A NYT bestseller, Amish fiction, and summer movies
Plus: get a better idea of Bruce's summer blockbuster size
All day tomorrow I’ll be at the Christian Outlet at the Columbia Gorge Outlets in Troutdale, Oregon, signing books. I’ll be hanging out with two other authors who are definitely bigger players in the world of Christian books than me! Camille Eide and Leslie Gould. Camille does a lot of romance and Leslie does a lot of Amish fiction. I’m looking forward to hanging out with them and learning more about their books and their approach to writing! These aren’t my go-to genres but they are some of the MOST POPULAR genres in the book world!
Anyway, we’ll be there from 10-4, so come hang out and get some books signed if you like!
Speaking of really cool authors
This week on The Fascinating Podcast, JR., Kathy and I talked with New York Times bestselling author June Hur about being an author who writes in the mainstream market while also being a person of faith. A great conversation! And also, June’s books look amazing.
During the summer I try to get to the movies every week
Last week I went to see M3gan 2.0 with my daughter, Allie.
If you saw M3gan “the first one” you may remember that it’s a PG-13 horror movie that was surprisingly funny in a very kooky and weird way.
M3gan 2.0 is NOT a horror film, it’s a PG-13 goofball science fiction adventure. It’s definitely designed to be a sort of “oooo cover your eyes, it’s a little scary” kind of family (?) adventure film. Think in the realm of Jurassic Park. All of which to say: uh, yeah. I don’t think that’s the sequel anyone wanted, but it still had some fun moments and I wasn’t mad I saw it. I doubt I’ll be revisiting it any time soon, though.
Then this week I went to see F1 with my wife Krista.
F-1 is your classic summer popcorn movie. It’s slick and well done in every way: good acting, direction, writing, etc. etc. It’s a sports movie, and it’s 90% predictable and the 10% of surprises are fun and enjoyable. It’s inoffensive, fast-paced, and just all around a good time. WILL WASHED UP RACER BRAD PITT WIN FORMULA ONE RACING?
Look, you don’t need to see the movie to know the answer to that question. It’s Brad Pitt. Will Tom Cruise manage to fly his jet into the volcano and destroy the vague enemy bad guys? These are rhetorical questions.
Will you have fun? Yeah, I think you will. It’s a good time.
NOTE: Part way into this movie about incredibly dangerous vehicles I leaned over to my wife and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t be signing up to drive any of these cars” and she said, “I love driving fast cars.”
A quick reminder
That RESCUE AT THE REEF, the true story of the Reeder family dealing with the unexpected after a bull shark attacked their kid, releases later this month. I helped the Reeders get their story on to the page, and I really enjoyed getting to know their whole family (it did not, however, help my fear of sharks).
BRUCE!
You don’t always get the best idea of Bruce’s true scale without a human in the picture, so this week here’s Allie holding Bruce for reference.
Peace to you!
— Matt
Great pic of Allie and Bruce. They look very happy together.
I was amazed when I moved from a somewhat urban library near Baltimore to one in a more rural area of the state and discovered that one of the most popular genres there was Amish romance. I thought the other librarians were joking. But it’s real and it’s hugely popular. Who knew?