Now available from Solstice Publishing is the thriller Scooter Nation, book two in the Unapologetic Lives series, by author A.B. Funkhauser.



The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule for a Q&A about her novel.


When did you become interested in storytelling?

When I was seven years old, I found an unused ledger book in the crawl space. Green, hardcover, with clean ruled pages on one side, and blank white pages for illustrations on the other, it made good sense to me to write my own children’s book and draw the pictures too! I filled it with short stories printed neatly in pencil. The only story title I remember is “Fish Head the Cat.”

What was your first book/story published?

I published HEUER LOST AND FOUND through Solstice Publishing in 2015. It took a long time to write, but it was worth it. Heuer taught me how to write.

What inspired you to write Scooter Nation?

I’m a licensed funeral director, and so after I explored the concept of “what happens after we die” in Heuer, I took it back to earth and asked, “what happens when your life and everything you know about it is turned upside down?” in Scooter.

What characters in Scooter Nation are the most/least like you, and in what ways?

Jimmy Patterson; 330 pages; $18.99; Amazon

The identity of Jack the Ripper is still one of the biggest murder mysteries of all time. While there are plenty of theories, the 1888-1891 Whitechapel murders have still gone unsolved.

Today, Jack the Ripper is more of a legend. There have been countless non-fiction titles written about the murders, as well as several fictionalized stories based on the killer. There has also been movies, mini-series, and television series made about Jack the Ripper.

My fascination with Jack the Ripper started when I read a non-fiction middle-grade book about the Whitechapel killings when I was in elementary school during the early 1990s. So, naturally, I was interested in reading the young adult horror-thriller Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco, which is the first non-written James Patterson title to be released under Mr. Patterson's new children book imprint Jimmy Patterson Books.

Set in the Fall of 1888 in England, Stalking Jack The Ripper centers on Audrey Rose Wadsworth, a teenager with a sort-of-fetish for the dead. Yep, instead of learning how to be ladylike, Audrey would rather be in a morgue cutting up cadavers with Uncle Jonathan, a professor at Harrow School for Boys. Just like her uncle, she is fascinated with the Whitechapel killings.

PG-13; 108 minutes; $24.99; Amazon

Arriving on Blu-ray +Digital HD on October 25th from Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the action-comedy Skiptrace. Directed by Renny Harlin, the film stars Jackie, Chan, Johnny Knoxville, and Fan Bingbing.

For over a decade, Hong Kong detective Bennie Chan (played by Jackie Chan) has been tracking down the crime boss Matador who had killed his partner Yung (played by Eric Tsang). Yung's daughter Samantha (played by Fan Bingbing), who is also Bennie's Goddaughter, gets herself into trouble with a crime syndicate boss Victor Wong (played by Winston Chao).

To help save Samantha, Bennie has to track down Connor Watts (played by Johnny Knoxville), an American gambler and conman who has been making his way through the Chinese casinos. Connor had witnessed a murder of a young woman at Wong's casino. The only problem is Connor doesn't want to help Bennie at all and he tries his best to escape.

To make matters worse, there is a Russian kingpin on Connor's trail as the gambler supposedly got his daughter pregnant. Now, Conor has no choice, but to let Bennie taking him back to Hong Kong, that is if they can outrun the Matador's henchmen.

Special Features includes:

I'm starting to feel a little bit old after I realized that The Blair Witch Project is seventeen-years-old! The film was released to theaters in July 1999, about a month before I started my senior year of high school. I recall seeing tons of advertisements on television for it, as well as watching a fake documentary about the Blair Witch on the Sci-Fi Channel (now known as Syfy). I think I might have owned a couple of tie-in books that were released around that time.

Anyhow, I only watched the actual movie two or three times on VHS, and I had completely forgot about the movie until I had saw the advertisements for the belated sequel Blair Witch a few months ago.

Later, I stumbled upon the DVD for the original film for $5 at Walmart, and of course I purchased it to replace my old VHS copy. I didn't get around to actually watching the film until last night, which I viewed on my laptop.

While the 1980 horror flick Cannibal Holocaust was technically the first found footage horror film, The Blair Witch Project was the one that really kicked off a slew of copycats, including the popular Paranormal Activity franchise.

2. Enter the link to your terrifying tale in the haunting list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in a curse).

 

3. Visit other haunters in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new creeper.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
 

Yes, I would go into the library to get the book, but once I find it, I will be running out the building as fast I can.

Linky List:

Ripley Publishing; 256 pages; $28.95

If you're looking to give your kids something a bit unusual this year for Halloween instead of sugary candy, then the recently released Ripley's Believe It or Not!: Unlock The Weird! would make a perfect gift.

Ripley Publishing has been releasing an annual book showcasing the weirdest and strangest facts from around the world along with hundreds of colorful photos

Unlock The Weird! marks the 13 volume in the series. As you can see by the cover art, it has three eyes popping practically popping out at you. The book has been named a Mom's Choice Awards winner.

Similar to the other releases, this edition kicks off with a two-page biography of Robert Ripley along with a few pictures. The rest of the book is divided into 10 chapters - Believe It!, World, Animals, Body, Pop Culture, Transport, Feats, Art, Food, and Beyond Believe.

Artist Eric Millikin used over 1,000 miniature bags of M&Ms to create this pop culture portrait of Count Chocula.