Steampunk, Dragons, and Werewolves! Plus Deepwater Horizon Review, Movie Trivia, and Ninja News

Today at the IWSG site we have an amazing special guest – award winning author, K.M. Weiland! She’s offering some great words of wisdom, so please stop by.

We managed to ride out Hurricane Matthew without any damage and only brief loss of power, but our state was hit hard. Several counties (including ours) received fifteen inches of rain on Saturday and there have been many flood-related deaths. With rivers still rising and dams threatening to burst, not to mention so many without power, we're in a bad way. Please pray.

Don’t Buy My Book

“Oh, no!” you say. “Not another Indie Author pleading with me to buy his/her book.”

Nope. This is my “DON’T BUY MY BOOK!” Blog Tour.
That’s right: don’t buy my book. It won’t hurt … much. I’m an unattractive guy. I’m used to pleading and not getting any … thing.
Yes, there’s humor in my Steampunk book.
“Oh, Steampunk,” you groan. “I know about those books.”
Just because you saw SUPER 8 doesn’t mean you know what STRANGER THINGS will be like … until you see it.
This is the wild child of the Steampunk family.

Yes! Here be dragons! The savage Germanic breed and the mysterious arcane Celestial Dragons from China.
And more:
A cursed Texas Ranger sent across the ocean to rescue the kidnapped Princess Victoria. The culprit: High Fae Queen Oyggia of the Sidhe Royal Court.
It doesn’t go well, and the consequences follow Samuel McCord to dog his honeymoon voyage aboard the first Air/Steamship, Xanadu, as it sails to the mystery-laden shores of France …
Where he and his deadly wife, the alien Empress Meilori Shinseen, grabble with enemies from both their pasts …
The Rougarou, werewolves of Paris. Worms of the Earth, evolved raptors. Vying Vampire Kingdoms, one ruled by Abigail Adams, the other ruled by Empress Theodora of the Unholy Roman Empire.
But sometimes your friends are among your worse enemies, and sometimes you are your worst.

This is a stand-alone book thought it follows my first Steampunk effort. It also has a section for book clubs to discuss the topics I bring up … and a lagniappe short story! How cool is that?
What are you waiting for? Buy my book! I know what I named my tour, but you never heard of Reverse Psychology?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Roland Yeomans was born in Detroit, Michigan. But his last memories of that city are hub-caps and kneecaps since, at the age of seven, he followed the free food when his parents moved to Lafayette, Louisiana. The hitch-hiking after their speeding car from state to state was a real adventure. Once in Louisiana, Roland learned strange new ways of pronouncing David and Richard when they were last names. And it was not a pleasant sight when he pronounced Comeaux for the first time.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in English Education and a Master’s degree in Psychology. He has been a teacher, counselor, book store owner, and even a pirate since he once worked at a tax preparation firm.
So far he has written thirty-four books. You can find Roland at his web page or at his private table in Meilori’s. The web page is safer to visit. But if you insist on visiting Meilori’s, bring a friend who runs slower than you. You can also find him on Amazon and Facebook.

Movie Review

Deepwater Horizon
Based on the true story of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, causing the worst oil spill in history. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, and John Malkovich.
Director Perter Berg has really come into his own with movies lately. He knows how to take a tragedy such as this and do it right – straight with no overly-dramatic moments, paying due respect to the men who were on that rig.
The cast is top notch, Wahlberg is solid as the top electrical engineer and family man. Russell really shines as the general supervisor, his concern for his men genuine.
We know what happens, but the mounting tension as systems fail and all hell starts to break loose is effective. The intensity really hits you when the survivors finally reach land.
You’ll learn a lot about the event and the daily operations of an oil rig. And you’ll come away with a healthy respect for the men and women brave enough to work on such rigs. Highly recommended – and stay for some of the credits.

Ninja News

Don’t forget the IWSG Anthology Contest is open – fantasy/hero lost is the genre/theme and the word count is 3000-6000.

The trailer for CassaDawn has now been adjusted to include the cover art. (Fortunately there was no mention of the defunct anthology so that was the only adjustment needed.)

Chrys Fey is hosting her first blogfest - If I Were a Mobster Blogfest - on October 21.

October makes six years that Sylvia Ney has been a part of the blogging community! As a thank-you, she is offering two giveaways. The first is a free copy of Broken Angel to anyone who comments. The second is for anyone who reviews that story – they will be entered to win this cool collection of prizes. See Sylvia’s site for full details.

New Releases:

Motley Education by S.A. Larsen
Find it on Amazon

Sunrise Summits: A Poetry Anthology
Edited by Dean K. Miller
This is the first poetry anthology from the Northern Colorado Writers. Purchase it HERE and use code WXXPC7LH to save $1.00 off the $8.95 cover price.
Also available at Amazon

Movie Trivia

It’s been a while since I offered any movie trivia! Today it’s all about movies based on real events. Guess the movie based on the clues:

1 – Iran, John Goodman, movie – 2012

2 – Football, Tim McGraw, homeless – 2009

3 – London, Kate Winslet, Peter Pan – 2004

4 – Coal mining, Laura Dern, Sputnik – 1999

5 – Arabia, Omar Sharif, cowboy – 2004

6 – Musician, Reese Witherspoon, legend - 2005

Answers next week!

Follower of the awesome K.M. Weiland? Care to meet the werewolves of Paris? (And despite his words, are you picking up Roland’s latest book? It is his birthday you know!) Have you seen Deepwater Horizon? Any news strike your fancy? Can you guess the movies?

And is everyone all right after Hurricane Matthew attacked the East Coast?

A to Z Challenge – D – Cult Classics: Dark City, Donnie Darko, Def Leppard, Dragonflight, and More! Plus X-Files and Blog Blitz.

A to Z Challenge – Cult Classics – D

Movies-Music-Sci-fi Book-Bloggers-Dragon Term

Movies –

Dark City
Director Alex Proyas’ first film after The Crow, the movie is a mind bend of lost memories and a city with no sun that moves every night. Released in 1998, it was nominated for Hugo and Saturn awards.

Donnie Darko
Featuring a young man who escapes a bizarre accident and has visions of a giant bunny, this film is good until the end–then it becomes brilliant. It won many awards and became a midnight showing staple.

Music Albums -

Def Leppard –Hysteria
One of the best-selling albums of all time at twelve times Platinum, it produced seven hits. It also heralded the return of drummer Rick Allen and was the last album before Steve Clark died.

Science Fiction Books –

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – Phillip K. Dick
The novel that inspired the classic film Blade Runner, it was nominated for a Nebula and won a Locus award. Published in 1968, it’s been adapted to radio, theater, comics, and more.

Dragonflight – Anne McCaffrey
The first of the Dragonriders of Pern series, it was the first science fiction book to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list in 1968. It also won both the Nebula and Hugo for McCaffrey, the first time either was claimed by a woman.

Bloggers –

Dean K. Miller
Want a little inspiration? A song, a poem, a snippet? The thoughts of a reflective author? A steadfast friend? Then visit Dean today!

Diane Salerni
Want some diversity from a published author? Want a glimpse of the whole picture? Want to meet someone who gives it her all? Dianne is your winner!

Dragon of the Stars Term –

Dragon –
The Dragon is the legendary ship that vanished twenty years ago. Build by the Hyrathians in secret, she was to be their greatest weapon. Now she might be their only chance for survival. All Aden has to do is find the elusive ship…

Dragon of the Stars comes out April 7, 2015
Check out the site What Are the Kargrandes? for clues as to how they tie into the story.
And just a couple days left to join the Thunderclap campagin for the book!

To prepare for the launch of Dragon of the Stars next week, my publisher has dropped the price of CassaStorm to .99 cents at Amazon. (If you prefer ePub, it’s also on sale at Dancing Lemur Press.) CassaStorm is my highest rated book, winner of the Pinnacle Achievement Book Award, and was an eFestival of Books 2014 Winner. Today is the last day of the sale!

If anyone would like to Tweet about the sale, I would appreciate it:
Award-winning & best-selling CassaStorm by Alex J. Cavanaugh on sale for .99! http://tinyurl.com/q8dq3se @alexjcavanaugh #99cents #scifi

Ninja News

DL Hammons started the Blog Blitz two years ago, and it’s an awesome way to support and encourage other bloggers. If you aren’t a part of it, please consider joining.

Here’s some weird news from Blastr: the X-Files finale almost crossed over with West Wing.
"We had hoped to use the West Wing's Oval Office set. And in fact, we'd even at one point considered asking Martin Sheen who played the president on the West Wing to do this scene, which would have been a nice sort of wink." 
Really glad they didn’t!

Watched either of the films? One of the millions who owns Hysteria? Read those books? Familiar with my featured bloggers? What do you think of that proposed X-Files ending? Want to ride on the Dragon? You first have to tell me - What Are the Kargrandes…?

Secrets of Honor, The Making of the IWSG Anthology, IWSG Videos, Ninja News, and Destination Star Trek 3

We're starting with a bang today and an awesome author, Carol Kilgore!

Hi! My name is Carol Kilgore, and I write Crime Fiction with a Kiss. Thank you, Alex, for hosting me today.

Once upon a time, there was a jewel thief . . .

So begins the tale of Kat Marengo and Dave Krizak. The story could go all kinds of ways. The jewel thief could be
• an especially mischievous fairy who delights in swapping one jewel for another.
• a zombie who believes emeralds are brains.
• an octopus-like creature from Neptune who adorns his tentacles with NASA probes.
• a mermaid who uses sunken treasure to purchase aquarium space for herself at SeaWorld.

But in my new novel, SECRETS OF HONOR, my jewel thief is a government agent doing her job.

SECRETS OF HONOR
By the end of a long evening working as a special set of eyes for the presidential security detail, all Kat Marengo wants is to kick off her shoes and stash two not-really-stolen rings in a secure spot. Plus, maybe sleep with Dave Krizak. No, make that definitely sleep with Dave Krizak. The next morning, she wishes her new top priorities were so simple. They have 24 hours to locate a kidnapped girl, or they will have to fight for the life of the first lady.

You may connect with me at any or all of these sites: Blog - Website - Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads - Amazon

So in lieu of telling you more about myself, I invite you to visit my website HERE. Each month I hold a new contest giving away free books and swag by the Author of the Month. This month, the author is Susan Swiderski. Susan is giving away a signed copy of HOT FLASHES AND COLD LEMONADE and a copy of OLD BROADS WAXING POETIC, an anthology benefitting CARE International.

Ninja News

Industry expert and author, Anne R. Allen, will be our guest at the IWSG Site on Wednesday.


Jessica McKendry’s From the Ashes is on sale for 99 cents. Buy it at Amazon.

The sequel to Julie Flanders’ Polar Nights, is now available for 99 cents. You can find The Turnagain Arm at Amazon.

New release - The Odyssey of a Monk by Dean K. Miller
It will also be free on Amazon October 10-12.

Girl of Great Price by Milo James Fowler was just released.
Find it on Amazon.

Out now - Scarlet Magi by Nicole Zoltack
Plus Black Hellborn is on sale for 99 cents and her next book, Starry Love, is available for preorder.






And Destination Star Trek 3 took place this past weekend. @StarTrek sent out a lot of images from the convention, including this one of Next Generation wrapping up the second day:

You can see images from the first day at their website HERE

IWSG Anthology!

HUGE thanks to everyone who posted or sent their submission for the anthology, The Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s Guide to Publishing and Beyond. We had over a hundred submissions and they were amazing. Quite a few were emailed to us, so there will be a lot of fresh, new content in the book.

One thing I learned was never say no to an anthology. I turned down submitting a piece to The Tree of Life because I was busy at the time. (Yeah – stupid!) Fortunately, Samantha asked me to contribute to Heroes of Phenomena, and I didn’t say no a second time.

I never realized how much effort was involved in an anthology until now. Let me give you a backstage view of what the IWSG Admins have been doing:

Me – Gathering all email submissions and all IWSG posts (which meant reading every single one.) Gathering and requesting bios, permission, and websites, then logging all entries on a spreadsheet and sending out to be proofed. (By Friday my brain was mush - my apologies to all the bloggers I didn't visit toward the end of last week.)

Joylene, Susan, Michelle, and Joy – Human Spell Check machines and proofers. (Wow, did they read a lot of words! And poor Michelle had the flu last week.)

Lynda – Final proofing and organizing submissions for the book, noting issues and quotes and other stuff. (She did a LOT of reading!)

Diane – Format the entire mess into a book. (Good luck!)

So, as you can see, a lot of work went into this book. But we couldn’t have done it without all of you!

And I want to point out one very special submission. It was on making book trailers, and unfortunately the videos won’t make it into the book. But you have to see what HJ Blenkinsop created for us! This is just one of three:


The Insecure Writer’s Support Group #3


Think Carol’s story is better without the octopus creature from Neptune? Picking up some new books? Follow along with Destination Star Trek 3’s events? Enjoy this past week’s IWSG or contribute to the anthology? Wonder what a Ninja’s brain looks like when it turns to mush…?

Wednesday will be some light fun, trivia, and maybe even a bit about the Ninja…
 
And if you can co-host the IWSG in November or December, please leave a comment!

The Amazing Spider-Man II Movie Review, A to Z Challenge Reflections, and Ninja News!

Movie Review – The Amazing Spider-Man II

Caught it Friday in 3D. The plot follows an Oscorp employee’s transformation into Electro and Peter and Gwen’s on again, off again relationship.
The action scenes are great and there is a lot of snarky humor. There is a lot of slow-motion, bullet-time style action, which the 3D takes advantage of.
There are three villains, but the main focus is on Electro, and you see far more of Harry than you do the Green Goblin.
This film isn’t as good as the first one. For one thing, it’s too long. Filmmakers seem so determined these days to make long movies. Had they trimmed the extra stuff, the action would’ve flowed faster and they would’ve had a leaner, more dynamic film.
Ironically, the best parts of this film involve the interaction of Peter and Gwen.
It’s not a film I’ll probably watch again. Not because it wasn’t good, but because – (SPOILER – it was dark and very sad.)
Cool in theaters for the 3D, but better as a rental.

Ninja News

Don’t forget the Insecure Writer’s Support Group posts this Wednesday!

Someone posted a link to this site last week. Hopefully you never see your book here – Lousy Book Covers

Dean K Miller is part of a special Mother’s Day Sale!

Cover Reveal –

BROKEN BRANCH FALLS (MG Fantasy)
By Tara Tyler
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Publisher: Curiosity Quills

Available today!

A Dragon’s Lament, book 2 of the Jewels of Chandra series by River Fairchild

Magic is real. So is betrayal.

Purchase it here - Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, and iBookstore. Also available in paperback.

A to Z Reflections

Between today and Friday, the A to Z Challenge hosts invite everyone to post their thoughts on this year’s event. What you liked, what you didn’t, and what we can do to make next year even better. Once you have posted, visit the A to Z Challenge Blog and enter your post’s direct link on the Linky List.

My thoughts on this year’s Challenge…

As always, overwhelming! This was my fifth Challenge and fourth as a co-host, and it’s been amazing to watch it grow from a hundred of us that first year to over two thousand this year. As a co-host, I have a section of the list that I monitor (HUGE thanks to my awesome Minions, Joy, Michelle, SL, Susan, Rhonda, Madeline, LG, Cathy. Diane, and Melanie) and I am the Linky List Master, responsible for cleaning the list of bad sites, non-participants, and broken links. Plus the IWSG participated, so there were posts for that site. Add all of my blogger buddies, who I TRIED to visit every day, and the Challenge was pretty much my life for the month of April. (But that’s cool – it’s worth it!)

My next thought – some of you guys are so YOUNG!!! (My theme was retro and featured a different year for each letter, and comments were what others remembered that year.) Dear, Lord! David, LG – I could be your father. Wow, I feel so old…

I didn’t gain a lot of new followers. (That’s all right – I can barely keep up with everyone now!) But I did make some new friends and reconnected with some followers I didn’t visit often in the past.

Some people didn’t return comments or follows. That was rather sad. Maybe some people just didn’t get the following thing?

The only real bummer is that as a co-host, and one with so many followers and commenters, I don’t get a chance to meet as many new bloggers as I would like to meet. Some of my best blogger buddy friends I met during previous Challenges. I miss that.

Finally, I hope that everyone who visited enjoyed my Retro-Blogger Buddy Feature theme. It was a lot of fun to put together.

How did I do it? Yes, there was some snooping involved. And some emails. But earlier this year, I had a post that asked everyone what was their best year and why. Then I narrowed it down to twenty-six years and started my search for a movie or album that came out with a certain letter that year. (I knocked out X and Z right away!) I also found a couple sites that listed major events, sporting events, and time capsule information. Then I scoured the web for movies, music, and games that were released that year. Finally, I snagged all the images I needed. The basics of my Challenge posts were html formatted and ready to go by early February – everything else I added the night before.
Total time per post – four to five hours.

Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment. But I wanted to do something unique and as always, feature a blogger buddy or two.

And big thanks to the Challenge Team, Tina at Life is Good, Jeremy at Being Retro, Damyanti at Amlokiblogs, Nicole Ayers at The Madlab Post, Stephen Tremp, M. J. Joachim, Heather M. Gardner, AJ at Naturally Sweet, Pam at An Unconventional Librarian, and the founder of the Challenge, Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out!

Visit the A to Z Blog for a list of other Reflection posts and to add your own.

Anyone else see Spider-Man this weekend? Ready for some new books? Ready for the IWSG post? Did you enjoy my Challenge theme? And what are your thoughts about the Challenge this year…?