> Beard's Corner
Who am I? | My Genre | References | Reviews | Movies | Novels | On Horror | E-Mail
You have arrived !
This page contains: Excerpts from books I have written or am writing, new and old short stories, writings I have not put anywhere else, my opinions on things (seat belt optional), and any other entertaining things I can think of. This page is linked to Beard/Kraybill Studios but does not necessarily follow the style or guidelines we set out for our Studio. This is the Beard half of Beard/Kraybill Studios.
B.M. Beard dabbles in arts in a few fields such as drawing, music, and video film making, but his main passion is writing. He wrote his first piece of any size in sixth grade and has not stopped since. He lives in San Diego and has his own painting company which is his day job. He is currently working, however, on breaking into the field of writing full time, both with novels and with screen writing for television and films. You will find his short-short fiction works mainly in the Tales From The Still-Beating Heart. A poorly kept secret at Beard/Kraybill studios is that a number of the stories written by authors with questionable names were done by, well, can you guess?
B.M. Beard was born in 1964, has a muscular build and blue eyes and is currently single. (Wait, that was his AOL profile!) Along with his day job, he also volunteers as a counselor and as a tutor for raising literacy as well as being a contributor to community betterment groups. A man with very little free time, he still sits down to pound out short stories on demand and to write his third novel, a work said to be in the middle stages. He has currently written two full length novels of the heroic fantasy genre with a sub theme or genre of sci-fi. The second book is a sequel to the first. A project he will be starting soon, is a pure science fiction / space opera screen play he hopes to sell as either a TV series or a movie. He also has plans for a comic book character he has created, although he has no visual artist as yet for that project. For further information on B.M. Beard's writing history, please E-mail him via Beard/Kraybill Studios.
D. Kraybill
I enjoy writing science fiction of various sorts, space, sci fi mystery, heroic fantasy, etc. I have also found myself writing horror which I never would have guessed. Tales From The Still-Beating Heart began as a project to get a group of us writers writing something. It just happened to be Halloween. The rest is history. I don't like to limit myself to any one kind of genre however as this web page will hopefully reflect over time as I add to it.
Writer's Digest Magazine
Roget's Super Thesaurus, Second Edition, by McCutcheon
21st Century, American English Compendium, by Marv Rubinstein
Encarta, World English Dictionary, St. Martin Press
The Fiction Dictionary, Story Press, by Lauri Henry
Writer's Encyclopedia, Third Edition, from the Editors of Writer's Digest
Fiction Writer's Workshop, Story Press, by Josip Novakovich
Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were, by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen
The Time Tables of History, The New Third Revised Edition, by Bernard Grun
NTC's Dictionary of Word Origins, by Adrian Room
Weapons, An International Encyclopedia >From 5000 BC to 2000 AD, by The Diagram Group
The Complete Guide to Literary Contests 2001, Prometheus Books, compiled by Literary Fountain
Farscape: Farscape is one of my favorite television shows and it is not due just to the visual effects. They're cool, but what really hooked me was the style of writing. They had strong character development but, unlike Star Trek spin-offs, they had a strong action story line. The characters had to develop under dramatic stresses. The show is action packed science fiction with strong characters, not a soap opera on a space ship. I strive for that same mixture in my own writing. (When full length.)
Godzilla: There are a lot of Godzilla flicks out there. The one I'm talking about is the one with Matthew Broderick and that French guy. I liked the way Godzilla looked. I grew up loving Godzilla and King Kong movies. It did not matter how foul they were. That does not set me up as a great movie critic I suppose but let's face it, Godzilla is a very unrealistic character. I thought they did a pretty good job with it. If I had to complain, it would be the "car in Godzilla's mouth" scene. That was ridiculous. But plot? Monster attacks the city; kill the monster. I had very little trouble following it. I failed to understand the squabbling over "no plot."
Remo Williams: Great movie. Great character development. Great superhuman skills. Had you cheering at the end. It's too bad that its media has become out dated. Let's do a remake.
The Daily Show with John Stewart: I love this show. I'll usually wait up to see it unless I'm too tired. The back up comedians are awesome. As far as bugs? John Stewart likes to talk more than he likes to listen to his guests. What's that about?
South Park: They can do no wrong. Except for the movie maybe. We all agreed around here they went a little far with it. The TV series is a laugh a minute. I have to admit, I would be very hard pressed to write something like that. However, South Park does not reflect my maturity level.
Sense and Sensibility: Don't get me started.
Jackass: Do you wince or laugh at this show? What's with the poo obsession. Messing with people in public places sure, but let's jump into feces? Oh well. I guess I haven't stopped watching it yet.
MTV: We will all stand and observe a moment of silence for our departed friend from the eighties, the Original MTV. You had us guys, then you altered your format and turned into an unrecognizable creature. We've all heard it before; Where are the music videos now? Gangsta rap? There's being dated as an older person, and then there's just plain crappy music. Why did MTV swing that way? There's great modern music out there.
Congo: This movie really could have made it. In fact I have it on tape and have watched it several times over. But Jesus, that gorilla. You could tell it was one hell of an intricate robot but that's just it, you could tell it was a robot. And extreme close ups of the thing? Duh. Otherwise the story line was great. The characters were extreme but entertaining. The plot was predictable and the climactic volcanic eruption was a cliché. Otherwise, it was pretty damn entertaining. Plus that girl is cute.
Young Frankenstien, Indiana Jones 1 & 3, Jurassic Park 1, Ace Ventura,
Pet Detective, Star Wars 1, 2, 3 (3 being the best), Tommy Boy,
The Fifth Element, The Matrix, Raising Arizona, Ready to Rumble,
Independence Day, Austin Powers 1 & 2, So I Married An Ax Murderer,
Clerks, Princess Bride, Wayne's World 1 & 2, Romancing the Stone,
Repo Man, Willow, Remo Williams, Terminator 1 & 2, Paint Your Wagon,
Titanic, Mortal Combat 1, Any horror movie made before Halloween 1
The Peace Keepers of Lanthanor is a 180,000 word novel based on a planet called Grest. The cultures of Grest are in what might be considered to be at the level of development of Europe in perhaps the years 0 to 1000 AD There are, however, remains of a greater civilization found across the planets surface. Conn, one of the two leading characters, finds himself having disturbing dreams of a land far to the south in which he sees the second of the main characters, Kiflo. The two men, with the help of their friends, unravel the mystery of the dreams far enough to urge Kiflo to go to this land to the south, for in his dreams, Conn has seen a creature of great evil power which they agree must be destroyed. It is a short time later that Conn unravels the dream completely only to learn he has most surely sent his friend Kiflo and his men to their deaths. Conn embarks on a desperate mission to find another creature of great strength, this one capable of aiding the downfall of the evil beast of the south.
Both Conn and Kiflo find themselves in foreign cities and facing wonders and enemies they had not foreseen. Kiflo reaches the lair of the beast far ahead of Conn and ventures into the catacombs which are the home of yet another host of enemies. These enemies however are already far gone with madness due to the beast of dark evil living below them in the caverns. Kiflo's intrusion only serves to rouse the beast and as his companions begin to fall prey to it and the numerous maddened enemies inhabiting the caverns, they run to the surface of Grest with the beast upon their heels. They face off with the great dark creature only to be joined by Conn and his men as well as the beast they have summoned to help them. And the climatic battle ensues...
A Synopsis of BM Beard's second novel
The Dead King is a novel which continues the story of Conn and Kiflo. Shortly after their defeat of the creature in The Peace Keepers of Lanthanor they are informed that one of the greatest enemies of the Peace Keepers is again present in their land, this one being called the Dead King, a sorcerer and necromancer who himself is Undead. Conn and Kiflo rush to aid in the fight against the Dead King but their allies among the Peace Keepers, Histho and Alkife, who are introduced in this novel, reach the Dead King's island first. Hishto and Alkife are separated in battle and Alkife is pursued across the lands by a being as old as the many ruins found upon the planets surface from its former civilization. But his troubles only worsen for a rivaling band of mercenaries, enemies of the Peace Keepers and capture him. Hishto and his companions barely escape the Dead King but are only able to do so with the help of more benevolent beings from Grest's bygone and ancient civilization.
Conn and Kiflo arrive in the vicinity of the Dead King's island only to be separated in a startling and nearly tragic accident. Kiflo finds himself accompanied by a rather ominous magician as well as the very beast who aided them in their previous adventure. Due to the battered condition of his companions, Kiflo must hide them all in a rock formation in the plains. Conn and his companions reach the plains only to be attacked by the men of a local kingdom and Conn's chief weapon, a magical tool which could be easily misused, is stolen from him. Conn and his companions must then travel to the Venkon kingdom to steal it back. En route to the Venkon castle, they meet a strange tribe of bestial men called Skakers who loathe the Venkons. These Skackers aid Conn and his fellows and their adventures within the castle are a comedy of errors. Conn's magical staff is found but the Peace Keeper who steals it back learns a frightening secret. The Venkon king is one of the Dead King's undead servants, a fact hidden from the people of the Venkon kingdom and even the king's sons and daughter.
Alkife escapes his captors but is still pursued by the ancient being. He meets up with Kiflo and as he does, the ancient creature attacks. With their combined efforts, they defeat the creature. The Venkon princess learns the truth about her father and flees the castle, only to meet up with Hishto and his companions upon the plains. But the Dead King has not been idle and he sends a force out. All the characters find themselves converging upon a ruined city upon the plains and are reunited. There, the Peace Keepers and the Skackers battle the force the Dead King has sent to destroy them. Despite poor odds, they defeat this portion of the Dead King's army. One of leaders of the Dead King's forces escapes however to inform the Dead King of what has passed.
The Venkon princess demands her people are good and only her father has fallen to evil but the armies of the Venkons still obey their king and therefore are under the indirect command of the Dead King. The Peace Keepers must undo this deception. If the Dead King's armies and the forces of the Venkon's combine, they will be unstoppable.
With this as their goal, they and the Skackers march against the Dead King in the climatic battle of this tale. Kiflo leads the Skackers and a small group of Peace Keepers against the Dead King's armies while Conn and a handful of specially selected men attack the Dead King himself in his tower at the center of the island.
The novel The Peace Keepers of Lanthanor ended as the men found out about the Dead King, the novel The Dead King ends as the characters journey home, ending this adventure for them.
There is however, a third book in the works, in which the Peace Keepers become involved in a contest against one of the greatest evils of the universe which has come to reside upon the planet Grest. Both the Peace Keepers and the forces of evil race to reach a valley containing a great secret hidden for two millennia. But as they near it they realize it is a secret that someone wants to remain hidden. But whether it is the forces of good or of evil that are hiding it remains to be seen.
These novels have not yet been sold.
A note on Horror: Do you remember when horror the way it used to be? It meant suspense and fear that the good guys were going to get it. Sometimes they did too. But what you didn't see was the blood gushing from their open wounds. You didn't see their decapitated head whirling through the air. The movies were entertaining but they didn't have the gratuitous gore. I remember when Halloween 1 came out. It was one of the first movies where they showed the violence to the viewers so they could really see it. It was so intense, other movie makers followed the "formula" and began to show the bodies being damaged. So it begs the question, what kind of society considers violence and gore as a form of entertainment? True, we're doing better than the Romans and their coliseums but a taste for viewing blood and violence doesn't seem to be at the top of a scale that goes from nuts to sane. Any time I feel I'm in agreement with gory violence as a good show to watch, I sit down until the feeling goes away.
E-Mail me: beard@beardkraybill.com
Who am I? | My Genre | References | Reviews | Movies | Novels | On Horror | E-Mail
Revised on July 23, 2001