Steampunk, Dragons, and Werewolves! Plus Deepwater Horizon Review, Movie Trivia, and Ninja News

Today at the IWSG site we have an amazing special guest – award winning author, K.M. Weiland! She’s offering some great words of wisdom, so please stop by.

We managed to ride out Hurricane Matthew without any damage and only brief loss of power, but our state was hit hard. Several counties (including ours) received fifteen inches of rain on Saturday and there have been many flood-related deaths. With rivers still rising and dams threatening to burst, not to mention so many without power, we're in a bad way. Please pray.

Don’t Buy My Book

“Oh, no!” you say. “Not another Indie Author pleading with me to buy his/her book.”

Nope. This is my “DON’T BUY MY BOOK!” Blog Tour.
That’s right: don’t buy my book. It won’t hurt … much. I’m an unattractive guy. I’m used to pleading and not getting any … thing.
Yes, there’s humor in my Steampunk book.
“Oh, Steampunk,” you groan. “I know about those books.”
Just because you saw SUPER 8 doesn’t mean you know what STRANGER THINGS will be like … until you see it.
This is the wild child of the Steampunk family.

Yes! Here be dragons! The savage Germanic breed and the mysterious arcane Celestial Dragons from China.
And more:
A cursed Texas Ranger sent across the ocean to rescue the kidnapped Princess Victoria. The culprit: High Fae Queen Oyggia of the Sidhe Royal Court.
It doesn’t go well, and the consequences follow Samuel McCord to dog his honeymoon voyage aboard the first Air/Steamship, Xanadu, as it sails to the mystery-laden shores of France …
Where he and his deadly wife, the alien Empress Meilori Shinseen, grabble with enemies from both their pasts …
The Rougarou, werewolves of Paris. Worms of the Earth, evolved raptors. Vying Vampire Kingdoms, one ruled by Abigail Adams, the other ruled by Empress Theodora of the Unholy Roman Empire.
But sometimes your friends are among your worse enemies, and sometimes you are your worst.

This is a stand-alone book thought it follows my first Steampunk effort. It also has a section for book clubs to discuss the topics I bring up … and a lagniappe short story! How cool is that?
What are you waiting for? Buy my book! I know what I named my tour, but you never heard of Reverse Psychology?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Roland Yeomans was born in Detroit, Michigan. But his last memories of that city are hub-caps and kneecaps since, at the age of seven, he followed the free food when his parents moved to Lafayette, Louisiana. The hitch-hiking after their speeding car from state to state was a real adventure. Once in Louisiana, Roland learned strange new ways of pronouncing David and Richard when they were last names. And it was not a pleasant sight when he pronounced Comeaux for the first time.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in English Education and a Master’s degree in Psychology. He has been a teacher, counselor, book store owner, and even a pirate since he once worked at a tax preparation firm.
So far he has written thirty-four books. You can find Roland at his web page or at his private table in Meilori’s. The web page is safer to visit. But if you insist on visiting Meilori’s, bring a friend who runs slower than you. You can also find him on Amazon and Facebook.

Movie Review

Deepwater Horizon
Based on the true story of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, causing the worst oil spill in history. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, and John Malkovich.
Director Perter Berg has really come into his own with movies lately. He knows how to take a tragedy such as this and do it right – straight with no overly-dramatic moments, paying due respect to the men who were on that rig.
The cast is top notch, Wahlberg is solid as the top electrical engineer and family man. Russell really shines as the general supervisor, his concern for his men genuine.
We know what happens, but the mounting tension as systems fail and all hell starts to break loose is effective. The intensity really hits you when the survivors finally reach land.
You’ll learn a lot about the event and the daily operations of an oil rig. And you’ll come away with a healthy respect for the men and women brave enough to work on such rigs. Highly recommended – and stay for some of the credits.

Ninja News

Don’t forget the IWSG Anthology Contest is open – fantasy/hero lost is the genre/theme and the word count is 3000-6000.

The trailer for CassaDawn has now been adjusted to include the cover art. (Fortunately there was no mention of the defunct anthology so that was the only adjustment needed.)

Chrys Fey is hosting her first blogfest - If I Were a Mobster Blogfest - on October 21.

October makes six years that Sylvia Ney has been a part of the blogging community! As a thank-you, she is offering two giveaways. The first is a free copy of Broken Angel to anyone who comments. The second is for anyone who reviews that story – they will be entered to win this cool collection of prizes. See Sylvia’s site for full details.

New Releases:

Motley Education by S.A. Larsen
Find it on Amazon

Sunrise Summits: A Poetry Anthology
Edited by Dean K. Miller
This is the first poetry anthology from the Northern Colorado Writers. Purchase it HERE and use code WXXPC7LH to save $1.00 off the $8.95 cover price.
Also available at Amazon

Movie Trivia

It’s been a while since I offered any movie trivia! Today it’s all about movies based on real events. Guess the movie based on the clues:

1 – Iran, John Goodman, movie – 2012

2 – Football, Tim McGraw, homeless – 2009

3 – London, Kate Winslet, Peter Pan – 2004

4 – Coal mining, Laura Dern, Sputnik – 1999

5 – Arabia, Omar Sharif, cowboy – 2004

6 – Musician, Reese Witherspoon, legend - 2005

Answers next week!

Follower of the awesome K.M. Weiland? Care to meet the werewolves of Paris? (And despite his words, are you picking up Roland’s latest book? It is his birthday you know!) Have you seen Deepwater Horizon? Any news strike your fancy? Can you guess the movies?

And is everyone all right after Hurricane Matthew attacked the East Coast?

A to Z Challenge - Optic Prosthesis, Parallel Universe, Quantum Power, Ray Gun, Shuttle, and Time Machine! Plus New Releases

A to Z Challenge!

My theme - Origins of Science Fiction Terms and More!

The term, its meaning (definitions from Technovelgy), and first book appearance / a movie that features this term / a blogger buddy who reminds me of that term.

I’m also the guinea pig for an experiment – A to Z Lite. I get between 100-170 comments per post in April during the Challenge. And it has just become too much to return that many every day, six days a week. The other A to Z Admins agreed to an A to Z Lite trial run. A to Z Lite means I will just be posting a handful of times this month and multiple letters at a time. I also won’t be visiting every single person every single day, although I will return all comments. Hope everyone understands.

Optic Prosthesis
A replacement for a damaged eye.

This first appeared in Roger Zelazy’s Changeling, published in 1980.

And the perfect example of that is found in Star Trek Generations. (Or any Next Gen Star Trek movie or show.) Released in 1994, this was the film that merged the original series with Next Generation, thus passing the baton to a new crew. It featured LeVar Burton as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, a man without sight but able to see with the use of a VISOR that connects directly to his brain. Generations starred Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Johnathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Malcolm McDowell, and the rest of the Next Gen crew.

You want to meet someone who views the world a little differently? Gail from At The Farm is a creative, no-nonsense, animal-loving, and faithful individual. If you have a damaged view on the world, she will set you straight.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Parallel Universe
An entirely separate realm or universe that exists along with our own; it may be wildly different or vary from ours by only a tiny degree.

No surprise – this first appeared in H.G. Well’s novel, Men Like Gods, in 1923.

There are many movies about parallel universes. (And the IWSG anthology, Parallels: Felix Was Here, is all about them!) One that weaves the worlds tight is Looper, a science fiction thriller about a man who kills those the mob sends back in time – until they send an older version of himself. That’s when the parallel worlds come into play – can you change the future or the past? And if you can, is it really a parallel world? Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt, Looper came out in 2012.

Author J.H. Moncrieff just might give you that parallel universe. Want to see beyond the ordinary? Want to know the weird and strange that is in the world? Then JH is your gal.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Quantum Power
Power generation through photon fission.

This didn’t originate with a book story, but from the video game Alpha Centauri by Sid Meier. Published by Fraxis Games in 1999, this game was a ‘sequel’ to Meier’s Civilization.

The best example of quantum power is found in 2015’s Ant-Man. Marvel’s smallest superhero battled a man bent on selling technology to the highest bidder in this hilarious and excellent film. Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, and Michael Peña, Ant-Man not only has a sequel in the works, but he appears in Captain America: Civil War.

Quantum power is what fuels Ann at so much to choose from. She tackles so many topics, only that could explain her energy source!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ray Gun
A weapon shaped like a handgun that shoots rays of energy

The first instance of this was in the 1916 movie, The Intrigue, and it was actually called an X-ray gun. The first ray gun appeared John W. Campbell’s story, The Black Star Passes in 1930. (Republished in 1953 as a collection of short stories.)

The ray gun has been used in hundreds of movies, so I decided to pick a unique one – Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. Technically a two-part miniseries, this film came out over a year after the series ended and was intended to wrap up the cliffhanger and tie up loose ends. The key regular characters returned, played by Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe, Gigi Edgley, and Wayne Pygram.

Heather R. Holden from Welcome to the Edge owns a ray gun and more! This uber-talented artist shoots from the hip and she will zap you with her amazing web comics.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Shuttle
A space craft that travels point to point in space.

Shuttles as we know them appeared in 1950 in Theodore Sturgeon’s short story, Stars are Styx, later released as a novel, The Stars are the Styx.

Like ray guns, shuttles have appeared in many films. One was used in the 2000 film Space Cowboys to get the men up to a Russian satellite to fix it. The movie itself is cheesy fun and features the talents of Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Southerland, James Garner, and James Cromwell.

Birgit at BB Creations is that shuttle. She will transport you to a time of simpler movies and dazzle you with her incredible homemade cards.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Time Machine
A device allowing the rider to move freely in the temporal dimension, just as we ordinarily do in the two physical dimensions normal to gravity.

No surprises here! It appeared first in The Time Machine by H.G. Wells in 1895.

Time machines come in all forms. A very interesting one appears in the 1981 movie Time Bandits. A group of dwarves use a special map to locate time holes and travel in search of treasure they can steal. From director Terry Gilliam, it’s a quirky and fun film starring John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, and David Warner.

Fundy Blue at Standing Into Danger is the ultimate time machine. She will take you back many years to a time and place of harsh living and survival. The journey down this time trek will enthrall you.

New Releases!

Broken Angel by Sylvia Ney
Find it at Amazon

Love, Lattes, and Angel by Sandra Cox
Find it at Kensington Books

A Worange for Orange by Pat Hatt
Find it at Amazon

Through the Garden Gate by Patsy Collins
Find it at Amazon

Can you think of any other instances of optic prosthesis? Excited about the upcoming IWSG anthology? Fan of Ant-Man? Did you watch Farscape back in the day? Fan of Terry Gilliam movies? Following those awesome bloggers or picking up some new books? And have you learned anything on this science fiction journey…?

Unfortunately, I will be gone Wednesday through Friday for training. (Really glad I’m doing A to Z Lite.) Since I will only have a couple hours each night, I’ve decided it would be easier to just respond to comments, check emails, and continue to maintain the A to Z Challenge list. Hope everyone understands. Will miss you guys! Catch you Saturday.

RiffTrax Live: Santa Claus – the Experience! Plus Writing Habits, BOTB Results, and Ninja News

I am visiting the incredibly talented, successful, and uber-resourceful Elizabeth S. Craig today. I’m discussing the ultimate in networking opportunities and the new IWSG book. Please stop by!

RiffTrax Live – Santa Claus!

Last week the RiffTrax crew – Mike, Bill, and Kevin – took on a film for the holidays: Santa Claus.

It was no ordinary holiday movie, though. This Mexican film was directed by someone who grew up in the carny business – and it shows in the weirdness of the story. What little story exists, anyway. The devil sends his minion Pitch to thwart Santa’s plans, but fortunately Santa has senile old Merlin and creepy mechanical reindeer to help him. (Folks, you can’t make this stuff up unless you’re on some really good drugs.)

As always, it was hilarious, and Mike, Bill, and Kevin had no trouble making fun of the film. If you’ve never seen a broadcast of the show, you need to catch the next one!

Blogger buddy Susan Kane got to go see the show as well last Thursday, which was her birthday!

Before the show, they present a series of slides. Here are some for your enjoyment! 

Ninja News

At the A to Z Blog today is Cat Starr from Astral Traveller and her theme of travels around the world.

This Wednesday, the IWSG site welcomes the amazing Sylvia Ney as she discusses the benefits of writing for small markets.

For her IWSG post last week, Chrys Fey wrote the most awesome and hilarious poem, ‘Twas the Night Before IWSG Day!

Thanks to everyone who downloaded the IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond!
And it's finally free on Amazon!

And thanks to MJ Joachim who review the IWSG book last week.

New Releases

Blogvengers, Zombies with Powers
By Pat Hatt
Pat has been featuring this twisted tale of cats, zombies, Darzin, and his blogging buddies (including me) on his site for the past few weeks – and it’s hilarious! Pick it up on Amazon

Digging In, second in the Trench Raiders series
By Sean McLachlan
Pick it up on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords

Out today!
Claudia Must Die
By TB Markinson
Amazon and Goodreads

Battle of the Bands

The results of last week’s Battle of the Bands and the song Cars, with my vote going to Fear Factory:

Gary Numan - 21
Fear Factory (featuring Gary Numan) – 12

Gary Numan beat… Gary Numan. Ironic, huh?

Writing Habits – Before and After

Last week, Rachna Chhabria posted about not having enough time to write. She noted ‘I read somewhere that a writer gets the maximum amount of time to write their first book, after that there are sundry things occupying a writer’s life space: book tours, book signing events, author interactive sessions etc.’

That got me to thinking about the way I write now as opposed to pre-publication. It took me almost a year to write my first book. (Not counting edits.) The three books since that time have taken two to four months for the first draft.

And of course now, I do have author duties and an online presence that takes a chunk of my time.

Looking back, I realized that first book was written in sporadic, stolen chunks of time. The other three were written during dedicated blocks of time. The big difference, despite the extra demands on my time, was my focus. I knew I had to get them done and set aside three-five hours to write every single night no matter what.

So, that’s how my writing habits have changed. Have yours changed?

Anyone else catch RiffTrax last week? (Or had the misfortune of seeing that film without RiffTrax’s help?) Catch Chrys’ post? Downloaded the IWSG book? Getting some new books? And have your writing habits changed?

Don’t forget to visit Elizabeth S. Craig!

And not posting again until next Monday, so see you then. 

And - switched to embedded comments to get rid of stupid word verification.

Riff Trax Live – Anaconda! Plus the Trick-or-Treat Bloghop, Living Dead Girl, Alex the Author, and Ninja News

Riff Trax!

This Thursday, October 30 2014 is the next RiffTrax Live - the guys from MST3K strike at 1997's ANACONDA!
You can visit their site for a theater showing the broadcast, and if you live near Durham, NC, you can see it live. That’s right – time to hit the road north! I’m very stoked to see Mike, Kevin, and Bill do the show in person. I’ll give you a full review of the experience on Monday.

A Little Halloween Tune

Since it’s almost Halloween, if you’d like a little scary music while you read the rest of this post, just click play and enjoy Rob Zombie’s Living Dead Girl:

Ninja News

We are VERY honored to have million-copy NYTimes bestselling author, Ruth Harris, at the IWSG Site today!

The IWSG has also expanded with a second group on Facebook – the IWSG Critique Circle.

The aim of that group is to put writers who want to exchange critiques and find beta readers in touch with each other. And of course, there's the support and encouragement with the WiPs. So check it out!

Jeff Chapman’s Give Me Your Teeth: A Fae Tale comes out this Friday on Halloween!

Like most children, ten-year old Jimmy wonders where the Tooth Fairy keeps all those teeth.

He learns there's more to his mother than he ever imagined, and the Tooth Fairy isn't so harmless.

You can pre-order it now on Amazon.

Cindy is looking for guest reviewers for Good Book Alert. In return for a review, the guest reviewer will receive one guest post on the site. In both posts, your book/bio information will be posted as well. Visit Good Book Alert for details.

Sylvia Ney is holding a NaNo contest and giveaway – visit her site for details!

J E Oneil alerted me to this freaky story –

The ghastly Lake Natron, in northern Tanzania, is a salt lake—meaning that water flows in, but doesn’t flow out, so it can only escape by evaporation. Over time, as water evaporates, it leaves behind high concentrations of salt and other minerals, like at the Dead Sea and Utah’s Great Salt Lake.

Unlike those other lakes, though, Lake Natron is extremely alkaline, due to high amounts of the chemical natron (a mix of sodium carbonate and baking soda) in the water. The water’s pH has been measured as high as 10.5—nearly as high as ammonia.

You have to see the stunning images of birds turned to stone by the water at the Smithsonian Mag! In black and white, they are haunting.

And thanks to everyone who weighed in on Monday’s post - Are Authors Killing Blogging? There were some really detailed and thoughtful comments weighing in on promotion overload. If you missed it, go back and check it out.

Trick-or-Treat Book Bloghop!

Hosted by Patricia Lynne

The theme is EBooks are the Candy. We’re giving away books to one or more lucky commenters.

Hashtag #trickortreatreads

My treat for one lucky commenter is your choice:

EBook copies of all three of my books or

One print copy of your choice (CassaStar, CassaFire, or CassaStorm) with swag or

One print review copy of Dragon of the Stars (when available)

Just say Trick-or-Treat in comments to enter – winner will be announced Monday.

Alex the Author

Since I’m trying to put more of me here, I thought I’d give a unique run-down of what I’ve written. Some of you might not know what I write. Yes, it is mostly science fiction, but of the lighter space opera variety. (Think Star Wars.)

Sometimes it's wild to look back and think Holy crap, did I do that? This journey wasn't planned. I mean, how do you predict all of this - the blog, the books, the IWSG, the friendships? I'm grateful for the opportunity though.

CassaStar
The original version was written in the 70’s when I was a teen. Thirty years later, I rewrote it, and the story will always have a special place in my heart. Yes, this book started it all. I wouldn't be here otherwise.

CassaFire
Readers wanted a sequel. And a female character. (Crap!) Fortunately, I had a short story I could rewrite and I knew the main character well now. I wrote this during NaNo 2010. So if you’re participating in NaNo this year, if I can do it, you can do it!

CassaStorm
This story came from scratch and took me a long time to pull together. I’m proudest of this one, especially the fact I was able to write a convincing ten-year-old boy. (And I don’t even have kids!)

Heroes of PHENOMENA
I was invited to contribute to an anthology that tied in with a CD. I chose the song Drakon’s Empire and wrote a short story called CassaFate. I actually had to cut words to hit the 1500 word limit. (That has never happened before. Trust me!)

Indiestructible: Inspiring Stories from the Publishing Jungle
I was also asked to contribute to this anthology. I wrote a piece about the power of networking and having an online presence. (I sure as heck wasn’t going to offer any writing tips. I wanted to help not hinder.)

How I Found the Write Path: A Compilation of Letters
My letter was Prepare for Changes. Yeah, big time!

Overcoming Adversity
This book was a fund raiser for Andrew, who sadly passed away. My contribution was My Friends, My Heroes

Coming soon -

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond
Available this December, this book features over a hundred articles on writing, publishing, and marketing. So much good information! Ironically the word count is higher than any of my books…



Dragon of the Stars
Available next spring, this story is separate from the Cassan universe. I took the story idea of the song Dragon on the Sea by Ayeron and wrote my own. (I don’t recommend doing that, as a book is much longer than a seven minute song…)

Crap, that’s a lot! And I didn’t even want to be a writer. I’m just a dude with many guitars. And even more clones…

Anyone else seeing Riff Trax? Ready for Halloween? (Any other Halloween songs you’d like to suggest?) Did you go look at the Lake Natron photos? Did you say Trick-or-Treat? And are you as stunned as I am that a man of few words actually wrote all that…?

Don’t forget next Wednesday is IWSG post day!