I’m grateful to Alex for offering to host me today, but I wasn’t sure what to write about. After pondering possible topics, I decided to give you a brief history lesson.
The box social was the Match.com of our ancestors. Young ladies would each box up a homemade meal, and young men would bid on them. The winner got to share the meal with the lady who brought the box.
In Precious Atonement, the boxes contain desserts, and the men joke about hiding a lizard inside of one of them. That scene was the inspiration for this post.
Below are three boxes. One of them contains a lizard. (Humor me and engage your suspension of disbelief. *grin*) Leave a comment by midnight, central ‘Texas’ time Friday, August 14, saying which box you think it is. All visitors who have the correct answer will be entered in a drawing for a free e-book of Precious Atonement. The winner will be announced on Monday, August 17.
Who says history can’t be fun. :)
Find Precious Atonement at Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Ninja News
Today’s Themes That Rocked the Challenge feature at the A to Z Blog is Jenn from Scribbles From Jenn. She dared to enter… The Twilight Zone!
Black Magic and Mojitos: A Zyan Star Novelette by A.A. Chamberlynn
Find it on Amazon
Find Alexia: blog Twitter, and Amazon page.
The Rat Killer and other Weird War Tales by Sean McLachlan
Find it on Amazon and Smashwords
Much of Josh Trank's abysmal "Fantastic Four" is set in a barren place called Planet Zero - and you may feel stranded there yourself for all 100 minutes of this plodding, joyless and stillborn Marvel reboot. - Lou Lumenick
Fantastic Four feels like a 100-minute trailer for a movie that never happens. – Todd McCarthy
A movie so dull and awkwardly structured that you wonder why anyone would dare telegraph a sequel at the end. – Kurt Loder
Yes, a sequel is scheduled, but I doubt it will happen now. Fox, just sell it to Disney. Three strikes and you’re out.
And the results of last week’s Battle of the Banned, hosted by Shady Del Knight, featuring covers of Ballroom Blitz by The Sweet:
Krokus – fourteen votes (including mine)
The Offspring – six
Nuclear Assault - eight
IWSG
Thanks again for another awesome posting day for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group!
There were so many awesome posts and my co-hosts rocked.
Those of you who’ve never co-hosted before don’t know what you are missing. It’s ten times better on the host side. Here are some of the comments I received from my co-hosts this month:
I had a fabulous time visiting the sites and was amazed by the outpouring of comments on my blog.
I have been having a blast co-hosting the #IWSG, thank you for the opportunity.
I was surprised by the variety of posts, from humorous to thoughtful to very personal and tried to leave thoughtful and/or helpful comments.
It was fun and I got the most comments ever!
I’ll be looking for co-hosts for the last three months of the year soon. Plus, we are announcing the most awesome contest and opportunity ever on September 2. You don’t want to miss it.
I cull the list every month, removing as many non-participants as possible. I feel bad removing people, but it’s not fair to those who are posting and looking for other IWSG posts on the list. If you are cut, you can always sign back up when you’re ready.
Especially the graph.
You have to check it out.
Finally, this was something I created for Karen Lange. It was one of my guest posts for my Dragon of the Stars tour, and she asked if I could create a graphic that highlighted each point I covered. Karen shared it recently, and now I am sharing it with you.
Are Book Trailers Still Relevant?
I haven’t noticed as many book trailers being released lately, which is a bit of a bummer. I know they require money and time (my publisher created trailers for my first three books, but didn’t have time to produce one for Dragon of the Stars) but I’ve always enjoyed watching them.
What do you think? Book trailers still cool? Require too much effort? Do you enjoy them?
And since I have a lot of new followers who may not have seen any of my trailers, here is the very first one for CassaStar:
Movie Review
This Irish film finds a couple stranded in the countryside after a farmer has awakened a vampire-like creature.
This was a simple film that certainly had promise. But that was utterly destroyed by the use of every bad horror cliché known to man – characters splitting up, car stuck, cell phones don’t work, flashlight dies, etc. Not to mention the characters do some of the dumbest things throughout the film. (Example – the creature is afraid of light, yet the woman walks around with a box of matches, lighting them one by one. My wife spent the final third of the film screaming at the woman, ‘Light something on fire. Anything!’)
The one thing the film had going for it was atmosphere. Too bad it’s not enough to save the film.
Not recommended.
Music Review
I am a long-time fan of the band, and this is one of their most accomplished albums yet. Conceptually, the album deals with Dante’s Inferno. (Or, what would you go to hell and back for?)
As a fan of hard rock and metal, this is some of the craziest guitar work I’ve ever heard. (Yes, this novice is in total awe.)
If you like progressive rock and want to hear some of the greatest shreddings ever, don’t hesitate to pick up this album.
Movie Trivia!
It’s been a while! The theme is war movies or those that take place during a war. Name the movie from the actors listed:
1 – Hugo Weaving, Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones 2011
2 – Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland 1967
3 – Jude Law, Joseph Finnes, Rachel Weisz 2001
4 – Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan 1995
5 – Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender 2009
Answers next Monday!
Which box holds the lizard? Anyone have the misfortune of seeing Fantastic Four? Or From the Dark? Enjoy last week’s IWSG? If you’ve been a co-host, would you agree it was even more fun than just posting? Fan of Symphony X or prog rock? What’s your opinion on book trailers? And can you get any of the trivia right?
