the Future

Marty McFly endangers his very existence when he travels to the past and accidentally stops the event that led to his mother falling in love with his father in the 1950s. Can he fix the past, save himself, and get back to the present? Yeah, it doesn’t make sense, but it is so much fun.  

7. Men in Black

The Men in Black help good and harmless aliens on Earth, while saving the planet from otherworldly threats. So silly and so funny.

8. Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope

The Star Wars movie that started them all. I know it’s probably just me, but this has always reminded me of a game of Dungeons & Dragons played in space. And I like that. Some things are better when they’re produced on a shoestring budget. The Star Wars series proves it.

9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Ordinary people are joined together on a quest after an encounter with aliens, in this early Steven Spielberg film. Just thinking of the scene with the car headlights, or the one with the mashed potatoes, puts a smile on my face. Da, da, da..DA, DA.

10. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams wrote the screenplay for the movie based on his hysterically funny science-fiction novel--my all-time favorite in any genre. Arthur Dent is rescued from planet Earth just before it’s demolished to make room for an inter-galactic highway. This isn’t for everyone, but if you love Douglas Adams as much as I do, you should definitely give it a try. Don’t panic, and don’t forget your towel. It’s not as good as the book, but that’s like saying a Hershey bar isn’t as good as Max Brenner truffles. It’s still chocolate, and that means it’s still wonderful.

10 + 1 Songs from the Unofficial Why My Love Life Sucks Soundtrack

I love all kinds of storytelling. When I was little, right up until the year before I graduated from college, I wanted to write and direct TV shows and movies. But then I found out that writers and directors never really have full control over the stories they tell, which is why I decided to become a novelist instead. My stories, though, still play like TV shows or movies in my head--with soundtracks and everything.

So here is the unofficial soundtrack for my funny, geek-centric YA novel: Why My Love Life Sucks (The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer, book one). These are songs I hear in my head when I think of certain scenes and characters from the book. Click on the song title to follow the link to a YouTube video.

10 + 1 Songs from the Unofficial Why My Love Life Sucks: The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer (part one) Soundtrack

Intro: “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” by Eric Idle (Monty Python)

Chapter one: “Breakeven” by The Script.

Chapter three (Amber): “She’s So High Above Me” by Tal Bachman

Chapter three: “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday” (Gonzo’s Song from The Muppet Movie, with clips from Life on Mars, cover version by Paula Jarvis)

Chapter four: “Crazy” by Seal

Chapter five: “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas (Oprah show flash-mob version)

Chapter 10: “Galaxies” by Owl City

Chapter 12: “D & D” by Stephen Lynch

Chapter 16: “Fix You” by Coldplay

Epilogue: “May It Be” by Enya from The Lord of the Rings soundtrack

As the credits roll: “My Life Would Suck Without You” by Kelly Clarkson

Why I Write Humor

Joss Whedon--the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, and writer and director of The Avengers--says,“Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.”

Joss Whedon and the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I agree.

Humor adds so much to any kind of writing.

Humor can prevent a dramatic scene from getting melodramatic and sappy.

Sometimes it can be a preemptive strike, because you know that if you don’t poke fun at your own story, there are those who will be more than happy to do it for you. It’s enough to have a character say, “You’ve gotta be kidding” before the reader does to “for the love of God, tell a joke.”

Humor can also prevent readers from getting bored.

Stephen King--the author of numerous bestselling novels, including Carrie, It and The Stand, and the undisputed king of the horror genre--says, “You can’t deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants.”

It stays as long as it wants, because readers want laughter to stick around.

Humor keeps us on our toes and stops us from getting bored, because comedy is about surprise. 

Don’t believe that? Then ask yourself if you laugh harder the first time you hear a joke or the second? If it’s the first, ask yourself why. You’ll soon realize it’s because the element of surprise is gone. Humor can turn any kind of ordinary novel, movie, or TV show into one you just can't put down, walk away from, or turn off. Once it plops down in your favorite chair, you want to plop down in your favorite chair and stay there as long as it does.

Humor can change a cliche into something new.

For example, you've probably encountered many lovesick vampires in books, movies, and on TV, but how many have you encountered who are too shy to tell the girl they love how they feel? That's one of the reasons why Gilbert Garfinkle from Why My Love Life Sucks (The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer, book one) is who he is--that amazing geek full of self-confidence who is afraid of only one thing: girls. He breaks all the vampire cliches, and that makes his story funny, surprising, and new.

And last but not least, humor makes us feel good. That’s been scientifically proven.

I don’t always write comedies. In fact, I cried buckets when I wrote my romantic, YA ghost-story, Ride of Your Life, and readers have told me that it has the same effect on them. But I do try to put some humor in everything I write. When I see a cliche, I feel a compulsive need to break it, or, at the very least, point it out. One of the scenes that is a turning point in Ride of Your Life isn't when Josh wows Tracy with some huge romantic gesture; it's when she laughs at his mistake and he's not too proud to laugh along with her. In fact, it makes him happy just to know he's put a smile on her face.

I like reading books--and watching TV show and movies--that make me laugh, even when they're making me fall in love, terrified, excited, or anything else. Who doesn’t? And knowing that makes me want to be the kind of writer whose stories I would enjoy reading, the kinds of stories that--at least here and there--make me laugh.  

I hope they make you laugh too.

Top 10 Reasons Why Gilbert Garfinkle's Love Life Sucks

Here's one of several requested guest posts I wrote specifically for a recent blog tour that, due to technical problems, were never posted. I'll post the others over the coming days.

Top 10 Reasons Why Gilbert Garfinkle's Love Life Sucks

SPOILER ALERT: Why does Gilbert Garfinkle's love life suck? Why My Love Life Sucks (The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer, book one) slowly reveals the answer to that question, so if you'd rather not read any spoilers before reading the book, stop here. Otherwise...

1. The beautiful, mysterious, and seemingly sweet Amber is the first girl he's ever kissed. She's also a vampire who bites him, sucks his blood, leaves him paralyzed and in pain, and later tells him she did it because she wants him to be her platonic BFF--literally forever. She likes him a lot, just not “that way.” Isn't that reason enough?

2. He's had a crush on the absolutely amazing Jenny Chen since the day she let him fix her camera when they were both six, but he’s too afraid to tell her. What if it ruins their friendship, and she never wants to see him again? It would be a pain worse than death.

3. His mother constantly reminds him that the only reason a pretty girl would want to be with someone like him is for money. That's the only reason why she married his brilliant father, and although Gilbert badly wants to be like his father, he's also afraid of falling into a golddigger’s trap.

4. His mother is beautiful, and she loathes him. That makes beautiful girls in general terrifying.  

5. Gilbert needs everything to make sense. Love. Doesn't. Make. Sense.

6. Delilah Jones, the former school bully turned domineering school queen bee, insists he take her out in an expensive car to an expensive restaurant. Considering she only dates guys who can help her move up the social ladder at school and geeks like him are at the bottom of that social ladder, that doesn't make sense.

7. Gilbert has a compulsive need to take apart, figure out, and fix things. He can't do that with a girl. Case in point: Amber. If she's not at all attracted to him like she says, why does she want to spend eternity with him and not her boyfriend?

8. When he’s in the presence of a girl he’s attracted to, he doesn’t think. That’s never a good idea.

9. After Amber bites Gilbert, girls are suddenly attracted to his vampire charm. That terrifies him, which brings out a “bite or flight” response--and he doesn’t want to bite anyone. Ever.

10. He was starting to fall for Amber before she bit him, and his eidetic memory means he'll never forget the pain and terror he felt when she did. How will he ever get past this connection his brain has made between opening his heart and the greatest pain he’s ever known?

~*~*~

Also, it's love. It sucks. The trick is to forget that and fall in love anyway. And maybe, if you're really lucky, for at least a few glimmering moments, life in general won't suck so much.

Carousel at dusk

I took this photo on Thursday, July 18, 2013 in Hershey Park, Pennsylvania during a heat wave. It's late in the evening and the lights are on. There's something magical about an amusement park at dusk. It reminds me of my YA ghost story romance set in an amusement park, Ride of Your Life.

The Sweetest Place on Earth, Hershey Park, Pennsylvania

This is part of the free ride at chocolate world at Hershey Park, Pennsylvania. That stuff that's coming down appears to be liquid chocolate. It smells amazing!
This ride is free, and it's one of the most fun things to do at Hersheypark.

Visit to Hersheypark

My family vacation this year was a couple of days at Hershey Park, PA, the Sweetest Place on Earth! Unfortunately this was during a heatwave. The hat was to protect Snow-White-pale me from the sun. But I still had a great time. 

Here I am with a friend. Isn't she shiny? 

(I hope you read that in the voice of Kaylee from Firefly, "Shiny!")

Here's me and a great big Kiss from Hersheypark!

Hmm...don't think that's how shopping online works.

Tech geeks? My kids? What gave you that idea?

P.S. My son's tee says, "I love my iPad", and here he's on a Kindle.

Quirky nail polish

Sparkly pink or sparkly blue? I couldn't decide, so I went with both! I call this look "Indecision."

July 4th Fireworks in Highland Park, NJ

The sunset was pink, the fireflies were out, the air was hot and humid, and it even rained a bit. And then we watched the fireworks...

An interview with a grown-up teen novelist: Michelle Izmaylov

What advice would you give to a teenager who wants to be a published author? 

This is complicated. On one hand, you have to be realistic about the challenges facing you in the future and realize that you’re not going to get famous in a single day. Thinking otherwise sets up unrealistic expectations that may cause writers to get disillusioned with the publishing process as a whole. On the other hand, it’s important to remember that you will improve and people will begin to take notice of your writing in the long run. My best advice is to try your very hardest and keep on trucking no matter who tries to get you down, but also be realistic about how difficult getting published can be. Also, don’t count on writing to be your primary career. Even published author almost always have an alternative job that pays the bills. Writing isn’t all that financially lucrative, though it’s good for your spiritual health.

Do you think entering contests is a good idea? If so, is there a contest you would particularly recommend that young writers enter? 

Yes and no. The trouble with contests is that on one hand you definitely increase opportunities for exposure of your writing. On the other hand, it’s easy to lose self-esteem if you lose at a young age. The best thing is to enter contests with realistic expectations and to keep striving to get better even if things don't work out.

What’s the hardest part of writing and publishing a book?

The most challenging aspect is two-fold. First, procrastination and getting easily distracted while writing is a major issue (especially with how readily available the Internet is these days). Second, and more seriously, is the issue of revision. It’s one thing to write a first draft. It’s an entirely different story to have the perseverance in editing your own work, going over and over until you iron out problems that may have cropped up along the way. It’s even harder to get halfway through a novel and realize you didn’t actually write what you wanted to write. At that point it’s important to step back and understand when it’s better to start over, not to mention having the willpower to do so.

To what do you attribute your success? 

There’s a general rule of thumb that says it takes 10,000 hours of practice to get good at any given thing. I'm still nowhere near as good as I hope to be another five or ten years down the road, but I've spend a good amount of time working on various writing projects over the years that have helped refine my abilities. I also feel like it’s important to be more than just “an author.” Writing is for me a hobby, not a job. It’s something I turn to when I have inspiration rather than something I force out of myself. 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of publishing at your age? 

One of the easiest advantages to pinpoint is that the younger you are, the more unusual it is for you to have actually completed a book. Therefore it’s easier to get public and media attention, which will in turn help get word out about your writing. On the other hand, younger writers (including myself at my present age) still have a lot to learn about the world as we refine our philosophical perspectives and have new experiences to add to our existing repertoire. The younger you are, the more challenging it is to write an unusual and well-crafted work honestly worthy of public attention.

What’s the single best piece of advice you've received? 

One of the things that’s always stuck with me is put your nose to the grindstone and work hard. Fairytales can come true, but not from wishing. You have to work hard every single day to make them reality, which is what I’ve tried to do these past years of my life.

Thanks, Michelle!

Michelle Izmaylov's latest novel, Ricochet, is available from Amazon. 

Ellie Garratt: Shevi Arnold - Speculative Fiction Writer--guest post

What does it mean to be a geek, and why is it a good thing? A guest post on Ellie Garratt's blog.Ellie Garratt's blog. 

Check it out and leave a comment. 

That Bites - Book Talk Reviews: Blog Tour of (Why My Love Life Sucks) by Shevi Arn...

"First of I have to say.. Bahahahaha!...If you like the show (The Big Bang Theory) while is mentioned a few times in the book, you are going to LOVE this book....I give it a 5 out of 5." That Bites - Book Talk Reviews: Blog Tour of (Why My Love Life Sucks) by Shevi Arnold

Wow, what a great review for Why My Love Life Sucks. Thanks, Michelle Lewis! Click on the link above to read the rest. 

Another 5-star review for Why My Love Life Sucks!

"I HIGHLY recommend this 5 star read to EVERYONE!  Yes I know it isn't really a typical vampire book, or a romance, or a science fiction.  But it is something even better, its own genre!" ~ Chris Condy of the Ohana Day Academy: Why My Love Life Sucks Review

Click the link above to read more.

Mahalo, Chris! (And I should add, as a huge Lilo & Stitch fan, I love your blog's logo.)