For the past week, I've been playing around on the website called Book Brush, https://bookbrush.com, which is basically a website where authors, publishers, and bloggers can create advertising and social media images.

If you follow this blog regularly, then you would already know I love to use images in my posts. I create many of the post headers myself by using different software and online programs, so naturally I was intrigued with Book Brush.

Book Brush has two different "creator" programs to use on their website - a custom image creator and a video creator. You can register for free without a credit card and create 3 images per month, but if you want additional features you'll have to sign up for the "Plus" package for $8 a month (paid yearly at $96)! There's a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee!

Creating an image with Book Brush is fairly simple. To begin with you need to pick what image size you need. You can customize the size to whatever you want or you can use one of the "popular"sizes that can be used on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.. There are many backgrounds (over 1 million free images) and templates available to choose from. There are even a few different book templates, which you can covert a 2D cover to 3D. Additionally, there are many different fonts for adding text and a wide variety of stamps to add to your image.

To use the video creator, you'll need to have already made an image or images. Then you add video effects and change the image transparency. 


Note: Book Brush cannot be used with Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer. It's only supported on Chrome, Firefox, & Safari.

Final Thoughts

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon

One of my favorite movie directors is John Carpenter, who happened to direct and co-wrote my favorite movie, Halloween. Mr. Carpenter made several "classic" horror and science fiction films during the 1980s. However, the 1990s weren't too good for the director, as almost every one of his films during this decade were complete flops; though over the the years many of them have become cult classics. His last two efforts (I'm not counting the two Masters of Horror episodes!) were 2001's Ghosts of Mars and 2010's The Ward.

Ghosts of Mars was originally planned to be the the third entry in the Snake Plissken film series with Kurt Russell returning as Snake. The title would have been Escape from Mars. After Escape From L.A. flopped, the film's title was changed to Ghosts of Mars and Snake was renamed to James 'Desolation' Williams with Ice Cube playing the character. The movie was released to Blu-ray (R; 99 minutes; $14.98) last week by Mill Creek Entertainment.

The film is set during the 22nd Century where Mars has been terraformed 84% and humans can walk around without having to wear a spacesuit. The plot involves Commander Helena Braddock (played by Pam Grier), Lieutenant Melanie Ballard (played by Natasha Henstridge), Sergeant Jericho Butler (played by Jason Statham), and a few other officers being sent on a mission to retrieve the criminal "Desolation" Williams (played by Ice Cube), who's in a prison cell located in the remote region of the planet. Unknowingly to the squad, the local mining workers had stumbled upon a Martian ancient crypt and unleashed evil spirits who have now taken over the bodies of the workers.

To escape Mars, the squat must work with Desolation, so they can find a way to stop the evil Martian spirits.

Special Features on the Blu-ray include:

• Audio Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Natasha Henstridge
• Video Diary: Red Desert Nights
• Featurette: "Scoring Ghosts of Mars"
• Special Effects (SFX) Deconstructions

Final Thoughts

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Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it).
Post it.
 Add your (url) post below in the Linky at: www.fredasvoice.com
Add the post url, not your blog url.

The big garage door rose and rose, revealing black boots, silver-gray trousers, and she thought, The Wraith, it's the Wraith!

page 156, N0S4A2 by Joe Hill

  My Thoughts

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon

Are you deeply afraid of snakes?

Personally, I like snakes. (Don't ask me about spiders!) Yes they can be a bit creepy (and crawly), but I have nothing against them. Snakes is my favorite genre of creature flicks and my favorite title is 1997's Anaconda starring a young Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Owen Wilson, Jonathan Hyde, Kari Wuhrer, Vincent Castellanos, and Eric Stoltz, along with a cameo by Danny Trejo.

I remember skipping school just so I could watch Anaconda on day it was released on VHS in 1997.

FYI: It was video rental.
Side Note: Kids, please don't skip school!

Anaconda (PG-13; 89 minutes; $14.98) has beenre-released  on Blu-ray (+DVD) from Mill Creek Entertainment. It was previously released on Blu-ray in 2014, which I did review on this blog. (Read my review here!)

Directed by Terri Flores, the film centers around a documentary film crew, lead by anthropologist Steve Cole (played by Stolz) and director Terri Flores (played by Lopez), who are searching for the long-lost Shirishamas tribe on the Amazon River. On their journey, they rescue a snake hunter named Paul Serone (played by Voight) from a sinking boat.

Shortly after Serone's arrival, Cale is stung by wasp, which leaves him unconscious. Serone takes charge of the situation and says he will captain their boat to a hospital. However, Serone has another plan that involves hunting a deadly Anaconda.

Final Thoughts

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @  Caffeinated Book Reviewer!

In the Mail

$24.95; 224 pages; AMAZON

Believe it or not, 2019 marks the 100th year for Ripley's Believe It nor Not!, which was originally created by the late Robert Ripley. To celebrate this grand mark in history Ripley Publishing (a Jim Patterson Company) has recently published 100 Best BIONS (Believe It Or Not Stories), featuring the greatest Ripley's Believe It Or Not! stories from the last 100 years.

100 Best BIONS is split into five chapters: Classics, People, Animals, World, and Exhibits. The stories presented here have either appeared or been featured in other Ripley's Believe It Or Not! books, television series, cartoons, or odditoriums over the years. Each story's article is accompanied by photos (black & white and color) and/or illustrations.

Within the pages of 100 Best BIONS you'll learn about the half-man John Eck, Thomas Wedders - the man with the 7 1/2 inches long nose, the 7 longhaired musician sisters from New York, Mike the headless chicken, and many other strange facts that are almost too unbelievable to be true.

Final Thoughts

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon

It's time to take a trip back to 1978 (three years before I was born), the year when the psychological thriller Eyes of Laura Mars was released to theatres starring Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones,René Auberjonois, Brad Dourif, and Raul Julia!

Based on John Carpenter's eleven-page treatment, Eyes of Laura Mars was written for the screen by David Zelag Goodman and directed by Irvin Kershner. Faye Dunaway plays Laura Mars, a famous controversial fashion photographer who takes erotic photos of models in settings of graphic violence. What makes Laura Mars completely different than other photographers is that she has a psychic ability, giving her a mind's eyes (similar to looking through the lens of a camera). This is how she has been witnessing a series of brutal murders, which have inspired all of her gallery portraits.

Laura becomes a possible murder suspects after a police detective, John Neville (played by Tommy Lee Jones), discovers her portraits are very similar to real crime scene photographs. After ruling her out as a murder suspect, John begins to believe she has a sixth sense and will do anything to protect from the serial killer.

Eyes of Laura Mars (R; 104 minutes; $14.98) will be released on Blu-ray on May 14th by Mill Creek Entertainment. The only bonus extra is an Audio Commentary by Director Irvin Kershner.

Final Thoughts

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it).
Post it.
 Add your (url) post below in the Linky at: www.fredasvoice.com
Add the post url, not your blog url.

Bing moved his hand across the pebbled leather. The polished cherry dash and the gearshift glowed.

page 56, NO24A2 by Joe Hill

  My Thoughts