AMAZON

Yeah, I know what you're thinking - "Why is Billy featuring a Back to School Reads!" post in November?

Well, that's a great question and I do have an explanation for it. I had requested a review copy from the publisher prior to the book's release date, which was Sept. 9th. I never received a reply from the publisher. Due to my past experiences with publishers, I just naturally assumed there were no review copies available. It was a not big deal to me as I'm a James Paterson fan so I would eventually buy the book anyway. However, the publisher did send me an uncorrected proof copy in early October. By that point in time, I was a little busy getting ready for my 13 Reads of Horror! event, so I pushed the review for this title until the beginning of November.

Max Einstein: Rebels With A Cause (Jimmy Patterson; 336 pages; $14.99) is the sequel to last year's Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment, which both are co-written by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein with illustrations by Beverly Johnson. It's the first children book series to be official authorized by the Albert Einstein Archives.

Max Einstein is a twelve-year-old genius orphan who used her hacking abilities to enroll herself into college. How did she get the last name Einstein? She's a huge Albert Ein­stein fan and is constantly referring to his theories. She even imagines having conversations with him. To make a long story short, Max is recruited by the Change Mak­ers Insti­tute, an organization with a headquarters in Jerusalem, who collect the best young intelligent minds from around the globe in the effort of making the world a better place. And then there's the evil Dr. Zimm, who will do anything he can to persuade Max into joining his "Corporation" so he can use her mind to wreck havoc upon mankind.

Rebels With A Cause centers around Max and her young genius pals going on a quest to fix a water crises in India and Ireland. Max is always up for finding a solution to any problem but she might be a little bit over her head this time as her nemesis, Dr. Zimm has a kidnapping scheme up his sleeve.

Final Thoughts

I bet many adults who grew up in the '90s believe the Power Rangers was the first Kaiju American television series, when in fact the Mighty Morphin team is based on the Japanese franchise Super Sentai that began in 1975, and, no, it wasn't the first series to feature giant monsters. Way back in 1966, there was a Japanese children series called Ultra Q that included monsters causing chaos in Japan.

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon

Produced by Tsuburaya Productions from special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya (co-creator of Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra for Toho Studios), Ultra Q was an X-Files-like 24-minute series about a group of supernatural investigators - Mainichi Shimpo photojournalist Yuriko Edogawa (played by Hiroko Sakurai), Hoshikawa Airlines pilot/SF writer Jun Manjome (Kenji Sahara) and his co-pilot Ippei Togawa (Yasuhiko Saijo) - who investigate mysterious events that occur in and near Japan.

Despite only 28 episodes being produced, Ultra Q was a big hit and spawned the Ultraman franchise.

Ultra Q: The Complete Series (Not Rated; 11hrs 56mins; $49.98) was released on a 4-Dsic Blu-ray SteelBook set on October 15 from Mill Creek Entertainment featuring a 24-page Information and Episode Guide booklet. A Digital Code comes with the set that can only redeemed on movieSPREE.com/redeem or on the movieSPREE app. There are no special features or bonus extras.

FYI: Ultra Q is also available to buy on a standard Blu-ray set.

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon

Ultraman: The Complete Series (Not Rated; 16hrs 28mins; $49.98) was also released on a Blu-ray Steelbook on October 15th from Mill Creek Entertainment featuring all 39 episodes on a 5-disc set as well as a 24-page Information and an Episode Guide booklet. It comes with a Digital Code that can only be redeemed on movieSPREE. There are no special features or bonus extras.

FYI: Ultraman is also available to buy on a standard Blu-ray set.

The series involves Ultraman, a giant alien from the Land of Light in Nebula M78, chasing a space monster into the Earth's atmosphere when he accidentally collides into a Jet VTOL piloted by Hayata, a member of the Science Special Search Party (SSSP), an international research and defense agency that protects Earth against aliens. To prevent Hayata from dying, Ultraman merges his life force with him, which means when the world is in danger from a giant monster, Hayata will become Ultraman to defend humankind.


Mill Creek Entertainment will be releasing more DVD and Blu-rays from the Ultraman franchise in near feature starting with Ultraman Orb: The Complete Series & Movie and Ultraman Geed: The Complete Series & Movie later this month. More releases will follow in the Spring and Summer of 2020.

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.

And her crafts were so crudely made that anyone in twenty-dollar shoes would walk away.

56%, Met Her Match by Jude Deveraux

  My Thoughts

Happy Halloween!

 

 

It should be no shock to anyone that I'm featuring the Halloween II novelization as my 13th and final review of 2019's 13 Reads of Horror! as my favorite movie of all-time is the original 1978 classic slasher John Carpenter's Halloween.

Halloween II, directed by Rick Rosenthal based on a screenplay by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, was released to theatres on October 30, 1981, which I was just short of being two-months-old at the time. I wouldn't go on to watch the movie until I was seven-years-old. Nice babysitting, Grandma!

Like many other films in the 1980s, Halloween II received a novelization written by Dennis Etchison under the pseudonym Jack Martin and published by Kensington Books, featuring several black & white pictures from the movie. Unlike 1979's novelization of 1978's Halloween written by Curtis Richard (which attempted to explain why Michael Myers kills), Halloween II stays pretty close to sequel's screenplay.

Halloween II has a short introduction to set up the"Halloween" atmosphere. Then first chapter shows shows Dr. Loomis scaring Lonnie and his pals near the Myers home (from the first movie), followed directly with Dr. Loomis running into Tommy Doyle and Lindsay Wallace (a.k.a. the two little kids from Halloween). Then Dr. Loomis saves Laurie Strode by shooting Michael Myers six times.

Laurie is sent to Haddionfield Memorial Hospitial. Dr. Loomis goes a bit nuts on his quest to hunt down and kill the Boogeyman. Meanwhile, Michael gets a new knife and heads to the hospital to continue his killing spree.

Final Thoughts