Books Galore! Ender’s Game Review, New Releases, Cover Art, and Book Trivia Answers. Plus Battle of the Bands and Ninja News

Today, it’s all about the books…

Cover Reveals

Dragonfly Warrior by Jay Noel
The first book of The Mechanica Wars, a steampunk adventure like no other.
Release date - January 6, 2014

The Mechanica Wars: Savage Machines Are Afoot...
At the age of twenty, Kanze Zenjiro's bloody footprints mark the bodies of those who stood in his way to protect the throne of Nihon. Now, the tyrannical Iberian Empire is bent on destroying his kingdom, and they send their steam-powered giants and iron spiders against him.
Zen embarks on a quest that takes him on the most dangerous journey of his life. To succeed, Zen must live up to his nickname, the Dragonfly Warrior, and kill all his enemies with only a sword and a pair of six-guns. He is called upon to somehow survive a test of faith and loyalty in a world so cruel and merciless, it borders on madness.

Find Jay at: Blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

Ribbon of Darkness by Decadent Kane
Release date December 13, 2013

An old family secret draws Ribbon into an Elven world while Draven is forced to find a way to drag her back home to save Christmas magic…

Fun Fact: In Iceland, 80% believe in existence of elves and roads are rerouted and buildings not built anywhere an 'elf home' might have been said to exist.

Find out more about the author, Decadent Kane: Blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads
Sign up for the newsletter to be notified of publications: HERE
She is also known as the awesome Summer Ross!

New Releases and Free Books

Time on Her Side by Shelly Arkon

They say God gives second chances.
Forty years have shown Wilhelmina has nothing but a lifetime of four failed marriages, a job she hates, and her most recent affair with a married businessman. Until one day, while sipping coffee her silent prayers are answered--she’s visited by her future self, offering Wilhelmina a chance to re-do her life, giving her a mission to save the future world from the baby she’s unknowingly pregnant with.
Is it the miracle she hoped for, or will this lead into a whole new set of problems?

Shelly Arkon is the author of Secondhand Shoes
Find Time on Her Side on Amazon - free November 1-5.

The Bashan Agenda by Melanie Schulz

Part two of The Newstead Trilogy, The Bashan Agenda picks up right where The Newstead Project left off. Nathan's truck eventually stops in the small town of Wilson, NY, and Rachel's still in it, not that she wants to be. But she figures at least in Wilson she'll be able to have a fresh start. She forgot one thing: they can be anywhere. As Joel trains with his father, doubts begin to rise in his mind. Is he really who he claims to be- and more importantly does he have an agenda all his own? When the maps to Bashan come out, Joel realizes maybe it's not such a good idea to be putting so much trust in one man.

Find The Bashan Agenda: Amazon and Amazon Kindle
Find Melanie on: Blog, Wattpad, and Facebook

Anticipation of the Penitent by Nancy LaRonda Johnson

Trapped by the devil, Alezea bears Satan’s son and knows her life will never be her own...

Find it on Amazon - free November 1!

Masked for Love by Nicole Zoltack

Isabelle is content being a maid, and will do anything for her lady--even accompany her to a masquerade ball…

Find Masked for Love at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Last Christmas by Talli Roland

For Lucy, the best Christmas present is forgetting the past…

Purchase at: Amazon and Amazon UK



Congratulations, everyone!

Ninja News

How I Miss You Blogfest is next Friday, November 8, hosted by Andrew Leon, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Matthew MacNish
The bloggers you miss and the ones you would miss. Sign up HERE


NaNo begins today! Good luck to all participating. I wrote my second book, CassaFire, during Nano 2010, so it can be done.
Today is also the blogfest in honor of the release of The Spirit of Christmas Anthology, featuring JA Bennett, Kelly Lynn, David Powers King, Jessica Salyer, and Cassie Mae. Proceeds all go to NaNo!

And the Insecure Writer’s Support Group posts next Wednesday!
My awesome co-hosts will be CD Coffelt, Tina Downey, Isis Rushdan, and Michelle Wallace!

Horror Story Trivia Answers

1 – The Exorcist 1971 – William Peter Blatty
2 – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1886 – Robert Lewis Stevenson
3 – The Dark Tower 1938 – CS Lewis
4 – The Anubis Gates 1983 – Tim Powers
5 – At the Mountain of Madness 1931 – HP Lovecraft

Battle of the Bands

I finally get to participate again!

Pink Floyd’s Welcome to the Machine has been remade numerous times. A couple of my favorite bands tackled this classic, resulting in two very different and yet still true to the original versions. Shadows Fall did a more straightforward take while Arjen added his own flair. Both are much heavier than the original – bonus!

Shadows Fall


Arjen Anthony Lucassen

Ender’s Game Book Review

I finally read it this past summer, knowing the movie was coming out and to satisfy my curiosity about comparisons made to my first book. It does pose an interesting question – is it right to destroy someone for the greater good?

It’s also NOT a young adult book – it’s just a science fiction book with kids in it. The theme is dark and the main character kills.

The ending surprised me and yet it didn’t.

Overall, it was good but not great.

And as for comparisons to CassaStar – both feature a main character who’s a loner with great potential, difficult to like, and undergoes military training. (Actually I found most of the characters in Ender's Game difficult to like.) But that is where the similarity ends – they are very different stories.

Hearing that they may have toned down the story and changed the ending for the movie makes me leery. However, I still intend to see it – must support a science fiction film!

Whoa!

See any new books you have to pick up? (With that list, I hope so!) Participating in NaNo? Ready for the Miss You Blogfest and IWSG next week? Get any of the trivia right? (Yes Suze, I will do more book trivia.) Read Ender’s Game? And which version of Welcome to the Machine do you like best…?

Being Humorous with The Vanished Knight! Plus Monster Movie Trivia, Haunted Castles, Man with the Iron Fist Movie Review, Cover Challenge, and Ninja News

Today I welcome the awesome Misha Gericke! And I may have stressed her a little with my request for snark. Let’s see how she did!

Be Humorous!

“Be humorous”, Alex said. “Humor always goes over well with the ninja crowd.” Do you have any idea how nervous this is making me. For one thing, I’m going to bust my chops and the ninjas won’t laugh.

Ninjas don’t laugh. Didn’t you know?

And even if they have a super secret sort of giggle, it’ll be too soft for human ears to hear. So… I guess the question is… If a ninja laughs in the blogosphere and I don’t hear it, am I ever funny?

Really though, writing humor gives me the heevie jeevies. It’s… sort of like… going into a room half naked. Anyone else know what I mean? I guess it’s because I know my sense of humor. It’s like 90% pure chocolate: dark, dry, a little bitter and absolutely wicked. Problem is, no matter how hard one tries, chocolate never really translates into writing. Same thing with what I think is funny. Not to say that my books are humorless. I believe there has to be bits of humor in all stories. Even fantasies with a possessed girl, a jackass (or fourteen), a nutty old man, a quiet kid, a heroic sociopath (or so people think, although I’m never sure if they’re right on the heroic or the sociopath side) and a half elf.

It’s easier then. My characters have senses of humor, and they make silly mistakes. And more often than not, I don’t plan any of it. The magic just happens, seemingly out of the ether. That, I’m comfortable with. Making the magic, not so much.

So… In the interest of humor, I thought I’d share a Nordian joke from Gawain in The Vanished Knight. *Clears throat*
What do you get if you tie two Merithians together? An irritation.
What do you get if you tie two Larisian Elves together? A headache. Unless you drown them.
What do you get if you tie two Ladrians together? Wait? You mean they’d notice?
What do you get if you tie two Nordian Saints together? Your hand back. Severed from your arm, of course.

Doo dum tsss!

Yeah… You’d need to read the book to get it. And in case you’re curious…

Purchase The Vanished Knight: Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, All Romance Reads, Amazon France, and Amazon Germany

M. Gerrick (AKA Misha Gericke) has basically created stories since before she could write. Many of those stories grew up with her and can be seen in her current projects. She lives close to Cape Town, with a view over False Bay and Table Mountain. If you’d like to contact her, feel free to mail her at warofsixcrowns(AT)gmail(DOT)com, Circle her on Google Plus or follow her on Twitter. If you'd like to see her writer-side (beware, it's pretty insane), please feel free to check out her blog. You can also add The Vanished Knight on Goodreads.

Lexa’s Cover Reveal Challenge

Can you find the error on this cover?

To win a prize, find the cover error in each of these 10 blogs: Alex J. Cavanaugh, PK Hrezo, Father Dragon Writes, Bards and Prophets, The Write Game, Ellie Garratt, Klahanie, Julie Flanders, In High Spirits, and Mainewords.

For the correct cover, rules, and prize list, go to Lexa Cain’s BLOG.
Soul Cutter releases from MuseItUp Publishing on December 6, 2013.

Ninja News

Many of you are gearing up for NaNo and might be in need of a buddy at the NaNo site. Beverly Fox is looking to connect with other participants. Visit her or leave your NaNo name in the comments so others can find you. It helps to have friends in the hunt with you!

Lee at Tossing It Out has a special guest today – Liza Long from Anarchist Soccer Mom. She received national attention with her post Thinking the Unthinkable (I am Adam Lanza’s Mom) and talks about the impact of going viral had on her. This is a continuation of his respect series, touching upon blogging and pageviews.

Somerset Memories asked Ella to write an article about her grandparents – and here it is published! Congratulations, Ella.





Want to visit a haunted castle? Gadling lists the ten most haunted castles in the world, including Castle Bran – Dracula’s castle.

Movie Review

The Man with the Iron Fists
Directed by and starring RZA, with Eli Roth as one of the producers.
First off, this movie is not good. But, it is ridiculously entertaining! If you like way over the top wire-fu mixed with a bit of gore, then this might be the film for you. Won’t win any Oscars, but it was entertaining as hell.
Also starring Rick Yune, Lucy Liu, and a fat Russell Crowe.

Monster Movie Trivia!

Name the monster(s) or creature(s) in the following movies:

1 – Ginger Snaps 2000

2 – Them! 1954

3 – Tremors 1990

4 – Dead Alive 1992

5 – Near Dark 1987

6 – Mimic 1997

Misha does know humorous, doesn’t she? Have you picked up The Vanished Knight? Participating in NaNo? Ready to visit a haunted castle? Seen The Man with the Iron Fists? And do you know any of the monsters…?