The Fall

I watched The Fall last night and I completely loved it. Since it was directed by Tarsem Singh, former music video director (REM’s Losing My Religion) and director of The Cell (with J-Lo), I expected it to be visually impressive. And it was. Tarsem filmed in over 20 countries, including a stunning set of backgrounds, some of which I’ve been to (namely Jaipur’s Jantar Mantar and Fatehpur Sikri). The plot struck the right balance of real events and fictional, two separate storylines eventually bleeding into one another. I was reminded slightly of Terry Giliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

What really sold it for me, though, was the performance from Catinca Untaru, the little girl at the center of the plot. I read later that parts of her performance were improvised, completely natural and that showed. Minutes after she came on the screen, I knew I was in the movie. Lee Pace (of Pushing Daisies) also gave a fine performance.

One of my favorite part (which I hope is not too much of a spoiler) is when Lee Pace’s character, Roy Walker, confined to a bed in a California hospital, tells Untaru’s character, Alexandria, a story. One of the characters is an Indian, a Native American, clear from the vocabulary that Roy uses (squaw and teepee and so forth). However, Alexandria’s reference for Indian is the Asian Indian that helped her family pick oranges, so in the visual representation of the story, he’s clearly the Eastern type. That was what completely sold me on the film.

The ending gets a little melodramatic, but not in a way that detracts from the film. I would recommend it, especially for anyone interested in fantasy.

Twitter Updates for 2009-03-14
  • Can’t wait to talk some BSG #
  • Vin Diesel resurrects his movie career by revisiting all of his past successes. I’ll be happy if it results in another decent Riddick movie. #
  • @johnklima Congratulations! He shares a birthday with Albert Einstein #
  • BSG roundtable up at Tor.com: http://tinyurl.com/be3stl #

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Twitter Updates for 2009-03-13
  • I can see into the future. At some point soon I will pass out on my bed and sleep straight through to the morning… #
  • I’m so fucking tired and drained right now. There are things I want to do, but no energy… #
  • It’s been ages since I listened to Pablo Honey, but it’s really hitting the spot right now. #
  • @sixpoint Not a big fan of fruit beers, but I can see it being popular with others. #
  • @sixpoint I’d love to try a well-done fruit beer, then. #
  • Does anyone else understand what I mean when I say that wines are like cats while beers are like dogs? #
  • While I’m not sure about the Kindle, I love this idea: http://tinyurl.com/cnomcl #
  • @johnklima I am now picturing you giving birth to Madonna like Zeus did Athena. #
  • A great set of pictures of the Indian celebration of Holi: http://tinyurl.com/bfer69 #
  • I am not meant to be in close quarters with people. #
  • @Shineanthology Lucky you. Have fun. #
  • Radiohead vs. Miley Cyrus? Really? http://tinyurl.com/dzvzek #

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Twitter Updates for 2009-03-12
  • German beer tasting last night at Loreley was fantastic. 9 beers and a 2 course meal for $29 each. Educational and tasty. #
  • @thejordache Why would you want to be? #
  • I’m attending Styles Session 3: Stouts — http://tinyurl.com/c6mr78 #
  • @Shineanthology beef with cabbage and potatoes. Not bad, though I was hoping for something else. #
  • The next three hours need to go by fast and I need to get a lot done in them while also sleeping. Doable, right? #

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Twitter Updates for 2009-03-11
  • #Beatles I’d forgotten how great an album Rubber Soul is. Not a stinker from start to finish. #
  • @johnjosephadams The problem with the stars for me was I never remember what I was using them for. So I now have a label called follow-up. #
  • @johnjosephadams Oh wait, you said Greader. Sorry. Not enough caffeine this morning. I was thinking Gmail. #
  • My only problem with Stanza for Iphone is that I often accidentally tilt the screen causing it to reorient then have to reload the orig. way #
  • @shunn I wondered about that as soon as I posted that. I’ll check it out. Thanks. #
  • Going to Loreley tonight for a German beer tasting event. Should be fun. #

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Raining Fire – Out now!

Raining Fire, the third and final book in the Ben Gold series, was released on July 18, 2017. This book concludes the story begun in Falling Sky and Rising Tide. Publisher’s Weekly said, “Khanna wraps up his postapocalyptic adventure series with a capable page-turner…the airships, slavers, cannibalistic Ferals, and visceral action scenes make this a worthy culmination to the series.”

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble now.

Rising Tide -Out now!


Rising Tide, the sequel to Falling Sky, was released on October 6, 2015. Publisher's Weekly said, "Khanna crafts a terrifyingly dismal picture of the future, raising the stakes by gradually stripping Ben of friends and support while throwing him into increasingly dire situations. His worldbuilding remains solid and unsettling, and he never loses sight of the human element. The cliffhanger ending is sure to leave readers on the edges of their seats, panting for resolution."

Falling Sky – Out now!


Falling Sky, my first novel, came out October 7, 2014 from Pyr. It's an adventure story set in a post-apocalyptic future with airships. Publisher's Weekly called it a "solid and memorable debut" while Library Journal gave it a starred review and named it Debut of the Month. For more information, please click here.

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