Table of Contents
| News/Musings | StoryOrigin Swaps 1 |
| Mini Movie Reviews | Movie/Show Previews |
| StoryOrigin Swaps 2 | Just for Fun! |
Greetings!
Glad to see you! I hope you’re staying warm and comfy. 😁 Winter is officially just around the corner!
News/Musings
In Texas, the weather seems to change every five minutes. Going from freezing temps to hot and back is normal around here. It does do funky things to my sinuses though! Ugh!
Hubby’s kidney stone is still hanging on, so he will be going through a procedure next week. Thankfully, the stone’s moved enough so they can see it on the x-rays and so will be throwing sonic waves at it to break it up. Woot!
We’ve been enjoying new episodes of The Expanse, the Wheel of Time series, and especially Hawkeye! Season 2 of Witcher starts 12/17! Woot! (We also loved the live-action Cowboy Beebop (they were so much more faithful to the original than you usually see when something animated is done as live action) but I also heard it’s not getting renewed. 😭)
I am close to a 50K word count on Book2 – White Gold – of the Daiyu Wu Mysteries. I am hoping to keep the writing pace steady so I can finish the first draft of the manuscript soon and get it sent to the editor in April. Then, I am hoping to jump on The Secret Humankind and get that sucker done too! (My hope is to be able to bounce back and forth between the two series so I can feed everyone’s cozy mystery and urban fantasy hunger.) Wish me luck!
Sad news 😭 – now two of my favorite all-time authors have passed in a year. Rachel Caine (AKA Roxanne Longstreet Conrad) passed in November 2020, and now Carole Nelson Douglas has left us in 2021. I’ve read just about EVERYTHING the two ever published. I had the honor of being friends with both and always looked forward to seeing them at the local SF/F conventions.
If you’ve never checked out their books, I highly recommend them. Like me, they wrote outstanding stuff under several genres. (Like me in the ‘different genres’ sense, whether my stuff is anywhere near to outstanding is up for debate. 😋)
Extra stuff I’ve shoved in here:
1) Two info swaps from StoryOrigin.
Next month there will be some opportunities for free books by signing up for other authors’ newsletters. Easier than committing to do a review, right?
More deets on all of these in their sections. 😊
Story Origin Swap 1
Jack Gilmor – Wish Lawyer by Ed Ryder
Bad deals, demonic femme-fatales, and a city on the brink of chaos. Jack Gilmour is having a really bad day.
Welcome to Las Vegas. More sin in a day than most places see in a year. No wonder demons love to call it home. Whatever your vice, they have it covered on a contract splashed with the ink of regret.
That’s where Jack comes in. As Vegas’ first and only demonic law attorney, it’s his job to protect his clients from deals that seem too good to be true.
When a case of misplaced lust sets Jack against a powerful demon from his past, he’s soon embroiled with both the human and demonic underworlds in a battle for dominion over the city. With only his wits and a gambling wizard for help, can Jack save his client’s soul and prevent a war before it consumes both realms?
Full of action and danger, Jack Gilmour, Wish Lawyer is an urban fantasy thriller with a twist of noir.
Mini Movie Reviews 🎥
★ – Why did I go see this? Why?!
★★ – Showed promise but on execution, crashed
★★★ – Enjoyable, just don’t look under the hood too closely
★★★★ – A great film, totally worth seeing!
★★★★★ – 🤯 Too fabulous for words!
Ron's Gone Wring
This movie was super cute! (And a little scary.) Explores the meaning of what true friendship is about. As Barney tries to teach his defective “Friend out of the box” about what it means, he comes to learn its true meaning. Great animation and voice acting. Ron is hilarious. Nice vehicle to show kids what can be bad about trying too hard to be popular on social media.
Rating: ★★★★ out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission to See Again!)
Encanto
Bring tissues! If the short before the film doesn’t get you, the movie will! Bwahahaha! Both the short and Encato cover the topics of family, and how good intentions can turn wrong. Everything seems perfect in the isolated town of Encanto, especially with the magical family Madrigal. But ever since Mirabel’s failed coming of age ceremony where she was supposed to get a power like all the rest of the people in her family, a dark cloud has been building. Things are about to take a turn. Fun songs, great animation, and some lovely twists and turns. Tons of fun! (But bring those hankies!)
Rating: ★★★★ out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission to See Again!)
Movie Previews 🎥
The Book of Boba Fett – this is starting soon. I’m feeling weird about this one, but will definitely check it out to see what they’re going to do with it.
The Bad Guys – this should be a ton of fun. 😛
Around the World in 80 Days – David Tennant is BACK! This will be shown on PBS. Looks like a ton of fun! Woot!
Story Origin Swap 2
Paradise Dawn: C’Mon Inn Mystery Prequel by D.N. McNicol
My life has always been weird.
I find an odd amount of dead or dying people, and if something freakish happens, I’m usually in the middle or nearby. And I’m tired of not being able to help the dying. Though finding another dead body almost counts as annoyance, because it is going to make me late to work, and I need all the hours I can get. College for non-mages is expensive.
In a world where a significant portion of the population are mages, I’m not. And I never will be. As such I need to do everything I can to succeed. After my brother died in my arms, my parents left. Not physically, I mean they still live here, but to them I became an obligation to a stranger. But getting my degree is just step one, someday I’ll solve the mystery of my brothers death.
Juggling work, school, lack of money, internships, and waiting for my best friend Josefa to emerge as a mage is stressing me out. I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to lose everything important in the process of reaching for my dream of being an EMT. And worst of all, what if I can’t handle it?
No, nothing is going to stop me. I will have a good life, I will be a great EMT, and I will keep researching. Life is a series of steps; this is step one. But with my luck, anything might happen.
Just for Fun!
Alien Redemption Speed Date Practice! – Last Sunday was the Strong Women – Strange Worlds Year-End Party. The whole thing was done on Zoom. I was one of the guests to the 2nd Speed Date panel. In case you weren’t able to come, I figured I’d share one of my test runs. The authors were to come up with fun ways to introduce their books. Here’s mine. Heh heh. Enjoy!
I Built an Elevator For My Cat – this video is hilarious! What he did is awesome but his telling of the process will crack you up! Lol.
The Muppets – Popcorn – I’ve always loved the instrumental composition called “Popcorn” – add in Muppets and what could go wrong?
2021 is almost over! 😲 It went by crazy fast! I’m not ready for 2022. Are you?
Gloria
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