Monday, October 31, 2016

Q&A with KS Turner, author of Time: the Immortal Divide





Now available from Ruby Blaze Publishing is the fantasy novel Time: the Immortal Divide, book three in The Chronicles of Fate and Choice Trilogy by author K.S. Turner


Paperback: 978-0-9562242-9-3

eBook: 978-0-9562242-7-9
The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule for a Q&A about her debut novel.



When did you become interested in storytelling?

I’ve always loved stories; from those bedtime readings as a child to weaving fantastic imaginings in the mundane every day things. But, I always thought I would be an illustrator or designer. One day, I wrote a short piece to go alongside some illustrations I’d drawn. That is when I realized that writing depicted the stories in my head better than any other art medium I’d tried. That was the point; I knew, without doubt, using the written word for my storytelling was the right path. The stories were always there – I just had to discover THE medium.

What was your first book/story published?

The first thing ever published was my first novel in the Chronicles of Fate and Choice trilogy, titled Before the Gods. It’s an epic fantasy tale about the birth of humanity, Earth magic, freewill and freedom.

What inspired you to write The Chronicles of Fate and Choice trilogy?

I wanted to embark on the biggest fantasy story that I could imagine. I decided that it had to start at the very beginning of humanity and finish on the potential end of everything. I wanted to take some of the biggest questions we have in life, such as why are we here, and how did we get here, and craft something fantastically fantasy fiction.

What character in The Chronicles of Fate and Choice is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

Well, as much as I would like to say all, or none, of them, I have to admit that I am most like the character, Tachra. Tachra is the protagonist in all three novels. We share the same deeply questioning nature, honesty, strength, passion, and desire to do the best possible, while trying to overcome a multitude of personal flaws and obstacles.

Least like me, I definitely want to say is the character Shursa, as I don’t like his traits at all. Shursa is from a race of beings called the Shaa-kutu; the beautiful, highly evolved race responsible for designing humans. But, unlike his fellow Shaa-kutu, Shursa is so power-hungry and selfish that he is prepared to betray his brothers. I don’t like him at all. No, no, no. He is everything I would never want to be.

What is your favorite part in The Chronicles of Fate and Choice?

Review: Pretty Dead - 10 Horror Films

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Not Rated; 842 mins; $9.98; Mill Creek Ent.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Yeah, you would have to be to be living under a rock not to know that today is Halloween, especially with all the horror marathons on the cable channels. Typically, I always watch a few of these flicks ever year, but I haven't had the time this month as I've been busy watching the Pretty Dead: 10 Horror Flims, the 2-disc DVD that was recently released from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Many of you have probably have heard of Mill Creek Entertainment as the company has released similar horror DVDs in the past. The 10 films on this release were filmed on low-budgets, all of which have already been released separately to DVD or VOD over the last few years.

The films are:

The Sacred (2009, but listed as released in 2011 on the DVD) - The film involves a group of film students traveling to remote area to work on a Native American Folklore thesis. However, they aren't aware that the land is haunted.


Bunnyman - (2010; released in 2011) - Also known as the The Bunnyman Massacre, this low-budget slasher is the first in a series of films about a serial killer who dress in a bunny costume. (No, I'm not joking!)


The Lights - (2009) - A group of friends travel to the middle-of-nowhere to watch a meteor shower.


Backwater (2013) - Don't get confused with the Japanese film of the same name. This is a low-budget tale about a couple on a secluded getaway, where there just happens to be a killer nearby.

Review: Buffy: The High School Years - Glutton For Punishment

*This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% mine. 

Dark Horse; 80 pages; $10.99; Amazon

I thought the perfect way to end this year's Halloween event would be for me to feature something from my favorite television from the late 1990s - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a supernatural series that I was obsessed with throughout my teenage years. By obsessed, I mean I had posters of Sarah Michelle Gellar taped to my bedroom wall; I owned every Buffy tie-in novel and read them until the pages were practically worn out; and I recorded every episode on my VHS recorder (Remember those?). So I guess you can say that I was a big Buffy fan. By the time the series ended in 2003, I was out of my Buffy phase, though I did purchase the series on DVD (as well as the spinoff series, Angel) several years later.

Arriving in bookstores tomorrow from Dark Horse Comis is the graphic novel (well, a comic book), titled Buffy: The High School Years - Glutton For Punishment. Executive produced by Joss Whedon, the novel is written by Kel McDonald and illustrated by Yishan Li.

As you can guess by the title, the graphic novel is set during Buffy's high school years or more specifically it's set during season one of the series, where Buffy has just moved to Sunnydale and has befriended fellow classmates Willow (aka the nerd) and Xander (aka the geek). 

"Glutton For Punishment" centers on Buffy and Xander taking an extra-curricular cooking class. At first it looks like a quick way to make an A, but things quickly change on the first day of class when the cooking teacher, Ms. Miller, goes missing and is replaced by the very strict Mr. Blake. All the students try to bake the perfect dessert, but Mr. Blake's taste buds seem to be from another planet as nothing will satisfy his hunger.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Digital Review - Finding Dory (2016)


This year's hit animated film Disney/Pixar's Finding Dory will be arriving on Blu-ray and DVD on November 15th, but it's already available to purchase on Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA) with over two hours of bonus features & extras.

Directed by Andrew Stanton, Finding Dory take place a year later after the events that occurred in 2003's Finding Nemo. The forgetful Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) suddenly has a childhood flashback about her parents, leading her to make the decision to venture out into the ocean to search for them. There is only one problem - Dory keeps forgetting she has short-term memory loss!

Nemo and his father Marlin decide to join Dory in her quest to find her parents, which leads them to the Marine Life Institute. They have to find a way to get into the institute after Dory is taken there for quarantine.

While inside the institute, Dory befriends an octopus named Hank who might know the whereabouts of her parents

Special Features/Bonus Extras are:

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Review - Five Cups Coffee



Despite my love for everything caffeinated, I do occasionally drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee. The problem for me is that I'm limited to two or three  decaf brands in my area (I live in a small town with only a Walmart and a Dollar General!). When I had an opportunity to review a new decaf brand, of course I jumped at the offer.

The brand is called "Five Cups Coffee," which has dubbed itself "the world's finest decaf coffee. It's a USDA organic and direct certified trade.

Why is it called "Five Cups Coffee?"

Well, since it's decaf, you can drink five cups of coffee without having to worry about any harmful effects to your body. Plus, you won't have the unwanted "caffeine" crash!

The coffee is made with a blend of 100% arabica beans that were grown on award winning farms in Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras. The coffee beans go through the Swiss Water® decaffeination, which is a 100% chemical free process.

The coffee is roasted on demand, in small batches in the USA. Each bag of coffee beans has a ziplock, which will help keep the freshness.


Review - 2 Jennifer

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.



I had received a DVD screener of the horror flick 2 Jennifer from Sector 5 Films back in the spring, but I had misplaced the screener until I stumbled upon it last month.

2 Jennifer is sequel to the 2013's To Jennifer, which I have never even seen. The sequel is written & directed by Hunter Johnson and centers on an aspiring filmmaker named Spencer (played by Hunter Johnson) who is obsessed with the film To Jennifer.

Shot on an iPhone, Spencer pitches an idea for a sequel to To Jennifer, and sets out to make the movie. Of course his only real goal is to find an actress named Jennifer to play "Jennifer" in the film. It doesn't take long for the cast & crew to realize Spencer is out of his mind.



Final Thoughts

Friday, October 28, 2016

Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Edition: Oct. 28th - Nov. 3rd




Instructions: Select all code above, copy it and paste it inside your blog post as HTML

Welcome Ghouls and Goblins
to the
Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Edition!
  
If you want schedule next week's thrilling question, click here to find the next prompt fright-fest. 
To submit a question, fill out this form.

How to participate in this week's creepy meme:


1. Post on your blog answering this haunt:

  You've been invited to a costume party and the theme is classic literature characters. Who would you go as?

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.
 

Billy's Answer!


I would go as the "Phantom" from the classic novel The Phantom of the Opera.



Linky List: