Ninja News, Thanks, Movie Remakes, and Super Quiz

The wonderful and talented author, Annalisa Crawford, invited me to visit her blog today. She wanted to know what made my blog so popular and she wouldn’t accept “I have no idea” for an answer! Visit her site to see what answer I made up instead.

Ninja News!

Our very own Cassie Mae has an agent!! Congratulations, Cassie. You are going to be the best and most amusing author ever – and I mean that in a good way!

Rachel Morgan’s next book, Masquerade, is available today. This is the fourth book in the Creepy Hollow series. Congratulations, Rachel!

Want to know all the details about using photos on your site and copyright issues? Denise Covey at L’Aussie Writer put together a great post on the subject, complete with links to free image sites.

You know Sean McLachlan is an author, but did you know he also contributes travel articles to Gadling. Right now he has a series running called "Exploring Orkney: Scotland's Rugged Northern Isles." Check out Gadling’s SITE.

I also updated the Awesome Authors and Books page and am working on adding more blogs to my sidebar - if you are a regular blogger buddy of mine and you don't see your book or your link, let me know!

Special Thanks!

A big thank you to the awesome people of the UK who’ve purchased my books! I don’t know who you are or how it happened, but my books have bounced around in the top one hundred for science fiction on Amazon UK for three months now – and it just blows my mind. Thanks so much! And to think I didn’t even want to be an author…

Movie Remakes

Love them or hate them, here’s some more movies being remade in the next couple years:



Child’s Play – I didn’t think the first series was very good
Dune – Because we can never have too many versions I guess
Short Circuit – Guess Johnny Five does look a little dated
Suspiria – First one was weird and creepy enough
Tomb Raider – Time to reboot all those video game movies now

Super Quiz!

Anyone remember that trivia game? Let’s play!

Science – How many colors are there considered to be in a rainbow?

Sports – What is the official diameter of a hockey puck in inches?

Geography – Name the reef off the NE coast of Australia.

History – Name the first permanent English colony on the American mainland.

Movies – Who played Hawkeye in the movie M.A.S.H?

Words – A handwriting expert is called a ___?

Next Week!

Monday is the August movie preview and trivia answers
Wednesday is post day for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Friday I have a special guest

Excited about all the great news and cool links this week? Think those movies should be remade? Know any of the trivia answers? (Come on, try to guess at least one!) Any plans for the weekend besides staying out of the heat?

Don’t forget to visit Annalisa!

Elana Johnson Talks Music, Ninja News, and Movie News!

Special Guest – Elana Johnson!

I am very honored to host Elana Johnson today. Two years ago, Elana asked me to participate in a blogfest with her and Jen Daiker. At the time, I was closing in on two hundred followers. Jen had around eight hundred and Elana over 1500. At the time, it looked like a million to me. Not sure what she saw in this science fiction geek, but I’m grateful she saw something good. Thank you, Elana!

Music that Inspired the Writing: Misery by Maroon 5

I am a huge fan of Marron 5, I’ll freely admit. I like almost all of their songs, because they’re the kind you can turn up loud in the car and scream-sing to. And I like to do that.

One of their songs really captured the essence of writing SURRENDER for me. There’s one main character, Raine, who’d really rather talk about the issues at hand, but feels like she can’t. So these lyrics really sum her up:

So scared of breaking it

But you won’t let it bend

And I wrote two hundred letters

I will never send.

Sometimes these cuts are so much deeper than they seem

You’d rather cover up

I’d rather let them bleed.

Then later on in the story, the song sifts to mirroring how Gunner (the male MC) in the story when he can’t get Raine to answer any of his communications:

I am in misery

There ain’t nobody who can comfort me, oh yeah

Why won’t you answer me?

The silence is slowly killing me.

The song just has such an angsty vibe to it, and it was perfect for SURRENDER.



Do you have a song you listen to that sums up your novel so succinctly?

Be sure to participate in this week’s SURRENDER blog tour for a chance to win an e-book of your choice!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks, Elana! And yes, Stream of Passion’s Street Spirit fit one very powerful and pivotal scene in CassaStar. Those who’ve read it probably know which one…

Ninja News!

Heather McCorkle is hosting a giveaway that benefits the Ian Somerhalder Foundation - “I’m going to be giving away some great swag, a signed hardback of To Ride A Puca and up to $10 in gifted eBooks from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or The Book Depository.” Stop by her blog for details!

Juliana Haygert just signed a deal with Lyrical Press for her book, Destiny’s Gift. Congratulations, Juliana!

Don’t forget that since the next posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group falls on the USA’s Fourth of July holiday, we will be posting on either Tuesday OR Wednesday of that week.

I’m still making progress on CassaStorm. Doubt I’ll win BuNo, as my wife and I go on vacation this Friday, but it certainly kicked me into writing overdrive.

And this is post number five hundred for me! Whoa...

Movies!

We were going to see Brave Friday night but ended up spending the evening with friends instead. So sorry, no movie review today! But I do have some movies news for you.

Remakes! Love them or hate them, there are many in the works:

Total Recall – it’s not even be set on Mars anymore!
RoboCop – why?
The Evil Dead – now that is just wrong!
Godzilla – this one is needed.
Judge Dredd – also needed.
Excalibur – Cool when I was a kid, little dated now. This one might work.
Highlander – no one can replace Sean Connery!
The Crow – did they learn nothing from the dismal flops of the sequels? You can’t take Brandon Lee out of the equation. Or director Alex Proyas.

Have you purchased Possession? Is there a certain song that fits your story? Did you see a movie this weekend? (I watched the first Blade again – forgot it was so cool.) And do any of those films need to be remade?