Tuesday, April 24, 2018

ELVIRA, NOT AS MISTRESS OF THE DARK



ELVIRA, SANS MAKE-UP

Sunday, April 15, 2018

R. Lee Ermey dies at 74. RIP Gunny!



From Fox News Copyright 2018.

R. Lee Ermey, a former Marine Corps drill instructor known to millions of moviegoers as the sadistic Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket," died Sunday morning, according to his longtime manager. He was 74.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Bill Rogin said Ermey had died due to complications from pneumonia.

"He will be greatly missed by all of us," Rogin wrote. "Semper Fi, Gunny. Godspeed."

A Kansas native, Ermey enlisted in the Marine Corps and age 17 and spent 14 months in Vietnam before he was discharged in 1972. He served as a technical advisor in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War epic, "Apocalypse Now," in which he also had a small role as a helicopter pilot.

But Ermey didn't get his big break until nine years later, in Kubrick's own take on Vietnam.

An outspoken conservative, Ermey spoke to Fox News in 2016 about being "blackballed" from Hollywood over his political views.

"I've had a very fruitful career. I've done over 70 feature films," he said. "I've done over 200 episodes of ['GunnyTime']... and then [Hollywood] found out that I'm a Conservative."

Actually, he corrected, "I'm an Independent, but I said something bad about the president. I had something unsavory to say about the president's administration, and even though I did vote for him the first time around, I was blackballed."

Ermey, who was an NRA board member, said at the time that his association with the organization and his disapproval of President Obama cost him acting jobs.

"Do you realize I have not done a movie in five to six years? Why? Because I was totally blackballed by the ... liberals in Hollywood," he alleged. "They can destroy you. They're hateful people [who] don't just not like you, they want to take away your livelihood ... that's why I live up in the desert on a dirt road ... I don't have to put up with their crap."

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Art Bell Passes Away at 72


Art Bell Passes Away at 72

Art Bell, founder and former host of Coast to Coast AM, passed away Friday, April 13. He was 72-years-old. The Nye County Sheriff's Office reports Bell died at his home in Pahrump, Nevada. An official cause of death has not yet been determined. Stay tuned for more information.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, interview


Garfield's creator, Jim Davis is interviewed on The Original Van Gogh's Ear Anthology website. Interesting look at imagination and appealing to the masses

https://theoriginalvangoghsearanthology.com/2018/04/08/an-interview-with-jim-davis-2/

Monday, April 9, 2018

SMELLS LIKE FINN SPIRIT by Randy Henderson


SMELLS LIKE FINN SPIRIT by Randy Henderson

Finn Graymare is back in the final installment of Randy Henderson's Familia Arcana series, Smells Like Finn Spirit.

Finn's re-adaptation to the human world is not going so well. He's got a great girlfriend, and is figuring out how things like the internet work, but he is still carrying the disembodied personality of Alynon, Prince of the Silver Demesne, the fae who had occupied his body during his imprisonment. And he's not getting along at all with his older brother. And oh, by the way, his dead grandfather is still trying to possess him in order to bring about Armageddon.

“Finn Fancy is urban fantasy with a pop culture sweet tooth...rollicking and charming as Finn Fancy Necromancy.”—NPR

“Quite a bit of fun.” —Buzzfeed

“A hold-on-tight romp through all things weird and fantastical.” —School Library Journal on Finn Fancy Necromancy

“Absolutely marvelous. A funny, quirky, and compelling tale full of fantastic twists and dire conspiracies.”—Kat Richardson, bestselling author of the Greywalker series

“A fast-paced fantasy mystery.... The quick turns of the mystery plot make this a speedy and enjoyable read.”—Kirkus Reviews

RANDY HENDERSON, author of Finn Fancy Necromancy, and Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free, is the grand prize winner of Writers of the Future Award, a Clarion West graduate, and member of SFWA and Codex. His fiction has appeared in Penumbra, Escape Pod, and Realms of Fantasy, and has been included in anthologies.

On Sale April 24, 2018 from Tor Books. 9780765392664. $18.99 USD.

Check out the first two books in The Familia Arcana series, Finn Fancy Necromancy and Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

MARTIANS ABROAD by Carrie Vaughn


MARTIANS ABROAD by Carrie Vaughn

A great new stand-alone science fiction novel from Carrie Vaughn, author of the Kitty Norville series.

Polly Newton has one single-minded dream, to be a starship pilot and travel the galaxy. Her mother, the Director of the Mars Colony, derails Polly's plans when she sends Polly and her genius twin brother, Charles, to Galileo Academy on Earth.

Strange, unexplained, dangerous coincidences centered on their high-profile classmates begin piling up. There's more going on than would appear, and the stakes are high. Polly is determined to find the truth, no matter the cost.

“A tribute to the power of science fiction, evoking a giddy sense of wonder and adventure about space exploration, technology, and human ingenuity.” —NPR

"This is a classic...adventurous...with retro SF twists that nod to Heinlein’s oeuvre." —Booklist

"This easygoing adventure has an affable appeal."—Kirkus

"The whole story is great fun. Your Heinlein itch will be scratched in a 21st-century way" —RT Book Reviews

"Exciting, entertaining."—The Irresponsible Reader

"A refreshing mix of teen drama and science."—Elitist Book Reviews

CARRIE VAUGHN is best known for her New York Times bestselling series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk radio show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. Her novels include a near-Earth space opera, Martians Abroad, from Tor Books, and the post-apocalyptic murder mysteries Bannerless and The Wild Dead. She's written several other contemporary fantasy and young adult novels, as well as upwards of 80 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award. She's a contributor to the Wild Cards series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin and a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop. An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado.

On Sale April 24, 2018 from Tor Books. 9780765382214. $15.99 USD.

Saturday, April 7, 2018

AVENGERS OF THE MOON by Allen Steele


AVENGERS OF THE MOON by Allen Steele

Our solar system needs a hero and it's about to get one in an old-fashioned, SF pulp adventure with modern sensibility. Allen Steele, author of Arkwright, gives us a thrilling piece of science fiction pulp with Avengers of the Moon.

Curt Newton has spent most of his life hidden from the rest of humankind, being raised by a robot, an android, and the disembodied brain of a renowned scientist. Curt's innate curiosity and nose for trouble inadvertently lead him into a plot to destabilize the Solar Coalition and assassinate the president. There's only one way to uncover the evil mastermind—Curt must become Captain Future.

With the permission of the Edmond Hamilton estate, Allen Steele revives the exciting adventures of Captain Future.

“A rollicking tribute to Edmond Hamilton's classic Captain Future stories.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Steele combines the charm of those classic swashbuckling space adventures many of us grew up on with questions about artificial intelligence and space colonization that we face today.” —Amazing Stories

"An authentic, heartfelt and evocative novel....Blending melodrama with restraint, mixing tragedy and comedy, and hewing to tradition while simultaneously honoring contemporary tastes, this book deserves to find a big audience amongst old and young readers alike."—Locus

ALLEN STEELE worked as a freelance journalist before becoming a prolific science fiction writer. He has garnered multiple Hugo Awards for his novellas and novelettes, and his novel Obital Decay won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. In 2013, he received the Robert A. Heinlein Award in recognition of his fiction promoting space exploration.

On Sale April 17, 2018 from Tor Books. 9780765382191. $16.99 USD.

Friday, April 6, 2018

THE GUNS ABOVE by Robyn Bennis



THE GUNS ABOVE by Robyn Bennis

Robyn Bennis’s THE GUNS ABOVE is an adventurous military fantasy debut about a nation's first female airship captain.

They say it’s not the fall that kills you.

For Josette Dupre, the Corps’ first female airship captain, it might just be a bullet in the back.

On top of patrolling the front lines, she must also contend with a crew who doubts her expertise, a new airship that is an untested deathtrap, and the foppish aristocrat Lord Bernat, a gambler and shameless flirt with the military know-how of a thimble. Bernat’s own secret assignment is to catalog her every moment of weakness and indecision.

So when the enemy makes an unprecedented move that could turn the tide of the war, can Josette deal with Bernat, rally her crew, and survive long enough to prove herself?

“Marvelous, witty, and action-packed! Bennis's writing is incredible, her vocabulary impressive, and she honest to God made me believe you could build an airship from spare parts.”—New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Ann Aguirre

“Wonderfully adventurous and laudably detailed.” —Becky Chambers, author of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

“Filled with quick action, witty dialog, and appealing characters.”—Library Journal, starred review

ROBYN BENNIS is a scientist and airship aficionado living in Mountain View, California. Her apartment is within sight of Hangar One at Moffett Airfield, once the West Coast home to the USS Macon, America's largest airship. The Guns Above is her debut novel. Learn more at according2robyn.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter @According2Robyn.

On Sale April 17, 2018 from Tor Books. 9780765388780. $16.99 USD.

The sequel, By Fire Above, is coming May 15, 2018.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

NIGHT MAGIC by Jenna Black


NIGHT MAGIC by Jenna Black


Glimmerglass author Jenna Black returns to her core audience in this spooky yet romantic, dark paranormal horror series.

Jenna Black returns to the quarantined city of Philadelphia, where an unsuspecting seventeen-year-old has unknowingly unleashed a dark power that transforms the city into a monstrous hellscape.

Once, the guilt of having inadvertently let the night magic into the city—and of having killed her onetime best friend—had threatened to destroy Becky Walker. But now she’s been Nightstruck, and all her grief and guilt and terror have been swept away—along with her conscience. So what if she’s lost her friends, her family, and her home? And so what if her hot new boyfriend is super-controlling and downright malevolent?

Mesmerized by the power and freedom of not having to care about anyone but herself, Becket is sinking ever deeper into the night magic’s grasp. But those who love her refuse to give up on her—even if she’s given up on them. If they can’t find a way to help Becket break the night magic’s hold, the entire city might soon find itself shrouded in perpetual night. But the last thing Becket wants is to be “rescued” from her brand new life, and she will fight tooth and claw to stay exactly where she is.

“Black kicks off a creepy series with an imaginative and unsettling premise. Effectively blending grisly horror, teenage dilemmas, and a touch of romance, Black has built a genuinely scary city where the night literally has teeth.”—Publishers Weekly

“The streets of Philadelphia are filled with terror once night falls. Black pulls off some horrific set pieces, and there's a great hook for a larger mystery. A solidly creepy start to a promising series.”—Kirkus Reviews

Author JENNA BLACK writes paranormal romance books and young adult novels, including Shadowspell and Watc hers in the Night, which was nominated for the 2006 Paranormal Excellence in Romantic Literature (PEARL) award. She's your typical writer: an experience junkie. Once upon a time, she dreamed she would be the next Jane Goodall, camping in the bush and making fabulous discoveries about primate behavior. She went to Duke University to study physical anthropology. Then, during her senior year, she made a shocking discovery: primates spend something like 80% of their time doing such exciting things as sleeping and eating. Narrowly escaping the boring life of a primatologist, she moved on to such varied pastimes as grooming dogs and writing technical documentation. Among her other experiences: ballroom dancing, traveling to all seven continents—yes, even Antarctica—becoming a Life Master in Bridge, and singing in a barbershop chorus.
On Sale April 17, 2018 from Tor Teen. 9780765380074. $9.99 USD.

Check out the first book in the series, Nightstruck.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

AZTEC BLOOD by Gary Jennings



AZTEC BLOOD by Gary Jennings

Gary Jennings, whom The New York Times called "the best among our historical novelists," shows readers the gallantry and brutality, the sex and tyranny, of a vanished civilization south of the US border.

In Aztec Blood, the Aztec people have been conquered, and a revolt of Native Americans put down. The former Aztec Empire is now a colony called New Spain in which the Native peoples are enslaved to great estates that are actually feudal domains.

In this brutal and bloody era of swords and cloaks, upheaval and revolution, a young beggar boy of both Spanish and Aztec royal lines must claim his birthright. From the torrid streets of the City of the Dead along the Veracruz Coast to the ageless glory of Seville in Old Spain, Cristo the Bastard connives, fights and loves as he seeks the truth—without knowing that his "tainted" blood is the fore-bearer of a proud new people. As readers follow the loves and adventures of Cristo and experience both the splendor and the barbarism of the era, a vanished culture is brought vividly to life.


"A plum pudding of historical information and detail set unobtrusively into brilliant and offbeat remarkable digressions." —The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aztec Autumn

"[Jennings is] a first-class storyteller." —The Atlantic Monthly

"Jennings . . . can breathe life into the dust of history." —The Washington Post

GARY JENNINGS, author of the New York Times bestseller Aztec, was known for the rigorous and intensive research behind his novels, which often include hazardous travels—exploring every corner of Mexico for his Aztec novels, retracing the numerous wanderings of Marco Polo for The Journeyers, joining nine different circuses for Spangle, and roaming the Balkans for Raptor. Jennings passed away in 1999.
On Sale April 24, 2018 from Forge Books. 9780765399021. $19.99 USD.

Also check out the first two volumes, Aztec and Aztec Autumn.

Monday, April 2, 2018

THE HANDYMAN BY BENTLEY LITTLE, LIMITED TO 450 COPIES


The Handyman
by Bentley Little


Publisher: SST Publications (UK)
Format: Signed & Numbered Limited Edition
Print run: Just 450 Signed Copies!,$60 FROM WWW.CEMETERYDANCE.COM

About the Book:
Daniel Martin has never forgotten his childhood encounters with Frank Watkins, the man who built his family a summer home out of cardboard and plywood.

Frank's gaze was oddly confusing, as if he was attempting to discern the proper way to behave because he didn't know how to respond in a human manner, almost like an alien trying to pretend to be human.

Since Frank obviously wasn't an alien, Daniel thought maybe the man was crazy.

In the end, young Daniel would learn the terrifying truth about Frank Watkins...

And as an adult, Daniel is about to discover there are more of them out there...

Signed & Numbered Limited Hardcover Edition:
* Limited to only 450 Signed & Hand-Numbered copies
* Personally signed by the author on a specially designed full-colour signature page
* Larger 6.14” x 9.21” trim size
* Printed on 90gsm acid-free paper
* Bound in full-cloth with coloured head and tail bands
* Hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
* Offset printed and bound with full-colour endpapers
* Sewn binding for increased durability
* Incredible wraparound dust jacket artwork & six interior illustrations by Ben Baldwin
* Extremely limited ONE-TIME printing of SST Publication's Special Signed Limited Edition—Only 450 copies will be available worldwide!

NEW MILITARY CHOPPER?


WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW MILITARY VETC HELICOPTER?