Ninja News, Movie Reviews, and 80’s Trivia

Ninja News!

Thanks to everyone who visited me at The Writing Nut last week. The GIVEAWAY for CassaStar and CassaFire is open through July 31, and the winner will be whoever writes the most compelling reason why he or she should win the books. Nutschell is the judge, which is good, because I couldn’t select just one.

I was also blown away by the comments on my guest post at Rachna’s Scriptorium. I really worried I’d mess up on that one, considering the topic. Thanks, guys!

And finally, thanks to Andrew at Strange Pegs for his encouraging and very fair review of CassaStar.

One of the best writer resources is the Writer’s Knowledge Base. Started by author Elizabeth S. Craig and Mike Fleming, it is FULL of information. If you’re a writer, be sure to check it out soon.

Don’t forget to save the date for my next blogfest on September 17. I’ll announce the topic the first full week of August.

Still working hard on CassaStorm. Wrote a scene this weekend that just might be my best ever! I’m sure later I’ll discover I was wrong…

And I won’t be posting again until Friday. But the Ninja will be lurking...

Movie Reviews

Ice Age Continental Drift
The fourth outing with Manny, Diego, and Sid find the boys separated from everyone else and adrift at sea. I’ll just be upfront and state that I am not a big fan of this series. First one was good, but the others have been just all right.
This one relies on a lot of juvenile humor and the scenes with ‘teenager’ Peaches reminded me of just about every bad sitcom I’ve ever seen. The message is the same – herd first – so it doesn’t tackle anything new there.
The animation is beautiful though. The 3D was effective without being overwhelming. Peter Dinklage does an amazing job as the voice of the ape pirate captain – I didn’t even recognize him. And Sid’s cranky Granny utters the funniest lines in the movie.
My wife, who loves these films, found the teen segments a little annoying. However, she giggled throughout the entire movie, and since I find her giggling adorable, I foresee an Ice Age V in my future…
For those of you with kids – go and enjoy!

The Three Musketeers
Reminded me a little of Battleship.
It was dumb, completely implausible, and threw history right out the window. That said, it was also a lot of fun! It tells the basic story and adds nonsense so over the top, you’ll be laughing along with it. Staring A LOT of people: Christoph Waltz, Milla Jovovich, Ray Stevenson, Orlando Bloom, Matthew Macfayden, Mads Mikkelsen, and Logan Lerman from Percy Jackson. Leave brain at door and enjoy the visual feast of a ride.

Trivia Time!

At the request of more trivia, we’re going back to the 80’s for these questions:

1 – To avoid an X rating, ten seconds is cut from this movie staring Mickey Rourke and Lisa Bonet.

2 – This expansion team joins the NBA the same year as the (former) Charlotte Hornets.

3 – What was the last Bond film to feature Roger Moore as Bond?

4 – This computer company introduces its VIC-20 model personal computer in 1981.

5 – What movie contains the line “This is pure snow. Do you know the street value of this mountain?”

6 – Name U2’s first #1 single on the Billboard chart.

Be sure to enter the giveaway! Do you use the Writer’s Knowledge Base? Seen either of those films? Know the answers to any of the trivia questions? And who is ready for The Dark Knight Returns this Friday?

CassaFire Tour Day Six, Hearththrob Blogfest, Ninja News, Pronunciations, and 80's Trivia!

One more week of partying – can you handle it?


Today’s stop is a fun piece at Under the Tiki Hut

I’ve followed Carol for a long time now (i.e. – I can’t remember when I didn’t follow her) and her posts are fun and lighthearted, like her Friday Top Ten. Guest posts on her site always revolve around the guest sitting under the Tiki Hut. Now, usually the beaches around the Tiki Hut are filled with men and strangely devoid of beautiful women. However, knowing the Ninja was coming, there’s been a slight change of scenery…

Under the Tiki Hut will never be the same!

Don’t forget that everyone who comments here on my blog over the next two weeks will be entered to win this cool prize package from my publisher. So be sure to comment every single day!

Today is the Teenage Heartthrob Blogfest hosted by Sarah and Vic

There was only one for me when I was a teenager – Buck Rogers’ star, Erin Grey!

Ninja News

Thanks to everyone who visited my stop on Friday at Michael’s SITE!

The best resource in the world for writing tips, promoting tips, and everything in between is Elizabeth Craig’s Writer’s Knowledge Base. More links to more articles than you can possibly imagine. I got lost in there Sunday afternoon…

Laura Eno’s new book, Immortal Desires, is out! Buy it on Amazon Congratulations, Laura!

Rachel Morgan’s new book, Guardian, comes out today. Congratulations, Rachel!!!

It’s Read an eBook Week! I’m doing my part…

The last stop in my tour will be with Sia McKye – and she posted her review of CassaFire last week HERE Thanks, Sia!

Very special shout out to Matthew at The QQQE Tina Life is Good. Matthew visited close to a hundred of my Catch Fire posts last Tuesday and one of his comments in particular was really special – thanks, dude! And Tina has been announcing my book and tour to every person who sends the A to Z Challenge blog an email – thanks so much! You are both just the best of friends.

Pronunciations

Several have asked how to pronounce the names in CassaFire. I tried to make everything simple, but here’s a guide:

Athee – Like the Goddess “Athena”, just leave off the “na”
Mevine – “meh-vine”
Tgren – “ta-grin” said quickly
Ernx – “Urnks”

Trivia answers from Friday:

1 – “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” Raiders of the Lost Ark
2 – “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
3 – “Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.” Apocalypse Now
4 – “Son, your ego’s writing checks your body can’t cash.” Top Gun
5 – “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Cool Hand Luke

Trivia Time – The 80’s!

1 – In what movie do we reach Ludicrous Speed?

2 – Name the creator of Calvin and Hobbes.

3 – This 1981 movie boasted the tagline “From the director of Animal House… a different kind of animal.”

4 – Name the quarterback who threw for 5000 yards in one season; a record held until this past year.

Whoa! Who was your teenage heartthrob? Been lost in the Writer’s Knowledge Base? Did you know how to pronounce those names correctly? How’d you do on last Friday’s trivia? And do you know any of today’s questions?


Now, go visit Carol at the awesome Under the Tiki Hut!

Time for Some Super Powers!

I have the honor of hosting Elizabeth Spann Craig today on her blog tour, and she’s going to discuss super powers today. (And you know how I dig super powers!)

12 Super Powers and Super Tools for Writers—by Elizabeth S. Craig/Riley Adams

It’s not easy being a writer.

There’s a lot we’re carrying on our shoulders—crafting worlds, creating interesting people to populate those worlds, mastering POV, pacing the story—and that’s just the writing part of what we do! On top of it all, we’ve got to steel ourselves against rejection, poor reviews…it’s a rough life.

Why should super heroes be the ones with all the cool powers and tools? I know they’re busy saving the world and all, but writers could use some super powers, too. And I know just the super powers and super tools to help us out:

Super Lair: A lair isn’t a super power, but it’s just as important to superheroes. It’s a place for heroes to recharge their super selves. Batman had the Batcave, Superman had the Fortress of Solitude. What would be the perfect super lair for writers? I’m thinking Office Depot. We’d play with Post-it Notes, notebooks, and Sharpie pens in our spare time. We’d leave our lair energized and ready to attack our next chapter.

Superhuman hearing: Ever been in a coffeehouse or restaurant and wanted to eavesdrop on a fascinating conversation that you know could help your story? With superhuman hearing, we’d never again have to surreptitiously move closer to spy on our unknowing victims!

Magical objects: Doctor Strange had the Eye of Agamotto medallion, the Black Knight had the Ebony Blade. Writers could have the never-depleting cup of Java and the indestructible laptop/hard drive.

Speed writing: For those deadlines that sneak up on us.
Reality warping: For those inconvenient plot holes.

Omnipresence: Omnipresence is a must for all those writers with boring office day jobs. You could be compiling the monthly sales report and be at home, penning the next exciting chapter of your thriller—all at once!

Teleportation/wormhole at our Office Depot lair: Okay, just in case we can’t get omnipresence, we could settle for teleportation or a wormhole so we could instantly apparate from home/Office Depot to our boring day job.

Cool transportation: Invisible jet? Batmobile? No, actually, this might be a super tool that writers don’t need. We just don’t get out all that much.

Mind control: To convince the agent or editor we’ve queried that our manuscript is The One.

Endurance and sleep-snubbing ability: For the writer who needs to burn the candle on both ends, without inconvenient consequences.

Time travel: Could be useful for historical writers. Or heck, even SF/F writers.

Unlimited funds: Batman/Bruce Wayne, Iron Man, Geo-Force, Mr. Fantastic? All incredibly wealthy. I’m thinking writers could use a little of that. Writers and money, of course, don’t often go together. But think of how cool it would be—we could write on location for whatever exotic setting we choose. No day job for us!

But what do you think? Got any other ideas for useful super powers we writers could use? Thanks for hosting me today, Alex! I appreciate it.

Bio: Elizabeth’s latest book, Finger Lickin’ Dead, released June 7th. Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series for Penguin/Berkley (as Riley Adams), the Southern Quilting mysteries (2012) for Penguin/NAL, and the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink. She blogs daily at Mystery Writing is Murder, which was named by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers for 2010 and 2011.
Writer's Knowledge Base--the Search Engine for Writers
Twitter: @elizabethscraig

Thanks, Elizabeth! I'll take teleportation. And a Batmobile!