Insecure Writer’s Support Group and November Movie Previews

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the November 6 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Lisa Buie Collard , Kim Lajevardi, and JQ Rose!

First, IWSG Admin Michelle is building an independent online teaching business and will be integrating aspects of creative writing into the business. You can learn more about it on her FaceBook page.

November 6 question - What creative activity do you engage in when you're not writing?

Guitar! I play in a Christian band, so I love the ability to rock out for God. I’ve played multiple instruments over the years, but guitar is my favorite. I’m lead, but I sometimes let our rhythm guitarist play the lead. It’s not about me, it’s about honoring and worshipping God. And while I’ve enjoyed writing and the five published books, music is still my first passion.

And it’s been so long that I should probably note my published works for those who are new to my site:
CassaDawn - free prequel short story
CassaStar - first in the series and my first published book
CassaFire - second in the series
CassaStorm - third in series and possibly the best story I’ve ever written
CassDark - fourth in the series
Dragon of the Stars - an independent, stand-alone story and also one I am very proud of

November Movie Preview

Here are the theatrical releases for November. Descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snark provided by me.

8 –

Conclave
Director: Edward Berger
Stars: Ralph Fiennes. Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow
Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, where he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church.
You haven’t seen balls-to-wall action until you’ve seen a bunch of Cardinals meet to elect a new Pope!

15 –

Red One
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu
After Santa Claus (code name: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.
This was written by AI. Or someone threw Scrabble tiles on the floor and this is the result.

22 –

Gladiator II
Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Joseph Quinn, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington
After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.
Gladiator II: Electric Boogaloo!

27 –

Moana 2
Directors: David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Alan Tudyk, Auli’I Cravalhov After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana journeys to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she has ever faced.
Moana 2: Electric Boolagoo! (They are making these too easy.)

What creative outlet do you have outside of writing? Did you know about my published work? And what movies catch your attention this month?

Insecure Writer’s Support Group, CassaDark’s Release, April Movie Preview, and Book News!

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the April 6 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Jemima Pett, Patricia Josephine, Louise - Fundy Blue, and Kim Lajevardi!

April 6 question - Have any of your books been made into audio books? If so, what is the main challenge in producing an audiobook?

Yes! My four novels and the Cassa boxed set are all available as audio books. Since my publisher did all of the work, my only challenge was listening to the first auditions and picking one. And I picked a good one, as he did a fantastic job on all of them.

You can find the first book, CassaStar, here - Amazon, iTunes, and Audible

CassaDark Available Today!

“Cavanaugh returns to the world of his Cassa Series…for a fourth inventive space opera.” – Publisher’s Weekly

His world is unraveling…

Bassan’s father is stepping down from command. His best friend almost dies when Bassan freezes. Now, he’s being sent across the galaxy to speak at an important conference. Despite saving the eleven races years ago, he’s paralyzed by doubt. Could things get any worse?

Once there, new acquaintance Zendar convinces Bassan to visit his planet for a humanitarian mission. Bassan’s special connection to ancient technology is the key to saving Zendar’s people. One problem though—it’s a prisoner planet.

On Ugar, he discovers things aren’t so straightforward. As each truth reveals itself, the situation grows more desperate. If he can’t find the right answers, he might die along with Zendar’s people. Can Bassan summon the courage to be a hero again?

Print – 9781939844842 / EBook – 9781939844859
Science Fiction – Adventure/Space Opera/Space Exploration

Find CassaDark at iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, Kobo, Scribed, and Goodreads
And would love it if you could vote for it on Goodreads’ Can’t Wait Sci-Fi Fantasy of 2022 and mark it Want to Read.

And here is last week’s and this week’s tour dates!

March 30 – Ronel Janse van Vuuren
March 31 - Bookworm for Kids – Tonja Drecker
April 1 – Sandra Cox
April 4 – Elizabeth S. Craig
April 5 – Melissa Maygrove
April 6 – Diane Burton
April 6 – Kathy McKendry
April 7 – Cherie Colyer
April 8 – Toi Thomas
Appreciate you visiting any of those you can.

Other Book News

KISS OF THE ASSASSIN by Joylene Nowell Butler
The Wild Rose Press, Inc (March 23, 2022)
Paperback: 424 pages, ASIN: B09P7T1ZRS

Marina Antonovna, a Soviet spy, and Mateo Arcusa, an American homicide lieutenant first meet in Cambodia during the Vietnam War as enemies. Fearful that the most powerful man in the Soviet Union, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kurenkov, has ordered her death, Marina risks everything to defect to the United States.
She promises Mateo that her days as an assassin are over. Vladimir is determined to do whatever it takes to bring her back and, by threatening Mateo’s life, forces Marina to break her promise.

Joylene Butler lives with her husband in the tiny village of Cluculz Lake in central B.C... She is the author of three suspense novels and a contributor to one anthology. For more on Joylene and her writing, visit her website and blog, as well as connect with her on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon.

Captain Quasar: The Complete Series: A Humorous Space Opera Boxed Set by Milo James Fowler is on sale for just .99!
Find it on Amazon

April Movie Preview

Here are the theatrical releases for April. Descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snark provided by me.

8 –

Ambulance
Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González, Garret Dillahunt
Two robbers steal an ambulance after their heist goes awry.
It’s a Michael Bay film – LA explodes, the ambulance explodes, heck, even Jake Gyllenhaal explodes!

15 –

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Director: David Yates
Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Ezra Miller, Katherine Waterston, Jude Law
The third installment of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," which follows the continuing adventures of Newt Scamander.
The original subtitle was What the Heck Happened to Johnny Depp?

22 –

The Northman
Director: Robert Eggers
Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke
From visionary director Robert Eggers comes The Northman, an action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince on his quest to avenge his father's murder.
Another weird, bloody, violent outing from Robert Eggers that might make you long for The Norseman with Lee Majors…

29 –

Memory
Director: Martin Campbell
Stars: Liam Neeson, Monica Bellucci, Ray Stevenson, Guy Pearce
An assassin-for-hire finds that he's become a target after he refuses to complete a job for a dangerous criminal organization. A remake of the 2003 Belgian film 'The Memory of a Killer'.
Just take any great line from Taken and replace skills with memory.

Any of your books on audio? See some new books to pick up? (How about CassaDark?) And what April movies catch your attention?
Be sure to visit Toi Thomas today!

A to Z Challenge – Cyberspace and Dystopia! Plus Question of the Month, Monday Music, and Ninja News

My theme - Origins of Science Fiction Terms and More! The term, its meaning (definitions from Technovelgy), and first book appearance / a movie that features this term / a blogger buddy who reminds me of that term.

I’m also the guinea pig for an experiment – A to Z Lite. I get between 100-170 comments per post in April during the Challenge. And it has just become too much to return that many every day, six days a week. The other A to Z Admins agreed to an A to Z Lite trial run. A to Z Lite means I will just be posting a handful of times this month and multiple letters at a time. I also won’t be visiting every single person every single day, although I will return all comments. Hope everyone understands.

Cyberspace
A computer technology that allowed people to see a computer network as an internal experience

Cyberspace originally appeared in William Gibson’s short story, Burning Chrome, in 1982. Yes, it’s a fairly recent term, and it caught on fast.



You can’t discuss cyberspace without including The Matrix. Now that’s cyberspace on a massive scale! Released in 1999, it introduced the world to amazing bullet time effects and starred Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburn, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving.

Spacerguy at Star Trek - Sci Fi Blog knows a lot about cyberspace. He lives there! If you want the latest on Star Trek and other cyberspace realms, you better follow him…

Dystopia


First used by Thomas More for his work of political philosophy in 1516 and again in a speech by John Stuart Mill in 1868.

A somber look at dystopia is shown in the movie Equilibrium. Staring Christian Bale, Sean Bean, William Fichtner, and Taye Diggs, it portrays a Fascist future where feelings are illegal.

Murees Dupé sees our world a little bit differently, but it’s a good thing. We might do well to share her vision!

Question of the month

Hosted by Michael at A Life Examined.

“What’s your favourite thing that begins with C?”

I really like the letter C since my last name begins with a C.
Plus all three of my Cassa series books begin with a C – CassaStar, CassaFire, and CassaStorm.
My favorite though would be Christ, my Lord and Savior.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

Hosted by Xmas Dolly.

Today I’m going with a video with cool animation from the latest Megadeth album. And the song fits so well – Dystopia!

Ninja News

Don’t forget Wednesday is post day for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We also have a newsletter now and you can sign up HERE.

Volume 1.4 of Six Strings is now available!

Pick up your copy at the Six Strings site.




And special thanks to Michelle Wallace - she featured one of my books for her C post!

Did you know where cyberspace and dystopia came from? Ever seen Equilibrium? Following Spacerguy and Murees? What music moves you today? And what is your favorite thing that begins with a C?