A to Z Challenge – YYZ by Rush, May Movie Preview, Indiestructible, and Seeing Ghosts

My theme for the A to Z Challenge is Favorite Movies, Bloggers, and Music! I’ll name a favorite movie that corresponds with the letter, and then select a character from the film. I will then name a favorite blogger who reminds me of that character, and then dedicate a song to him. (Also corresponding with the alphabet.) I’ll wrap it all up with trivia and/or fun facts about the movie, the blogger, or the music!

In addition, two lucky commenters this month will receive a review copy of CassaStorm! One comment per day and each is worth one entry except – the first and one hundredth comments on each day will receive ten entries!

Since I couldn’t name a favorite movie for this letter, and I needed a place to announce the May movie releases, this offering will be a little different. My monthly feature of listing a variety of upcoming movies reminds me of someone else who does a regular feature of movie clips variety.

Robin at Your Daily Dose!

She has a weekly feature called Here’s to You Thursday where she dedicates movie and TV footages to certain people. And it’s cool to figure out why she chose that particular clip. But that feature exemplifies her greatest quality – a caring spirit. Everything from her posts to her comments reveals her affectionate and devoted nature.

Robin is a writer and unofficial blog therapist.

To you I dedicate YYZ by Rush. (Title leads to YouTube.)

Because it is one of the most amazing and intricate instrumentals, and the song cannot be placed neatly in a box – and neither can you!

Trivia and Facts:

Did you know YYZ is one of the songs on Guitar Hero?

What year did Rush form?

X’s Trivia answer – X2’s William Stryker was played by Brian Cox.

Inspiring Publishing Stories

INDIESTRUCTiBLE: INSPIRING STORIES FROM THE PUBLISHING JUNGLE
Edited by Jessica Bell
Available September 16, 2013.

This book will bring readers the experiences of 29 authors, both indie and small press—their passions, their insights, their successes—to help other authors make the leap into indie publishing.
It will be sold as an e-book for 99c for the first six months. Royalties will be donated to BuildOn.
Find it now on GoodReads

I am honored to be one of the contributing authors, and we are asking for help promoting this book. You can get all of the information and sign up HERE to help spread the word September 16. (The day before CassaStorm’s release – how cool is that?)

Cover Reveal

Seeing Ghosts 
by James Garcia Jr


Paul Herrera finds himself bequeathed a mysterious old house near the California central coast by a deceased aunt he never knew…

May Movie Preview

Here are the upcoming movies for May! As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snarky comments by me.

3 -

Iron Man 3
When Tony Stark's world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.
Director: Shane Black
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Don Cheadle
What can I say? Can’t wait for Friday!!!



17 -

Star Trek Into Darkness
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.
Director: J.J. Abrams
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto
Eager to see the direction they take with the series.


24 -

Fast & Furious 6
Agent Hobbs enlists the aid of Dom and team to help bring a rival gang, led by Owen Shaw, to justice. In exchange for clear records, they must put an end to their schemes, no matter how personal the cost.
Director: Justin Lin
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez
The sequels have been getting better so expect this to rock. (No Johnson pun intended.)

Epic
A teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. She bands together with a rag-tag group characters in order to save their world -- and ours.
Director: Chris Wedge
Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Beyoncé Knowles, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell
Tree huggers of the world – unite!


31 -

After Earth
A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after events forced humanity's escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Isabelle Fuhrman, Sophie Okonedo
Great twist ending – M. Night actually died while filming the Sixth Sense. I see bad movies…

Following the awesome Robin? Can you guess my favorite bands now? Know the trivia? Can you help spread the word about Indiestructable? And what May movies have your interest?

One more day, one more blogger buddy to feature…

And special prayers for co-host Damyanti Biswas - her sister-in-law died a few weeks ago and yesterday, her mother-in-law died after being bitten by a poisonous snake. Please be thinking about her family today.

Chopsocky with J.C. Martin, Ninja News, and Odd Questions of the Week

Thanks to everyone who posted for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group - all five thousand of you! Well, not that many, but by about the hundred and fiftieth blog on Wednesday, it felt like it. Appreciate all the support you guys showed one another.

Chopsocky!

J.C. Martin’s Oracle came out this week and she’d like to share a little Chopsocky with you!

5 Tips on Writing Actions Scenes: Lessons from Chopsocky

Chopsocky refers to martial arts films made in the 1960s and 1970s. You know, the ones with out-of-sync dubbing, exaggerated sound effects, and all-around cheesiness? Despite their cornball plots, there is no denying that these films can be pretty entertaining.
A writer can learn lots about writing action from watching a classic chopsocky:

1. Keep the action flowing
The choreography for some chopsocky is pretty impressive. When writing action, your sentences should flow as smoothly as the on-screen moves.
Action scenes are fast-paced, so don’t slow them down with flowery words. Simple and short sentences reflect urgency. Use active verbs, e.g. “Bruce punches Jackie,” rather than passive sentences like “Jackie is punched by Bruce.” (Bonus question: in which film did this happen?)

2. Spare the intricacies
The chopsocky hero is capable of amazing (and dubious) feats, but viewers are so engrossed in the action, they barely notice the physical implausibility of one kick knocking three people down.
Someone in a life-or-death situation has adrenaline surging through their veins. The result: increased heart rate, dry mouth, tunnel vision. They won’t notice the colour of the carpet. Their sole focus is survival, so leave out unnecessary details. They only slow the action down.

3. Cut small talk
Chopsocky is often guilty of this: the hero and villain engaged in a civil conversation in between bashing each other’s brains in. This doesn’t happen in real life. Use dialogue only in the preamble. Once the fight is on, dialogue should be restricted to shouts and grunts—and no, we don’t need the hero reciting a running commentary of every move he makes!

4. Avoid one-sided fights
Another sin of chopsocky: the hero takes down twenty goons without a scratch, then struggles against the big boss. Your hero isn’t invincible, and your baddies aren’t shambling idiots. To up the tension, ebb and flow is key.

5. Use layman’s terms
Just because you’ve done your research, or have first-hand martial arts knowledge, doesn’t mean you should bog your scene down with unfamiliar terms. Telling readers your heroine executes a well-timed Monkey Steals the Peach will likely receive blank stares—and yes, it’s a real Ninjitsu technique!

By all means, give a rough description of the moves, but trust your readers to fill in the scene with their rich imagination.

Are YOU a chopsocky fan? What else is important in creating a good action scene?

About the Author: J.C. Martin is a butt-kicking bookworm: when she isn’t reading or writing, she teaches martial arts and self-defence to adults and children.
Find JC: Website, Blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Purchase Oracle: Amazon US Amazon UK Barnes and Noble

Ninja News!

Most of you know that Jeremy at Retro-Zombie is an artist. (He did the cool CassaFire banner above.) Now some of his artwork is available on t-shirts! Is that cool or what? Rock on, Jeremy!

Madeleine Maddocks at Scribble and Edit has a new book out – Ultimate Sacrifice. Congratulations, Madeleine!

Karen Elizabeth Brown has a new book out – Medieval Muse! Congratulations, Karen.

S.A. Larson has an agent! Congratulations, Sheri.

Laura Eno’s book, Demon in the Basement, is on sale right now for 99 cents!

James Garcia’s book, Dance on Fire, is available again after his publisher closed shop and free this weekend at Amazon.

You know Laura Bambrey is an author – but did you know her father is as well? Visit the Daily Dodo to learn more about his book, Atlantis Eternal.

I won an autographed copy of Michael Whelan’s book from Roland at Writing in the Crosshairs! Thanks, Roland – that is just too damn cool.

And at 11:45 last night, I typed the words THE END. The first draft of CassaStorm is complete. And I desperately need a nap because that was way past my bedtime...

Two Odd Questions

First, how long does it take you to compose a blog post? With all the links, it takes me about two hours. Oh, to be able to type faster!

Second, what is the weirdest group you’ve ever seen in concert? I think Primus wins it for me. Saw them open for another band on their Sailing the Seas of Cheese tour. They were good, but odd!

Whoa! So who is ready to Chopsocky? See some new books that interest you? How long does it take you to put together a post? And just what is the oddest band you’ve ever seen?