Melissa Bradley’s Favorite Lady Badasses, CassaStorm Winners, Friday Night Alibi, and Ninja News

Special treat for you today! Melissa Bradley is here to share her favorite bad ass ladies, and this Ninja highly approves of her choices!

My Fave Lady Badasses

"Thanks Captain, for letting me take over your ninja fortress for a little bit. Yes, I promise I'll be brief.Wait, what's that? Watch out for Mini Alex. Okay." Smiles and nods as Alex walks away, then looks around quickly for any sign of the little guy.

"Alright, coast clear. Now where was I? Oh yeah, I love strong women, love to read about them, love to watch them in the movies and of course, love to write about them. Growing up I was caught between the women's equality movement and old school, conservative relatives who wanted to me to start planning my wedding my junior year of high school. It was my dad who first introduced me to badass women. He took me to see movies like Alien and Star Wars and talked about his admiration for Ellen and for Princess Leia as leaders.

Anyway without further ado, here are my fave badass ladies of the movies

Ellen Ripley (The Alien films)
She was the first woman I ever saw in a command position on a space ship, going toe to toe with her mostly male crew, but also a nine-foot acid for blood alien. She wielded a flame-thrower and a pulse rifle with skill and I was dazzled.

Selene (Underworld)
Female vampires had always been slinky, slutty characters relegated to the background, but here was a badass who wielded guns, blades and had mad hand to hand skills. What is not to love?

Alice (Resident Evil)
Growing up, it was the guys who always racked up the zombie kills and the ladies only got one in on occasion and usually because the guys were not around or already dead. Here was a woman highly skilled in hand to hand and any other weaponry you could think of. She took charge of the situation and waded in to kill every ghoul in the room.

Zoe Washburne (Serenity, Firefly)
Zoe is in a whole class by herself. Second in command of a squad of rebel soldiers, then a crew of smugglers, she is one of my fave characters of all time. She is brilliant in hand to hand, but nothing compares to her skills with firearms and her uncanny ability to assess a situation and size up the odds.

I have lots more, but I don't want the Captain to cut me off using one of his ninja techniques. Besides I think I hear those little feet and I am such a klutz, I don't want to fall on the poor fellow. But before I go, I love to hear from people so feel free to drop by my blog, Melissa's Imaginarium anytime. Or hit me up onTwitter or Facebook.

About Melissa:
She grew up on the Southeast Side of Chicago, a land steel mills and churches right at the bottom of Lake Michigan. It's not found on many maps, but it shaped her passion for writing and storytelling. When she's not writing or working her day job, Melissa can be found at the library or parked in front of her TV indulging her other big passion, movies.

Her latest books: NATHAN'S ANGEL and BYZANTINE PROVOCATEUR

Thanks, Melissa – you rock!

Ninja News

Voting is open at Michelle’s BLOG for favorite funny A to Z Challenge definitions. Prizes are involved, so check it out.

Annie Walls is hosting the May Monster Madness next week. “How does May Monster Madness work? Well, it's a blog hop featuring posts about monsters! Anything you can think of as long as it has something to do with monsters... crafts, lists, movies, funnies (a personal favorite)... anything!”

The A to Z Challenge Reflections list will be open through Friday. Remember, it’s not a sign up! Add the link to your Reflections post after you have posted. (Sorry, we had to delete a few who signed up but hadn’t posted yet.)

The Best/Worst Movie Remakes Blogfest is a week from Friday – don’t miss it!

My review of Iron Man III (it was good!) will be up on Wednesday, along with a review of what I saw Friday night. (And yes, it was even better.)

Cover Reveal – Friday Night Alibi

Friday Night Alibi
By Cassie Mae
Available July 29, 2013

Rising star Cassie Mae introduces New Adult readers to a practical soon-to-be college freshman who seems to have everything—until a special guy shows her what she’s been missing.

In the wealthy town of Sundale, Kelli Pinkins has hatched the perfect plan to capitalize on her sweet reputation…

“Totally entertaining with as many swoon-worthy moments as hilarious ones, Friday Night Alibi is a must-read.”—Jolene Perry, co-author of Out of Play

“A fun, funny, and fantastic story, this is one you will read in a day, and pick up to re-read again the next.”—Kelley Lynn, author of Fraction of Stone

Pre-order Friday Night Alibi: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, and Random House

Challenge Winners of CassaStorm

Thanks to everyone who left a comment last month. (All 4100+ of you!) Random.org selected the following winners of a review copy of CassaStorm:

Jemi Fraser

Mark Koopmans

Congratulations you two!

Following the awesome Melissa? Who would make your list of badass ladies? Signed up for the blogfests? Excited to pick up Cassie’s book in July? And who else saw Iron Man III this weekend…?