Galaxy 666

Ever hear of a science fiction novel titled Galaxy 666, written by Pel Torro?  It's probably the worst science fiction novel ever written.  Ever.  In the history of the genre of science fiction, Galaxy 666 is perhaps the worse example.  It makes any of the original movies made by Skiffy (the Syfy Channel for those who don't know) look like Gone With The Wind.  Plan Nine From Outer Space was better than this novel.  Are you hip to what I'm sayin'?  Are you pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?

Here's an example of the scintillating prose found between the covers of this yarn:

The things were odd, weird, grotesque. There was something horribly uncustomary and unwonted about them. They were completely unfamiliar. Their appearance was outlandish and extraordinary. here was something quite phenomenal about them. They were supernormal; they were unparalleled; they were unexampled. The shape of the aliens was singular in every sense. They were curious, odd, queer, peculiar and fantastic, and yet when every adjective had been used on them, when every preternatural epithet had been applied to their aberrant and freakish appearance, when everything that could be said about such eccentric, exceptional, anomalous creatures had been said, they still remained indescribable in any concrete terms.

I've read the novel a couple of times over the years.  The first time, I was just a kid and didn't know better.  I had asked my mother to buy it for me because on the cover what what looked like the Enterprise.  Was I in for a surprise!  Even the worst episode of Star Trek was better than this novel.

The other times I've read it?  I'm basically a masochistic sort who likes to inflict punishment on himself by reading bad novels and stories.

Why am I telling you this?

I have, at times, had the odd crisis when I think I'm writing the modern equivalent of Galaxy 666.

Chapter 21 of Before The Dawn is giving me fits, and the work I'm doing on the side projects, "The Fault Lies Not" and "My Soul to Keep", is leaving me unsatisfied.  I was working on Chapter 21, rewriting the same paragraph for the fifth time when I stopped, read what I had written and thought, Galaxy 666 is better than this.

I don't know if I'm just trying too hard and need to take a break; if I'm just stressed from being out of work; or if I'm just a lousy writer.

Although, something may be changing soon, so maybe...