book release day!

Helllooooo! I feel like crap, so I'm on the computer for all of the next 30 seconds. Then I'm going to curl up with my blankie and my cat and stare at the television for the rest of the evening.
But first, a book release. Devil in the Branch is out today. The ebook is available at

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

The print version out right now is only available at lulu and it's a limited edition. Here is a picture of the cover.

The table of contents is illustrated like it is in Destined for Darkness. This time, I used part of the Poe and Dorian illustration. It looks like the pic below, only not as fuzzy. The more permanent version  of the book will also have the fancy table of contents.

Click here to travel to Lulu in a magical, internet sort of way.

no movie post today

because I have book things! plus we ended up turning off our Netflix movie because it was really boring.
Tomorrow is a big day - the release of the second AnnaBeth book - Devil in the Branch! I have some fun stuff planned for this week.

First up, an excerpt. The first five chapters of the book are available for reading on Scribd. Here is a link.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/101582716/Devil-in-the-Branch-Chapters-1-5

Also, I'm pleased to share that my interview with Darcia Helle from earlier this year is in her new ebook: A Word Please, Conversations with 24 Authors

It's available as a free download on her website at the link below.

http://www.quietfurybooks.com/freedownloads.html

Be sure to check out Darcia's books and of course, the other authors in the book in A Word Please.

That's all I have for now.

a friday rainbow

Happy Friday, everyone! I apologize for my absence. I have been busy, busy, busy.

Here is a rainbow that was practically in my back yard when I got home this evening. It was HUGE! and quite a lovely thing to come home to at the end of the week. Have a nice weekend!

movie: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

My movie post is late! Honestly, I forgot to write it. I worked on some stuff last night and got completely sidetracked.

This weekend’s movie was Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

Description from IMDB – “The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.”

It had action. It had kooky Tom Cruise and adorable Simon Pegg (I think I might have a crush on him) and a very, very big explosion. But perhaps, the best part about watching the Mission Impossible movies is seeing the technology they use. There were some really fun gadgets in this installment.

The movie was fun to watch, although maybe a bit long. No new ground was really broken. If you liked the other Mission Impossible movies, you would probably like this one too. Ghost Protocol gets an A-.

some lateness

Hey there! I’m just popping in to let everyone know that the book release will be delayed for a week while my last beta reader finishes the book. The delay is my fault because I sent it to her so late in the game. I apologize for my lateness.

book working updates and movie trailers

Hello, my lovelies! Friday is nearly upon us. I don’t really have much to talk about but I thought I should stop in anyway.

Current projects: Devil in the Branch book release on Tuesday. I didn’t forget about it this time. Are you proud of me? I am. I lost track of my days when White Wyrm came out. That thing snuck up on me. LOL

All I need to do is some formatting and Devil is ready to go!

I’m also working on a read-through for Pestilence. I’m really in love with that book, which is a dangerous way to feel when you’re trying to find the flaws.

Off the subject of books, I have a couple of awesome movie trailers I want to share.

The first one is for Wreck it Ralph. I love this for retro gaming goodness. I can’t wait to see it. The second trailer, the one for Robot and Frank, looks promising.

a couple of quickies

Not as much fun as it sounds! Or is it?? I have some stuff to do, so I’m making these reviews quick.

The Big Year

Description from IMDB: “Two bird enthusiasts try to defeat the cocky, cutthroat world record holder in a year-long bird-spotting competition.”

Big Year is actually the name of the bird spotting competition. I had never heard of it before watching this movie, but apparently, it’s a real thing. People travel everywhere to try to spot as many types of birds as possible within the course of a year. In this case, the Big Year to beat consisted of around 730 bird species if I remember correctly.

So, each of these three guys is trying to get their Big Year. Little do they know that their year is going to be big aside from the whole bird-watching competition.  Each of the three primary birdwatchers (played by Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson) will have to decide how to prioritize their lives in relation to the competition.

I love this movie.  The Big Year is heartwarming and funny and strange. It gets an A.

 -------

The Sitter

Description from IMDB: “A college student on suspension is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.”

The big drama starts when Noah (played by Jonah Hill) agrees to go buy coke for this girl who he wants as his girlfriend. God knows why, she’s cute enough, I guess, but she’s obnoxious and bitchy and selfish. I for one would rather have no girlfriend. 99 problems, amIright? Lol

Jonah Hill is an actor I want to like because he seems like he might be a down to earth guy. However, I am never impressed with his acting ability. He plays the same character in every movie. This one is more of the same.

The Sitter was not a great movie. It had some funny moments, some weirdly hilarious bad guys and some warm fuzziness.

A lot of the issues that arose during the story were never resolved. I wondered how he was going to get out of various jams, but at the end of the movie, he could just walk away from them, apparently.

The Sitter gets a C-.

independent magazines

I keep finding these sites for online (and independent) magazines and newspapers. They’re digital publications that basically anyone can set up.

The one that I’ve been on a few times lately is called HP Magcloud.

I stumbled on it while reading blogs and downloaded a magazine called Rebelicious. It’s a fashion magazine that has some great artistic expression, definitely edgier than the run of the mill Glamour or Vogue. Here’s a link to their blog.

http://rebeliciousmagazine.com/

I’m glad that things like this exist. I want more of them. The world is more interesting when we get to hear a variety of voices, not just the factory-sealed preppy Abercrombie and Fitch people. 

Here's the link to the magcloud if you want to check out what else they have.

http://magcloud.com/

new release book stuff

Hey, I have a book coming out soon! I swear these things seem so far out for a long time, and then all of a sudden, the release date sucker punches me.  I should probably post some book stuff.

Let’s see, it’s the second installment of the AnnaBeth books. The title is Devil in the Branch.

Here is the cover.

Now synopsis.

“Two years have passed since AnnaBeth's troublesome mentors skipped town. She has influenced no one's fate, nor does she have any desire to. As a result, her life in Fosters Branch is peaceful, maybe even idyllic.

When chaos descends, she suspects the MacDowell sisters have returned. The death of a friend, the arrival of the demon next door, and the disappearance of her boyfriend are only the beginning of her problems. She will be forced back into the perilous world she thought she left behind.”

Next, a chapter list

Chapter 1 Beginning of the End

Chapter 2 The Girl Next Door

Chapter 3 A Meeting Between Fates

Chapter 4 Burning

Chapter 5 Goodbye

Chapter 6 Calling the Devil

Chapter 7 Into the Veil

Chapter 8 Meeting the Demon

Chapter 9 Dinner and Drama, Party of Five

Chapter 10 Stalking

Chapter 11 The Raid

Chapter 12 Autumn

Chapter 13 Fleeing the Coven

Chapter 14 The Wolves

Chapter 15 Beck Langely

Chapter 16 Back into the Trenches

Chapter 17 Plotting a Surrender

Chapter 18 Into the Jaws

Chapter 19 Not Jogging

Chapter 20 Ready or Not

Chapter 21 Brennus

Chapter 22 Fox Willow

Chapter 23 The Saints of War

Chapter 24 The Book Awakens…Finally

Chapter 25 Stealing Souls

Chapter 26 Always that Kind of Party

That's all for now. Stay tuned for the book release on 7/24. More fun is coming later.

movie: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

I ventured outside for physical activity. It was the first time I’ve been able to do that in a while due to excessive heat. I thought it was going to be miserable because I was hot within like ten seconds of being out there. However, once I got moving on the bike, it wasn’t bad at all.

We watched Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance this weekend.

Here’s the description from IMDB: “As Johnny Blaze hides out in Eastern Europe, he is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.”

I liked the first Ghost Rider movie from 2007. I hadn’t read the comic book but I liked the story.

The sequel wasn’t as good. The directing made it weirder and cheesy. I could tell while we were watching it that it wasn’t directed by the same guy that did the first movie. A lot of the movie, character mannerisms and such, felt forced.

The three primary characters were pretty well developed. The special effects were top notch – plenty of fire and explosions. The fighting was well-choreographed, but a bit one sided. Ghost rider could kill people by whipping them with a chain and most of them were ordinary humans, so…not much of a fight there.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was entertaining but not all I hope it would be. C

The Dark Crystal

I’m watching The Dark Crystal with my son. It’s probably one of my top three favorite movies from my childhood. He was confused when we first started watching it, I think because it isn’t animation and is almost too cool looking to be real.

He asked me if it was 3D. I had to explain that the puppets and the costumes were “real” as opposed to cgi and all the stuff they use now. The level of detail is just amazing – the environment, the creatures.

I think it’s really sad that no one has really followed in Jim Henson’s footsteps since he died. Sometimes I wonder what other pieces of genius we missed out on as a result of his death. He was a brilliant, brilliant man.

If you haven’t seen The Dark Crystal, I recommend it. I’m seriously considering ordering a blu-ray copy.

movie: The Three Musketeers

I had a dentist appointment today. It went ok, however, when I got home, I proceeded to bite some giant holes in the inside of my numb cheek exactly like he told me not to do. I was actually pulling pieces of my cheek out of my mouth. It was pretty gross.

Anywayz, movie!

This weekend, we watched The Three Musketeers (2011). Here is the description from IMDB:

“The hot-headed young D'Artagnan along with three former legendary but now down on their luck Musketeers must unite and defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war.”

First, I LOVE the name “D’Artagnan”, pronounced like Dar-tan-yan. It’s quite heroic sounding, yes?

The movie has some great action scenes, swordplay, air ship battles. It was reminiscent of movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

I really liked the king and queen characters. Painting royalty as spoiled D-bags is too easy, I think. Too cliché. The king and queen in Three Musketeers were funny and sweet.

Another notable character was “Milady”, the aforementioned double agent, played by Milla Jovovich. She was awesomely bad.

Actually, all of the characters were good. This movie was great. I would be happy to see a sequel. Three Musketeers gets an A.