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Hello and welcome to Dragon’s Scratchings, the Substack for Michael Cieslak and Dragon’s Roost Press.

This is first real post, but I did import some reviews from the old website, mostly because I was messing around and trying to see how things worked. This has been in a holding pattern for about a year as I tried to figure out exactly how I wanted to set this up. I finally decided that I might as well just start and then we can change things as I go along.

The goal is to provide a (hopefully) regular update on life in general, reviews of recently read or viewed material, and Dragon’s Roost Press publications and plans.

BUT!

This is yet to be determined. What would you be interested in seeing?

One of the items I do intend on including regularly is an update on the media that I have been taking in regularly. For example:

Listening to: You Like it Darker, Stephen King

Currently reading: The Drowning House, Cherie Priest (ARC)

Current Obsession: Cutthroat Kitchen (TV cooking show)

Dragon’s Roost Press News:We had an enjoyable, if hot time at Frankenfest in Port Huron a few weekends ago. It was our first time at this location — Fort Gratiot. It was quite lovely.

We recently published Chorus of Whispers by Sarah Hans. If you have read Ms. Hans’ work in the past, you will definitely enjoy this collection of short stories. If you have not, you owe it to yourself to pick up this amazing book.

Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny by K.C. Grifant will be released on the 11th of this month, but it is currently available for pre-order.

I had the opportunity to see an advanced screening of A Quiet Place: Day One on Wednesday. It was interesting to see the film in a theater setting where everyone is trying their best to remain silent. By comparison, when I watched A Quiet Place at home, it was just myself and Tesla, but my stomach was growling so loudly that I would have certainly been alien chow.

Speaking of, there is an easy comparison to be made with the films of the Alien franchise. The first Quiet Place is a suspenseful, at times claustrophobic film, much like Alien. A Quiet Place: Day One takes place in New York City, and like Aliens the protagonists must face a horde of alien combatants.

Which brings up one of my nitpicks. This is totally ridiculous, but the film starts out with text stating that the average ambient noise level in New York City is 90db, comparing it to the volume of a scream. OK, well, then this really isn’t a “quiet place” is it? I know, it gets quieter later in the film — which is actually an amazing aspect, seeing a major metropolitan area silent (but we have seen that numerous times before). So I guess that isn’t that aggregious and I withdraw my complaint.

I mean, it’s not like The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia.

Anyway, A Quiet Place: Day One has some amazing acting from the likes of Lupita Nyong’o as Samira the hospice patient who gets caught up in the invasion of NYC and dedicates her time to revisiting the areas which meant the most to her. Joesph Quinn is Eric, the law student who latches on to Samira and joins her on her quest for pizza and memories.

I am tempted to make a joke about this actually being the story of a cat named Frodo who leads two hapless people on a walkabout in alien infest New York, but I decided to just allude to it instead.

Day One provides a point of view different from the rest of the series. The characters here are trying to survive a specific instant — the initial invasion — and escape rather than eke out an existence in a changed world. In this way the film is devoted to action over suspense, although there are tense scenes. It is well crafted and well shot with some gory special effects.

Rating: This one can be watched at home when it comes to the streaming platform of your choice, unless you want the added tension of being surrounded by people trying desperately to eat their popcorn quietly.[Standard Rating Scale: Avoid, Background Noise, Streaming, PPV, Must See in the Theater]

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