The Future of Virtual Reality, Force Awakens News, Jessica Therrien’s Publishing Journey, Dark Was the Night Review, Annoying Blogger Verification, and Ninja News

My Publishing Journey by Jessica Therrien

Back when I was a super NOOB at this whole writing thing, I went to a writers conference with a manuscript as thick as a ream of paper. The book was crap, but somehow it got recognized, and I was signed pretty much on the spot by a local small press. They were pretty honest about my manuscript’s Twilight-wanna-be-ness, but they liked my idea and my writing style. We worked out the kinks and I learned a lot.

The release of my first novel went well. Better than well, actually. OPPRESSION (Children of the Gods #1) became a Barnes & Noble best-seller soon after its release. Online, the cover of my book sat right next to the Hunger Games. *Faints*

Things slowed down after a while. I had a baby. Then I had another baby… (Turns out I’m a professional baby-haver).

But somehow that zombie-writer in me took over and spit out two more books.

My publisher at the time began to struggle and was doing little for me in the way of marketing, etc. I had a few choices. 1) Stay with my small press. 2) Hit the market and hope to sell my series to another publisher (but what publisher would pick up a series on the third book?) 3) Do what all of my author friends were doing…leave my publisher to self-pub.

Honestly, I didn’t like any of the options. BUT I had an idea. *ligtbulb*

What if my author friends and I started our own imprint? Not our own publishing house, but rather self-published under the same name? Two of my writing partners already had a decent editing business, which could easily be expanded to include publishing. So we did it.

Acorn Publishing is the best of both worlds. The authors get to keep all of their rights, make all the decisions, and keep 100% of their profits while still maintaining that extra level of legitimacy: A publisher’s logo, being part of a collection of works that have been vetted by a team of professionals, and the support of a great group of people.

Sweet right?!

For more info on Acorn Publishing, check out our website. We are accepting submissions.

Find Jessica at her blog.
Find the Children of the Gods series on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and add Redemption on Goodreads

The Future of Virtual Reality

Recently, Muse released a music video for their song, Revolt. This is not your normal music video though. It was shot in 360 for a full virtual reality experience.

Video gamers are familiar with the V.R. experience. And you can purchase V.R. goggles for certain games and videos. But it’s limited in its use and expensive.

This shows the potential of where V.R. can go though. It’s more a gee-whiz factor, but it shows the potential beyond goggles and video games. A complete, immersive movie-going experience? A Star Trek holodeck? There are so many possibilities!

To view the Muse video (and many other short videos) download the app VRSE to your tablet or phone.

The Force Awakens and X-Men News

Blastr has a great interview with actor Anthony Daniels who plays C3PO in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

CinemaBlend announced the official run time of the film – 135 minutes. (So, I’d recommend avoiding the super-size drink.)

And, we also will get our first look at X-Men: Apocalypse soon – the trailer will air before The Force Awakens.

Movie Review

Dark Was the Night

Staring Kevin Durand and Lukas Haas, something lurks in the woods outside a tiny mountain town. This small budget horror film was surprisingly good and had a lot going for it.
Some of the scenes are shot with a blue filter, which really sets the tone. The tension is a slow mount and you never see the creature until the end. (Which is good, as that was one of the few low points – it’s not awful, but it’s not good.)
One really big plus is the development of the characters. There is a real human element to the people and a secondary story that deals with healing after the loss of a child. The actors all did a fine job in their roles.
Most of what happens is handled realistically. A date is never given, but a setting of late 1990’s to early 2000’s would work. (Otherwise, the takeover of social media after that blows the plausibility part.)
And the only other issue was the overall tone of the movie is a bit down. Don’t expect humor to lighten the load.
However, the quality was excellent and I would recommend it.

Annoying New Blogger Verification!

If you visit more than twenty-five Blogger blogs in a day, then you’ve encountered this:

The most annoying verification ever! Once in a great while, I hit a blog where it doesn’t appear. Not sure if it’s because the owner has gone in and adjusted the settings or not. (Most of us have it set to no verification, but maybe switching to yes and then back to no makes a difference?)

Blogger and Google offer no help or reason. Anyone know a way around this?

Because apparently, I really suck at picking out the road signs…

Ninja News

Thanks to everyone who helped me to escape the Vortex last week!

An update on the IWSG Anthology Contest - this week, the top stories will go to our panel of judges. Once they have selected the winning entries (before Christmas) we will notify the winners and announce them by the first IWSG post in January. Thanks to everyone who entered – there were some really great stories!

New Releases:

The Haunted Realm by Emilyann Girdner
Book 2 in the Obsidian Series
A Young Adult Dystopian Epic Fantasy Book
Find it at Amazon Kindle, Amazon paperback, and Barnes and Noble

A Jefigoop Comes To Have A Poop by Pat Hatt
This is kids’ book number fifty-two for Pat!
Find it on Amazon

Think Jessica’s journey is one you would take? Getting excited for The Force Awakens? Seen Dark Was the Night? Annoyed by the new Blogger verification? Picking up some new books? And where do you see virtual reality going…?

I got an iPad Pro last week! Review coming soon...