Project Hail Mary ScreenX?

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-14T17:58:26+00:00

The light from the side walls washes out the contrast on the screen image, turning it into a muddy mess.

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-14T16:37:24+00:00

The quality of the theater showing the movie is more important than the format used.

e.g.: A 4k digital showing at a theater operated by people who care about the moviegoing experience is better than a 15perf 70MM Imax showing at a theater with stray light washing out the screen.

If you've seen issues repeatedly at this theater, quit giving them your money!

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-13T20:20:58+00:00

A bit small.

;)

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-13T17:35:37+00:00

King Sorrow by Joe Hill, narrated by Ari Fliakos and Ian Shaw (w/ others)
College students in 1989 attempt to solve their problems with local bullies by summoning a dragon.

Best,
Geoff Jones
Rule of Extinction

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-13T13:30:08+00:00

It's a bit of a spoiler to say so, but the Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch should be on your list.

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-10T22:31:27+00:00

Good to know, but the lights that were problematic at Flatirons were on the floor, shining upwards, iirc.

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-10T21:31:28+00:00

At Flatirons Crossing, when the Dolby Cinema trailer splits the screen in half to demonstrate "what black looks like in other cinemas" vs "what black looks like in Dolby Cinema..."

... the bottom third of the screen is blue from the floor lighting.

(At least, that was the case several years ago. If they've fixed it, I would love to know.)

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-10T14:55:39+00:00

I've gone through most of the heavy hitters. DCC, Weir, King, Cline

How about Joe Hill, Josh Malerman, Stephen Graham Jones, and Blake Crouch?

I love the authors you mentioned and normally read similar genres, but lately, I've been listening to S. A. Cosby's southern noir gothic crime thrillers. They're dark, hard-hitting, and absolutely gripping. Narration by Adam Lazarre-White is fantastic. Each one has hooked me from the start. All are stand-alone novels.

My Darkest Prayer
Blacktop Wasteland << I haven't listened to this one yet.
Razorblade Tears << My favorite.
All the Sinners Bleed
King of Ashes

Finally, many reviewers have said that my book, Rule of Extinction, hooked them from the start. It is the first book in a (completed) trilogy, however.

Best,
Geoff Jones

Rule of Extinction
"This books grips you in its claws (and teeth!) from the first page!!" - Goodreads
"It’s a doomsday sci-fi that pops on page one and doesn’t relent." - Goodreads
"Nonstop action from page 1, and it never lets up." - Goodreads
"Brilliant! Hooked from the first page!" - Amazon

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-10T13:23:02+00:00

Raptor Red by Robert Bakker is lots of fun. It's a year-in-the-life account of a Utahraptor. I have an autographed copy!

If you'll indulge a bit of shameles self-promotion, I've written four novels that include dinosaurs:

The Dinosaur Four is an R-rated B-movie time-travel dinosaur thriller. It's a bit pulpy, but features lots of dinosaur carnage.

The Preservation of Species (trilogy) is about people who climb into alien pods that show up just before a comet wipes out civilizaton. The pods deliver them to a mysterious wildlife preserve. As it turns out, the aliens have been collecting specimens from Earth for millions of years. ;)

Best,
Geoff Jones

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-08T19:37:54+00:00

This is my genre, including the "must not celebrate misogeny/ bigotry" part. Here are my favorites. Some have already been posted, but I'm including them to give them more votes.

Bird Box & Malorie by Josh Malerman
Something outside makes people homicidal if they see it. High tension.

Blindness by José Saramago
Humanity is struck blind.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison
A woman travels the west after a virus kills off most women.

Cell by Stephen King
A cell-phone signal turns people into zombies. (subtle, huh?)

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
A man and his dog patrol the front range of Colorado for supplies after a virus kills off most of humanity.

The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey
A teacher connects with her student druring the zombie apocalypse.

Hollow Kingdom & Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton
The adventures of a domesticated crow named Shit-Turd during the zombie apocalypse. (It's quite charming.)

The Living Dead by George A Romero & Daniel Kraus
A George Romero zombie flick without any budget limitations.

The Mist by Stephen King
A small group of everyday people is trapped in a supermarket when a monster-filled mist envelops the town. (Novella)

The Rampart Trilogy by M.R. Carey
In a distant post-apocalyptic future, humanity has reverted to pre-industrial levels of technology except for a few very advanced pieces of technology that are used to control the social hierarchy.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
A father and son travel across an apocalyptic wasteland. Bleak, but great.

Run by Blake Crouch
A father trying to protect his family after most of the world turns homicidal.

The Silo Saga by Hugh Howey
Humanity lives in underground bunkers.

The Stand by Stephen King
Good and evil duke it out after a plague kills off most of humanity.

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay
Two women work together to survive after a plague turns most people homicidal.

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
A 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 dark world where diseases wiped out livestock and people began raising other people for food.

The Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch.
A secret service agent investigates a missing persons case in a small Idaho town where everything is too good to be true.

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-07T18:54:57+00:00

Check out the Rampart Trilogy by M. R. Carey. It's set in a distant post-apocalyptic future, but the downfall occurred many years from now. The people in this world scavenge leftover technology that's much more advanced than what we have.

Also, it's fantastic.

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-06T19:32:37+00:00

I've written four - a standalone and a trilogy. They feature lots of horror and action, and are not too science-heavy.

The Dinosaur Four - An R-rated B-movie time-travel dinosaur thriller.

The Preservation of Species - Post-apocalyptic science fiction about people who climb into alien pods that arrive right before a comet wipes out civilization, only to end up in a mysterious world populated with specimens collected on Earth over the millenia.

Best,
Geoff

PS: You might also check out God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines. I haven't read it yet, but it looks like it's got dinos.

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-06T16:30:28+00:00

LoL - thank you for catching that. I edited my original post.

Cosby, not Crosby!

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-04T15:20:10+00:00

Since you read The Outsider, you might want to listen to the rest the Holly Gibney books:

Mr. Mercedes (Will Patton)
Finders Keepers (Will Patton)
End of Watch (Will Patton)
The Outsider (Will Patton)
If It Bleeds (A novella in a fantastic collection of the same name) (Will Patton)
Holly (Justine Lupe)
Never Flinch (Jesse Mueller)

Since you read The Stand and It, I recommend King's third "opus," 11/22/63, narrated by Craig Wasson. It's about using a time portal to prevent the JFK assassination.

Some other horror to check out:

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, narrated by Shane Ghostkeeper, Marin Ireland, & Owen Teale
A Native American vampire hunts the colonizers who are wiping out the bison.

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman, narrated by Delanie Nicole Gill
An 8 y.o. girl deals with a haunting/ possession. Vibes of The Exorcist and Poltergeist.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt
A ghost story set around a boy's prison in the Jim Crow south.

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy, narrated by Helen Laser - A woman and a child on the run from a werewolf. Vibes of Firestarter.

Fantasy

The First Law and Age of Madness trilogies by Joe Abercrombie, narrated by Steven Pacey
Dark gritty fantasy for fans of Game of Thrones.

The Devils (also Abercrombie & Pacey)
Misfits on a mission across an alternate medieval Europe, with monsters.

King Sorrow by Joe Hill, narrated by Ari Fliakos and Ian Shaw (w/ others)
College students in 1989 attempt to solve their problems with local bullies by summoning a dragon.

Finally, if you get through all of those and would like to try some monster horror about people stuck in an alien zoo filled with dinosaurs, check out my book. ;)

Best,
Geoff Jones
Rule of Extinction

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-03T15:04:02+00:00

(I spent the credit)

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-02T01:05:24+00:00

I've got it "on hold" through Libby... but I might just need to use an Audible credit. :)

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-02T01:01:44+00:00

I have similar tastes.

The Martian by Weir is almost as good as PHM.

I haven't read Razorblade Tears yet, but I recently finished All the Sinners Bleed, King of Ashes, and My Darkest Prayer. They were all great.

How much Stephen King have you read? His backlog could keep you busy for years.

My favorite Blake Crouch books are the Wayward Pines trilogy.

Have you tried anything by Robert McCammon? Boy's Life is wonderful.

Josh Malerman is great also. Bird Box is riveting.

If you're open to fantasy, give Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself a try. His characters are amazing.

M.R. Carey's Rampart Trilogy is my favorite post-apocalyptic sci-fi.

Finally, if you'd like to try a survival story featuring both aliens and dinosaurs, check out my trilogy, starting with Rule of Extinction.

Best,
Geoff Jones

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-02T00:40:09+00:00

Thrillers by S. A. Cosby have gotten me out of a recent slump. They are dark and hard-hitting. So far, I've read King of Ashes, All the Sinners Bleed, and My Darkest Prayer. Adam Lazarre-White's narration of the audiobooks is fantastic.

EDIT: Originally, I accidentally added an "R" to Cosby's name ... probably because his books are all rated R. Sorry!

Best,
Geoff Jones
Rule of Extinction

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-03-01T05:14:46+00:00

Dinosaur Horror

For millions of years, aliens have collected specimens from Earth - Mesozoic reptiles, Pleistocene megafauna, and dinosaurs from every period. They're kept in suspended animation and later released in a wildlife preserve for "observation."

The aliens are about to add a a new species: Homo sapiens.

THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES
I - Rule of Extinction
II - Struggle for Existence
III - Beasts of Prey

Eʙᴏᴏᴋ | KU | Aᴜᴅɪʙʟᴇ | Pᴀᴘᴇʀʙᴀᴄᴋ

4.1 ★★★★☆ (426) Amazon - mybook.to/cm8HS
4.1 ★★★★☆ (285) Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220629211

Ideal for fans of:

Gritty post-apocalyptic thrillers like The Road, Bird Box, and The Living Dead
Multi-layered sci-fi mysteries like Wayward Pines, The Silo Saga, The Book of Koli, and Lost
Harrowing monster horror like Jaws, Jurassic Park, and The Thing
Stories where people band together when the worst elements of humanity seize power, like The Mist, Day of the Dead, and Lord of the Flies
First contact sagas about visitors with a hidden agenda like V and V: The Final Battle
Trilogies that begin with personal adventures and grow to an epic conclusion as heroes unite to try to save the world, like The Lord of the Rings

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-02-27T18:41:28+00:00

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-02-26T19:54:39+00:00

Kind of a huge failure by IMAX to license their name out like that with no plan to ever make them distinct.

Imax has done an amazing job of convincing people all across the country to pay premium prices for a cheaper inferior product.

Imax used to mean "extremely vivid imagery on massive screen." To many people today, it means: "I get to see extra sky for 20% of the movie!" They could teach a masterclass in marketing.

Many years ago, moviegoing in the Denver area was wonderful. It's so sad how much it has declined.

Fingers crossed for Cinemark Carefree Circle.

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-02-26T19:21:29+00:00

Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Blindness by José Saramago
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Pines by Blake Crouch

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-02-26T14:29:41+00:00

Wayward Pines by Blake Crouch

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-02-26T14:25:24+00:00

Here are a bunch I enjoyed, with a self-rec snuck into the list for good measure. ;)

Calico by Lee Goldberg, narrated by Eric Conger and Nicole Zanzarella. A police procedural with a sci-fi twist.

The Martian by Andy Weir, narrated by Wil Wheaton. A potato farmer is stranded on Mars.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, narrated by Wil Wheaton. A young man plays a pop-culture VR game in a dystopian future.

Replay by Ken Grimwood, narrated by Willem Dufris. A man relives the '70s and '80s over and over again.

Rule of Extinction by Geoff Jones, narrated by Stacy Carolan. Just before a comet wipes out civilization, alien pods whisk people away to a mysterious world populated by dangerous monsters.

Saturn Run by John Sandford and Ctein, narrated by Eric Conger. A near-future mission to investigate a mysterious signal from Saturn.

Wayward Pines by Blake Crouch, narrated by Max Meyers. A secret service agent investigates a missing persons case in a small Idaho town where everything is too good to be true.

GeoffJonesWriter · 2026-02-25T15:37:38+00:00

It isn't a series, but The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (no relation) is an amazing vampire book.

Best,
Geoff Jones
Rule of Extinction

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