My voice is silenced.  I do not know what or who cast the stopper, but I am practically mute.  Only with the ink or the skeleton keys pounding can I evoke precious words.  Pain slices at my throat failing feverishly, yet the semblance of ink carries on.  And the coffee, O the coffee keeps me running like a misfiring 3.8L Camaro engine.  We will be fixed in a day or two, but for now the rich scent of Colombian bean permeates me with the most exotically delicate flavorful scene.  Silence me, you must be joking?  I carry on.  Write on.  Always.  Write.  O Coffee How I Adore Thee.

By R.J. Huneke

R.J. Huneke is now the newest member of the site for all things tech and gifts, Gadizmo!  Check out his articles on the Verizon iPhone and the scam otherwise known as the Best Buy Bieber Buy Back Program.

Sabriel must learn to battle the unknown evils that continue to stack against her, in the place of her missing father, who is, or was, the Abhorsen:  a powerful magic wielding necromancer who fights...

Rarely do works of speculative fiction involve such world building, round character creation and invoke an utterly riveting story in an artistic combination of intriguing depth; such is the case with J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which is why, for a genre, he has often been named the Godfather, as few live up to his magic, or writing prowess. 

Garth Nix has succeeded in doing this with his speculative work Sabriel (the first in the Abhorsen Trilogy), and though he is not Tolkien, by any stretch, he is certainly a talented, innovative and incredible writer who has made such a world in his book that it should be considered a "must read" and a classic.

The stark language and the thrilling story keep the reader in such a state of involved suspense that this world and the world that contains the Old Kingdom could be misconstrued.  The protagonist, an 18 year old woman named Sabriel, is truly unique and displayed with the uttermost care by the author; she is an amazing character! 

The world involves the constant threat of the Dead to rise from beyond the Gates of Death into the world of Life.  Sabriel must learn to battle the unknown evils that continue to stack against her, in the place of her missing father, who is, or was, the Abhorsen:  a powerful magic wielding necromancer who fights to ensure that the Dead stay that way.

The book builds in suspense until the pages fly to the climax and beyond...into the next novel of the series.

Happy 1/11/11! 

This is a W2P Special Report:  Free Speech is to be viable at all times, even when the twisted words of hatred (and politics) that are being stated are not pleasant to behold.  But that is not to say that we have to continue to tune in and listen to the Talking Rhetoric-Spewing Heads that infuse their viewers/listeners with spouts of extremist right wing anti-government madness.

But wait, that sounds awfully one-sided.  The reason for this folks is because we're talking about a one-sided argument.  The most extremist left wing liberal does not go on to belch displays of fear/hate/war mongering shock jocking as does the Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Bill O'Reilly types.  These loud-mouths spout insane ramblings, which are at times intertwined with confusing twists on half-truths, in order to shock and stir up more and more anger in their listeners to the point of overriding the rational portions of their (potentially already irrational) viewers/listeners' brains.  Look up shock jocking and the psychology behind it.  These madmen and madwomen are focusing hatred to make money off of their public and to warp these people to their narrow minded political views/agendas; the kicker here is that they constantly complain/attack the US system that allows for politics to play out politically and not violently, because they say it does not work (it worked for 8 years when Bush and the boys ran things). 

The shock jocks do not incite violence, in most cases, directly.  However, they work hard to undermine everything that is not 100% in agreement with their extremist views, and they leave the infuriated listeners to put together their own plans of violence to help a "broken" political system that cannot be fought against peacefully. 

After the shooting of Giffords in Arizona, I have felt the need to speak out.  It was not the words of the extremists, such as Beck, that caused a madman to shoot and kill innocent people at a political meeting; it was the work of a nut, plain and simple.  But that nut clearly lived in an insane world where many other nuts are spouting such rhetoric of hate/violence that it is no wonder that the man used violence.  There could have been a disgruntled nut job who sat in on the meeting naked, or went there with thousands of "No Health Care Plan" balloons to peacefully make a stink at a friendly meeting held by Giffords. 

But we live in a world, according to the extremist Beck-types, where "nothing is fixable" when the right wing people are out of office; when there is no solution and you've convinced members of the public of this, what more can they do?  Will they act out violently in frustration?  Has their been any disgruntled nut jobs that have turned to violence lately?

Peaceful protests did not happen.  We live in a televised world where the extremist nuts are the ones with millions of fans and followers, like Beck and Palin.  They have the right to free speech, just as I do.  So I suggest that we collectively shun the Evil Rhetoric and the Ones who speak/write such extremist hate-stirring words.

It is time to look back on the year that was, so that we can better look forward to the exciting year that is just a day away.  2010 was revolutionary for Rune Works Productions.  Numerous art publications saw print and screen (on the internet).  R.J. Huneke completed his fourth novel's manuscript, titled The Subliminal Religion, and it will undoubtedly be thrust into the speculative thriller fiction limelight in 2011.  But next year is 2011, an odd year, and those are always the best!

Pictures, poetry, art, short stories and non-fiction articles have continued to be churned out by Rune Works, and many artists are currently working with R.J. Huneke to create more!  The possibilities are endless, as is the media, and with the tremendous magazine, newspaper and internet publications that were successfully displayed in 2010, there is hoped to be even more  spectacular and entertaining innovative works of words and art in the coming year.  New announcements will follow as soon as there is enough Top Secret material to reveal to the world, but for now, just know that 2011 is going to be HUGE!

Thank you to all who support Rune Works!  And Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well it would appear that December is a good month for Rune Works.  R.J. Huneke has eight new publications in print that are available now. 

The Stony Brook PRESS featured a Fall 2010 Literary Supplement highlighted by four R.J.H. poems, and the Stony Brook University Literary Magazine "Spoke the Thunder" has successfully launched with three R.J.H. photos and one short story, tilted "The Bottle". 

All of these pieces are in print and available in the Stony Brook University Union, among other places around Long Island, NY.  Read more from them here.

The Tourist is a blistering European adventure thrill ride!  The on screen chemistry, between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, is honest, spectacular and hilarious.  The story brings in spy/undercover tones and combines them with a steady mix of action, comedy and a little romance.  It is not unlike the brilliance of Red, which came out earlier this year.  The cinematography is gorgeous and the views of Venice are unmatched to date. 

Despite Johnny Depp's numerous past roles, he is once again reborn and believable as an awkward math teacher, named Frank, on vacation in Italy.  His humor, wit and character growth match the conflicted, heavy-hearted character Elise, that Jolie plays, very well.  She is classy and alluring, and he is overwhelmed, over-matched and stubborn.  The two combine to rip apart Venice in many threatening situations, including Depp running on semi-circular roof tile in his pajamas.

Twists and turns riddle the plot with unknowns that leave the audience guessing until the end of the flick.  The Tourist is moving, suspenseful, funny and most importantly fun.

IMPULSIVE REVIEW Grade:  A

Remember John Lennon.  He did not just sing for peace; he acted for peace. 

It was thirty years ago tonight that one of the greatest men, a last of a dying breed that included Dr. King, Gandhi, JFK and RFK, was assassinated in New York City outside his home.  For John's wife, Yoko Ono, and family I'd like to say that I'm so sorry.  John did more for humankind than can even be described.  His dreams and hopes for us are still alive, because his spirit is still with us.  Imagine.

To read the W2P article "Remembering John Lennon 30 Years Later" click here; it is a more in-depth look at John's life.  Give Peace a Chance.

For the sensational world that surrounds Harry Potter and the Dark Lord Voldemort, the epic finale reaches the start of its climax in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.  The movie rendition of J.K. Rowling's final book in the Harry Potter series is as accurate, emotional and powerful as any of the other films, but it is certainly the most profound of the seven. 

This penultimate film, and the book it is based off of, is a grim, riveting and frightening point in Harry Potter's history; like Star Wars:  the Empire Strikes Back, the first part of "The Deathly Hallows" takes the courageous characters that readers and movie-goers have come to love and plunges them into the darkest days and the most trying of circumstances.  This flick has much of the humor and charm of the previous six in the HP series, but it is also a slow building crescendo that swarms the viewer with the fear, suspense and shock that ensues as the precarious events unfold. 

The tale of the Boy Who Lived has been riddled with dark events and circumstances - Harry's parents being murdered by a power-crazed Voldemort and then the boy's awful family forcing Harry to be the Cinderella in their household - but the friendships, adventures and fun of magic at Hogwarts always seemed to balance out the harshness of Harry's reality.  Unfortunately, the Chosen One, Harry Potter, is the only person who has the possibility of killing the Dark Lord who has risen to gain a tyrant's control over much of the wizarding world.  Harry is targeted as the lone threat to Voldemort's domination of everything and the government and Death Eaters now have total control to seek the 17 year old at will; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a contrastingly different experience than the previous looks into Rowling's wonderful tale. 

The odds are against Harry, Ron and Hermione, as their mentor and hero Professor Dumbledore is dead; the one hope that they had, in their ally and shield against the utterly evil Voldemort and his armies of darkness, has not only been erased from the earth, but he is being discredited by the press.  A biography has emerged revealing little known facts about the dark life that Dumbledore had led.  Harry has had no idea of these things and is overwhelmed with the futile feeling that his old bearded ally did not make anything clear to him about how to defeat Voldemort, and the fact that Dumbledore had a mysterious other side creates a disturbingly surreptitious effect.

The cinematography is truly gorgeous, and the fact that Hogwarts is entirely absent lends to the foreign, thrilling and dangerous feel to the movie.  The characters of Ron, Hermione and Harry, in particular, go through so much inner turmoil that they become extremely deep and even more realistic than they have been previously depicted. 

Voldemort is brought in for some significant screen time and his madness, power and evil show through very well.  The Malfoy's estate is just as I imagined it would look and feel, and Bellatrix, who also gets a good deal of more time in this movie, makes the place a harbor for twisted selfishness and the blackness of the criminally insane.  This flick is dark!  The villains are truly given justice in this film and much more so than any of the previous six installments.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the ultimate cliff-hanger in a depiction of one of the greatest epic tales ever written.  The sheer weight of the series is realistically brought about in this film and it is sad, moving and excellent in every way.  Ms. Rowling must be proud.

See the IMPULSIVE REVIEW Section for the Grade Here.