IWSG - Masquerade: Oddly Suited Release and Opening of Anthology Contest! Plus Avengers Endgame Review and May Movie Preview

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

My awesome co-hosts for the May 1 posting of the IWSG are Lee Lowery, Juneta Key, Yvonne Ventresca, and T. Powell Coltrin!

May 1 question: What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
Probably the first time I read a book by myself. Nothing could stop me then.

We have two amazing announcements today!

Just released:
Masquerade: Oddly Suited - An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology
Young Adult Fiction: Romance - General/Paranormal/Contemporary
Print ISBN 9781939844644 $14.95
EBook ISBN 9781939844651 $4.99

Find love at the ball…

Can a fake dating game show lead to love? Will a missing key free a clock-bound prince? Can a softball pitcher and a baseball catcher work together? Is there a vampire living in Paradise, Newfoundland? What’s more important—a virtual companion or a date to the ball?

Ten authors explore young love in all its facets, from heartbreak to budding passion. Featuring the talents of L.G. Keltner, Jennifer Lane, C.D. Gallant-King, Elizabeth Mueller, Angela Brown, Myles Christensen, Deborah Solice, Carrie-Anne Brownian, Anstice Brown, and Chelsea Marie Ballard.

Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these ten tales will mystify and surprise even as they touch your heart. Don your mask and join the party…

Find Masquerade: Oddly Suited here - Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, and Kobo

You can find out more about the authors of Masquerade: Oddly Suited here.

And the authors of Masquerade: Oddly Suited are hosting a live Q & A session on Discord! Join them on Sat 11th May from 1:00 pm EST / 6:00 pm GMT to find out more about the anthology and the contributing authors and ask any burning questions you may have.
The Q & A will be held on Discord. Please follow the invite link: HERE

The 2019 Annual IWSG Anthology Contest is now open for submissions!

Guidelines and rules:

Word count: 3500-5000

Genre: Middle Grade Historical – Adventure/Fantasy

Theme: Voyagers

Submissions accepted: May 1 - September 4, 2019

How to enter: Send your polished, formatted (double-spaced, no page numbers), previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup dot com before the deadline passes. Please include your full contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter IWSG group.

Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges:

Elizabeth S. Craig, author and honorary judge

Dianne K. Salerni, author

Lindsay Davis Auld, agent - Writers House

S.A. Larsen, author

Rachna Chhabria, author

Lynda Dietz, editor

Tonja Drecker, author

David Powers King, author

Prizes: The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title.


Our previous IWSG anthologies:
Masquerade: Oddly Suited
Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime
Hero Lost: The Mysteries of Death and Life
Parallels: Felix Was Here

Avengers: Endgame Review

So much build up for this film – and so much payoff!
This movie is more about the human element than action. (Although don’t worry, plenty of that as well, especially in the last part.) It picks up five years after Thanos snapped his fingers and those who remain are trying to cope and move on. Many of those moments are quite touching.
Sparked by an idea, the remaining team sets about to change what has happened and bring everyone back. I can’t tell you how, but it involves more touching moments and some wild twists. There are some really clever moments and laughs, but you also need to bring Kleenex with you.
And the ending battle – that’s where the kid in me geeked out with joy!
This is twenty-two Marvel movies to date and not a dud in the bunch and they are so well woven together. What other franchise can boast that? Not Star Wars. Not Star Trek or Doctor Who. It’s an incredible achievement.
Highly recommended!
So what are you waiting for? Go see it! (Don’t forget the Kleenex.) I’ll be seeing it again to catch everything I missed the first time.

Strange Blood Now Available! 

Strange Blood, edited by Vanessa Morgan

This is an overview of the most offbeat and underrated vampire movies spanning nine decades and 23 countries. (Featuring a piece by me on the film Near Dark!)

Pick it up at Amazon US and Amazon UK

May Movie Preview

Here are the upcoming theatrical releases for May! As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snark provided by me.

10-

All Is True
A look at the final days in the life of renowned playwright William Shakespeare.
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Lolita Chakrabarti, Jack Colgrave Hirst, Doug Colling
This might be much ado about nothing…

Tolkien
Explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school.
Director: Dome Karukoski
Stars: Lily Collins, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Gibson, Pam Ferris
Tolkien and Shakespeare on the same day? I smell a cage match!





17 –

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum
Super-Assassin John Wick is on the run after killing a member of the international assassin's guild, and with a $14 million price tag on his head - he is the target of hit men and women everywhere.
Director: Chad Stahelski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Asia Kate Dillon, Jerome Flynn
If less that a hundred people aren’t shot in the head at close range, I’ll demand my money back.



24 –

Aladdin 
A kindhearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Will Smith, Naomi Scott, Alan Tudyk, Billy Magnussen
Starring Will Smith as the Fresh Genie of Bel-Air.





31 –

Godzilla: King of the Monsters
The crypto-zoological agency Monarch faces off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah.
Director: Michael Dougherty
Stars: Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Charles Dance, Bradley Whitford
This could be Stranger Things on a whole new level. (And yes, very stoked for this film!)

Picking up Masquerade? Entering the next IWSG Anthology Contest? Can you co-host? Did you see Avengers Endgame? And what movies catch your eye this month?

Corruptions and Villains, Alita: Battle Angel Review, Train to Busan Review, #HelpMithuSaveSchool, IWSG Award and Co-Hosts, and Strange Blood!

Quick note! I was a guest at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University last Friday. Please check out the article – it was an honour to contribute to her site. Janice Hardy is also visiting the Insecure Writer’s Support Group site today.

Corruptions and Villains

Hi Alex! Thanks for offering to host me on the last day of my tour. I’d like to introduce your readers to the villain of the piece, Professor Roger Lunkin. Who is he and what does he want?

When we first meet Professor Harold Lunkin, he’s about to embark on the newly named Princess Ezmerelda to travel to Loretania under the leadership of Chief Scientist George Tindleson. Their mission: carrying crates of antidote to rid that country’s people of a crippling disesase. Our young heroes – Welles, Ez and Mal – are there to wave the scientists off, and there’s lots of jovial banter between them and Tindleson, but Lunkin comes off very differently. He doesn’t acknowledge the youngsters, seeing them as more of a nuisance. They’ve seen him around the science labs but never really spoken to him.

The truth is, Lunkin liked the way things were before under the Reformers’ Government. That was when the truth about Loretania had been kept hidden from the people of Harmonia, who lived in the lap of luxury. He’s going along on this trip grudgingly, loath to give up the comforts he’s enjoyed all his life for a land that’s dirty, smelly, even primitive. That said, he’s nothing if not ambitious. While most of his colleagues have always looked up to Dr Tindleson, he sees him as a pompous gasbag with a dangerous habit of clinging on to ideas and trinkets from the pre-Reformers days – the bad old days, as Lunkin would see them. If he sees a way to get something out of this trip, something that can offer him a personal benefit, he’s going to take it. Maybe he’ll even get a chance to do what he’s always wanted – assume command.

Corruption by Nick Wilford
Book two of the Black & White series
YA dystopian

Wellesbury Noon and Ezmerelda Dontible have found themselves in a position where they can make their native land somewhere that lives up to its name: Harmonia. However, they’re setting their sights further afield for their number one task: eradicating the disease that has plagued the neighbouring country of Loretania for generations and allowed the privileged Harmonians to live in a sterile environment…
*** Warning – this book contains themes that some sensitive readers may find upsetting. ***

Find it on Amazon US, Amazon UK, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, and Goodreads
And part one, Black & White, is currently free: Amazon, Amazon UK, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, and Goodreads

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those early morning times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. When not working he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. Visit him at his blog or connect with him on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon.

Movie Reviews

Alita: Battle Angel

I was hesitant to see this film. I’ve read the manga novels and watched the early 90’s anime film and really enjoyed both. Despite the Cameron/Rodrigues pedigree, I was worried.
Fortunately, nothing to worry about!
In the 26th century, a cybernetics doctor (Christoph Waltz) finds the remains of a female cyborg and revives her. Unable to remember her past life, Alita (Rosa Salazar) sets out to find answers and to connect to the new world around her.
The story follows the graphic novels very well. It feels a bit rushed at times, but the movie is trying to cram several novels into one. It does manage to cover the key story points really well though.
Visually it’s stunning. The blend of anime and reality is amazing, especially with Alita. The actress becomes a CGI anime figure that is both real and yet not. It does cause a little bit of a disconnect, but not enough to take away from your enjoyment.
The story really focuses on the characters. My wife thought the character development was great and tugged at the heart. It doesn’t lack in kick butt action scenes, though. The bar scene with all the hunter-killers was just awesome.
Highly recommended!

Train to Busan

2018 movie - A zombie virus breaks out in South Korea and passengers on a train struggle to stay alive.
Asian cinema has a theme that runs through every film I watch – cue the sad and depressing music. Whether it’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero or The Host, one thing is for sure – you will be sad at the end.
Having said that, this is a solid entry into the incredibly overcrowded zombie genre. There are some really great set pieces and the train provides a feeling of claustrophobia. I appreciated that the film was bloody but not over the top gory. (Good news for squeamish viewers!)
If you’re looking for a film that breathes a little life into a genre done to death (pun intended), this South Korean film gets the job done.
Recommended and bring the Kleenex.

IWSG News

The IWSG made UK Writers Hub’s 50 Best Writing Blogs in 2018 list!
Thanks to everyone who nominated us – we are honoured.

We need co-hosts for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group for April, May, and June! Leave a comment or send me an email if you can volunteer.
Many of you IWSG members have never volunteered – make this your year. It really is more fun on the host side. And all you have to do is visit twenty blogs in a batch. Easy!

Save a New Delhi School

Damyanti is hosting a very special blogathon to raise money for a school in New Delhi that’s in danger of closing forever.

During the blogathon, write one or more posts to talk about love, any kind of love at all, and about honouring the ones you love. All we ask is at the end of your post, you mention the fundraiser, and add the graphic above.

You can support the #HelpMithuSaveSchool fundraiser HERE.

There are many forms of love.
I love people. I used to not love people. At all. But I realized that to love God meant I needed to love His people.
I love my friends. They are there for me, without conditions.
I love my family. No matter what the quirks. They are special people.
I love my wife. She is my best friend. She is the person who brings out the best in me.
I love my Lord. Without Jesus, I have no hope of eternal salvation, and yet all he asks in return is that I accept Him as my saviour and love Him with all my heart. His love for me is true Agape love and He loves me no matter what.
That is how I see love.
How do you see love?

Book News

Coming soon - Strange Blood: 70 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies compiled by Vanessa Morgan

Featuring an essay by yours truly! Yes, my piece is on the movie Near Dark.

This is an overview of the most offbeat and underrated vampire movies spanning nine decades and 23 countries.
Strange Blood encompasses well-known hits as well as obscurities that differ from your standard fang fare by turning genre conventions on their head. Here, vampires come in the form of cars, pets, aliens, mechanical objects, gorillas, or floating heads. And when they do look like a demonic monster or an aristocratic Count or Countess, they break the mold in terms of imagery, style, or setting.
Leading horror writers, filmmakers, actors, academics, and programmers present their favorite vampire films through in-depth essays, providing background information, analysis, and trivia regarding the various films. Some of these stories are hilarious, some are terrifying, some are touching, and some are just plain weird. Not all of these movies line up with the critical consensus, yet they have one thing in common: they are unlike anything you've ever seen in the world of vampires.
Just when you thought that the children of the night had become a tired trope, it turns out they have quite a diverse inventory after all.

There is also a giveaway through March 12, so don’t miss it.


New release:
With the Magic (Twickenham Time Travel Romance Book 7) by Donna K. Weaver
When Gareth Hildebrand travels from the year 1850 to a future time, he’s not expecting to fall in love.
Find it on Amazon

What do you think of Corruption’s villain? Did you catch Alita: Battle Angel? Seen Train to Busan? What’s your take on love? Can you help a New Deli school? Ready to learn about some unique vampire films? And can you co-host the IWSG in the next three months?

Don’t forget to visit Janice Hardy’s Fiction University.

See you next Wednesday for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog posting!