Saturday, June 22, 2013

Contest Time!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Thanks to everyone who participated!

I'm in a fabulous mood today despite only having four hours of sleep. Why, you might ask? All week I've been receiving amazing critiques from the beta readers on my novel and last night, I completed a short story that I'll be submitting for the Stalkers Anthology. In honor of my chipper demeanor, I want to give away some swag. I would've preferred to do this on everyone's favorite anti-social network, but didn't want to risk the Facebook police shutting down my page, so here we are.

Okay, here's how this is going to work-I'm going to post some random trivia, and all you have to do is answer all the questions correctly. There will be a few prizes to be won, read on for more details. Yeah, that's right I'm going to make you work for this stuff.

EDIT:
It appears I made this too hard, so I'm changing it up. I've deleted all the cover questions and left just the regular questions and the bonus. All entries will get a bookmark. That's right, you don't even have to get the answers correct! The rest of the prizes will be as follows:

Prize one- paperback copy of Apocalypse Anthology or Paranormal Anthology with a Twist.
To be eligible participants must correctly answer all the regular questions. One winner will be chosen via Random.org from qualifying entries. This portion is open to U.S. residents only.

Bonus Prize- Signed paperback copy of Apocalypse Anthology OR Paranormal Anthology with a Twist
To be eligible participants must correctly answer all the regular questions and the super bonus question. One winner will be chosen via Random.org from qualifying entries. This portion is open to U.S. residents only.

Alright, let's try this again, shall we? Answers must be received no later than 5pm mountain time, Monday, June 24th. One entry per person please. Email your answers to nickiscalise@yahoo.com or message me on Facebook by clicking the link.



Regular questions:
1. Name the actor originally cast to play Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

2.What is the title of the Queen song featured during the pool cue beating scene in Shawn of the Dead?

3.Name the film and the character who uttered the awesome line: "Evil will always triumph because good is dumb."

4. What is the name of the other blog I write/review for?

5.Name one of my favorite authors *Hint- I've posted them somewhere on this blog*

6.What is the name and breed of the little dog in my short story Cheyenne Mountain? (Haven't read it yet? Click here to purchase it from Amazon)

7. What was the very last line from Firefly and which character delivered it?

Super bonus question:
What creatures, entities, myths or legends are the main focus of my first novel? There are very few people who are privy this privileged information, so you can either bribe one of them or guess. Now some of you may already be screaming foul because the book hasn't been released yet, or think this is rigged. To an extent you may be right, however, if you guess correctly, you'll be in a very small group of people in the "know". You'll be special! You want to be special dontcha?


So that's it! Good luck!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Review: The Red Order (Order of the Seers Book #2) By Cerece Reenie Murphy

The Red Order (Order of the Seers book #2) 
by Cerece Reenie Murphy


After successfully destroying The Guild's Purification center in Chicago, Joel and Lilli are on a mission to finish what they've started. First item of business is to track down other Seer's before The Guild does. Meanwhile, the evil forces aren't the only ones researching what biological or scientific reasons create the Seers. When the Lost Seers make the discovery, they realize what a huge game changer it will be. However, the Guild has a new plan of attack in the form of the Red Order, a group of Seer's whose purpose is to hunt down and destroy Joel, Lilli and company. Will they evade the new threat long enough to get the word out or will The Guild regain the upper hand?


Book one in this series, Order of the Seers, was the first book I reviewed, this year, over on A Thousand Lives. You can read my review HERE. In a nutshell, I absolutely loved book one, so when the author contacted me to review book two, I jumped at the opportunity.

I have to start out by saying if you haven't read Order of the Seers you have no idea what you're missing. The author has an uncanny knack for making the reader feel every bit a part of the story and feeling the characters' emotions. You'll want to see them succeed and defeat the ultimate corruption. Even though they claimed a victory in Chicago, it wasn't without consequences or losses. Each character has to comes to terms with that in their own way. As with Liam in the first book, Joel is a young man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He has to make hard decisions that will effect everyone in very profound ways and within the course of this book he falls, almost hesitantly, into the role of a leader. You can't help but empathize for his position.

The plot was paced very well and never, at any point, did I feel that it ever dragged. The first chapter gets the story going with the super creepy villain, Crane, and the direct aftermath of the events from book one. As stated in my previous review, I still think he's a great villain. Once again, he's a fine example of the author's talent for writing rich character development. It seems everyone has their own agenda in this tale and he is no different, but there's a bit of an enigma to him. He weaves an extraordinary amount of lies and the more one tries to untangle, the more dangerous he becomes. The explanation for his behavior definitely adds menace to his already sinister persona.

I really don't want to give any huge details away but the plot here took me by surprise. I really thought I knew where this book and series was headed but the author pulled a fast one on me. It's a development I really enjoyed, as it opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for the third book. I'm really looking forward to where she takes it. Order of the Seers is shaping up to be a fantastic series already and I highly recommend it.

You can purchase Order of the Seers and The Red Order by visiting the author's Amazon page.

You may also connect with the author via her blog









Sunday, June 9, 2013

Bob Loblaw's Law Blog? Nope, just my thoughts on the new season of Arrested Development.

When I first heard Netflix was bringing back the beloved show, Arrested Development,  I was conflicted. It was a strange mix of joy and hesitation. Would we, the fans, be lucky enough for this show to be resurrected and restored to its previous splendor? The answer, as I've discovered, is no. Now before you take a razor to your wrist, allow me to explain.

If you haven't had a chance to watch the new episodes yet , here's a small piece of advice. Don't go into your viewing experience expecting to see the same show we once loved and adored. Instead, go into it, as if, you're watching a new series with familiar characters. Does that make sense? It may not now, but once you watch the episodes, you'll have a better understanding of my point.

There are fifteen episodes to this new season, and to be honest, after three, I almost threw in the towel. It's not that it's all bad, it's just different, and that took some getting used to. I stuck with it and it slowly got better but it never really was the same. Here's where it differs- Due to scheduling conflicts and other filming commitments, it was impossible to get the entire cast together at one time. Therefore, instead of the ensemble we're used to, we get character-centric episodes. So, prepare yourself, there are entire episodes when we don't see some cast members at all. Most notably, Gob (Will Arnett) and Buster (Tony Hale), are noticeably absent, a lot. Given that the entire cast was never present for an entire episode, some of the magic was lost.

There were times, when I felt, some of the actors struggled to get back into character and the writing was strange. I think Jason Bateman's character had the biggest changes. In the original series,  Michael was different from the rest of his wack-a-doo family and that's why he was always trying to get away from them. However, in these new episodes, he seemed to have become almost as manipulative, self-centered, and clueless as the rest of them. Was that the original story arc the character would have taken if the show hadn't been abruptly cancelled or did the writers just forget what the hell they were doing? I have no idea. Even though, Bateman played it well, I still found it to be a disappointing change.


Of course, there were the random cameos from Carl Weathers, Scott Baio (Bob Loblaw), Henry Winkler, (Barry Zuckerkorn,the family's incompetent lawyer). Ron Howard also became a reoccurring character (as himself), as opposed to just a disembodied narrator. I found the addition of his character a bit distracting, although, it did play well into the plot line of Michael trying to get the family to consent to give rights for a movie about their lives. That sub-plot/running joke was nice little nod to the dedicated fans. The best cameo though, hands down, was Ben Stiller as Tony Wonder, Gob's arch-nemesis. The scenes with these two characters together were the absolute highlight of season four.

All the tiny negatives aside, the plot line was intricately woven through each character's story arc and the writers did a brilliant job with it. The characters are consistently screwing over other members of the Bluth family, without ever realizing what they've done. It was very clever and once I recognized what the writers were up to,  the plot better held my attention. I felt the show really hit it's stride around the twelfth episode and while I know that sounds crazy, I thought it wasn't really Arrested Development, until Gob and Buster came onto the scene, with more frequency.

So here's my take-I didn't love it but I didn't hate it. The writers, once again, left the ending hanging and it has yet to be confirmed if there'll be a season five or not. The chatter about an AD movie is still floating around and while I'm torn on whether the show should continue or not, one thing is obvious. The fans demanded, for years, that this show return, and for the first time in a long time, someone listened. So bravo to you, Netflix! Thank you for making it possible to peek in, once again, on the incredibly dysfunctional Bluth family and their mishaps.

Now if we could just talk about Firefly...





I must leave you with one of my favorite scenes. Hope the title doesn't offend, but I have no control over that. Enjoy!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Free download weekend!

Hello! Apocalypse Anthology and Paranormal Anthology with a Twist are FREE for June 8-9. Pick up your copies to read my short stories, Cheyenne Mountain and Little Tchotchkes. Simply click the titles above to be magically transported to Amazon. If you enjoy them, please consider leaving a review. It would mean a lot to everyone involved with these collections.Thanks!