FREE - Cinema of Shadows and The Exodus Gate

Not 1 but 2 - yes, count 'em, 2 - free Kindle releases this week from Seventh Star Press!

First of all we've got Cinema of Shadows by Michael West, a book I reviewed here:



Welcome to the Woodfield Movie Palace. The night the Titanic sank, it opened for business...and its builder died in his chair. In the 1950s, there was a fire; a balcony full of people burned to death. And years later, when it became the scene of one of Harmony, Indiana's most notorious murders, it closed for good. Abandoned, sealed, locked up tight...until now. Tonight, Professor Geoffrey Burke and his Parapsychology students have come to the Woodfield in search of evidence, hoping to find irrefutable proof of a haunting. Instead, they will discover that, in this theater, the terrors are not confined to the screen. 

But that, as they says, is not all! We've also got The Exodus Gate by Stephen Zimmer:



The Rising Dawn Saga begins with a prologue that calls to mind the imagery of Milton's Paradise Lost, and then introduces Benedict Darwin, the host of a popular late night radio show dealing with the paranormal and the things of myth, legend, and conspiracy. Benedict comes into possession of a virtual reality simulator that turns out to be something far greater, and far more dangerous than he ever expected.



Supernatural powers from the Abyss are aiding humans at the heights of political and economic power in a centuries-old movement called The Convergence. It is focused on bringing the world under one political and economic authority, one that erases borders between nations and governs all populations across the world.



A tale of courage, hope, and adventure, with fantastical realms and exotic characters, The Exodus Gate is a unique story that blends fantasy, science fiction, the paranormal, horror, and military thriller elements into a powerful voice within the realms of urban fantasy. 





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GUEST POST: The Great Sphinx Of Amun-Ra by Herbert Smith

The name of the oldest civilization known to the modern world is Kmet, sometimes spelled Kemet (or other variations), although the original name in the original language would be transliterated as Kmt. Many eastern languages still are devoid of vowels, although some use a symbol to indicate where a vowel should be; the same symbol for all vowel sounds. That is the reason for different English spellings for Arabic words. For example, the word for a Nile sailing vessel that has come down to us from prehistory can be spelled as felucca – the spelling I use - or fulucca, or even felooka. There are any number of ways a word can be spelled in translation. It shows us that some of the sounds of languages are almost impossible to reproduce in English.



One of the most interesting words I know, the name of the nation of Qatar, is often pronounced as something close to “gutter” in English, but I lived in Qatar for a year, and the people there don’t say it that way at all. KAT-tar is the local rendition, although I probably missed some of the very subtle sounds within the word. That is often the case when attempting to pronounce words from other languages, our predilection toward English sounds limits our ability to hear things as they are actually, when they are subtly spoken.



There are some words that seem to have an ancient commonality. Once, when a neighbor who had come directly from the Assyrians of Eastern Europe, a refugee, was visiting at our house, she brought her three year old grandson who had not yet learned English. They spoke their native language at home, which they insisted was the original language of the human race. We had a large, gentle old cat, who strolled through the room, and the child was overjoyed to see it. “Gato!” he shouted gleefully. “Gato” is the word for cat in Spanish as well as Assyrian. Often the words for ‘mother’ and ‘father’ (or their more familiar forms of ‘mama’ and ‘daddy’ or ‘papa’) are similar in languages from all parts of the world, and other common use nouns reflect the same similarity. For some reason there are far fewer similar verbs than nouns. That could well reflect the idea that ‘personal’ names were in general use and of greater importance to ancient people than were the names of activities they carried out day by day, from which verb forms sprang. 



It was with the understanding that language could not express very much of what existed in a culture out of the ancient past, and that almost everything has been lost of that culture, that I started working on the first chapter of the novel. I wanted to construct a possible, realistic setting, and a living picture of the people of Nomo and their migration across the Sahara, by no means an easy feat, and set them up beside what was, for them, an impossible dream; an immense, never ending supply of water. As was common among ancient people, they had some idea that a god had created and controlled all things; an intrinsic knowledge of a power beyond their understanding, and they set out to honor that god with the best things they could offer. Their god was the sun, a logical conclusion for an ancient tribe, and they carried the worship of their god with them. He eventually became the great god, Amun-Ra, the sun god and creator god of the Pharaohs who existed in grandeur and nearly unlimited power in the minds of the ancients for three millennia.

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About the Book:





The Great Sphinx Of Amun-Ra

by Herbert Smith



What is the true age of the Great Sphinx of Giza? There is a lot of discussion and much controversy among Egyptologists concerning its origin, and no one has yet been able to find a date or inscription that will settle the dispute. The evidence, according to a large group of scientists, is the human visage of the statue. They believe it can be dated to the time of the Pharaoh Khafra (Khefren) who ruled about 4,500 years ago, by the style of the headdress the Sphinx wears. But the fact that the head is so much smaller in proportion to the body of the beast is, for many, a clear signal that the Sphinx was changed at that time, and the resulting theory is that the original appearance of the great stone lion was quite different. No one can determine the precise time the original statue was constructed. Some serious scientists have estimated that it may be 10,000 years or older.


The tiny colony of Nomo, far to the west of the Nile Valley, set out nearly 8,000 years ago to find a new home along the Great Water that some members of the tribe recalled from their young years. The Water lay many day’s distance across the treacherous sands of the Bab – the name they gave the Sahara Desert – and their exploration to find the water was a monumental task. But the explorers were successful and the tribe picked up all they could carry and resettled themselves beside the Great River, founding a village that grew into a town, and eventually into a nation, joining with many other tribes to form ancient Kmet, now called Egypt. They thrived there for millennia, growing and changing into a complex and sophisticated society ruled by Pharaohs, and became the builders of the mighty pyramids and temples that lie along the Nile, and creators of the greatest sculpture the world has ever seen: the mighty Sphinx of Giza.

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About the Author:

Herbert L. Smith has lived and taught in many different countries of the world, from Africa to South America, and has written about some of his posts in three books published since 2008: Cairo: The Mother Of The World, Crossing Borders, and his most recent, The Great Sphinx Of Amun-Ra. All these books are based in Egypt, where he lived in the 1990’s, and he has followed the evolution of Egypt continually since that time.

The first two books are travel memoirs, and The Great Sphinx Of Amun-Ra is a novel set in ancient as well as modern Egypt. It is a time-travel kind of experience, placing readers in pre-history as well as Cairo in 2012, which he knows well.



Smith has been a teacher since 1968, working in the U.S. as well as abroad. His subject as well as his interest is English Language, and he has taught primarily in Colleges and Universitiespreparing international students for academic work in English.



Other disciplines that attract his attention are music and history. He is a pianist, organist, and choirmaster, and a reader of history. He now lives in Eugene, Oregon where his writing and musiccontinue. A biographical novel that will eventually follow (in about two years) is titled David, The King.

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Check out the rest of Herbert's tour schedule over at Pump Up Your Book . . . and stop back later in the month for my review of The Great Sphinx Of Amun-Ra.

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TGIF - Feature & Follow Friday

Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to provide some much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each of whom feature a chosen blog for the week, it's an interesting way to get to know one another.

Question of the Week: Happy Father's Day! Who is your favorite dad character in a book and why?



Since we're talking books I'll take a pass at the obvious - Darth Vader - and go with the dad who not only sticks best in my mind, but who always reminds me of my dad. I'm going with Calvin's dad from Calvin and Hobbes.

Parajunkee also hosts a Social Hop for Facebook and Twitter, which I regularly take part in. So, if you're one of those people who aren't on Blogger, or who just don't like Google Friend Connect, it's a great way to keep in touch and follow one another.

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TGIF is another blog hop designed to provide much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by GReads, it's an interesting way to recap the week, pose a question, and find some exposure with a different audience.



Question of the Week: Most Valuable Book: From your personal collection of books, which ones hold the most value to you - is it signed by the author? or maybe it's your favorite story of all time? Share it with us.



No question - I have to go with my signed hardcopy edition of The Essential Clive Barker.

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Waiting On Wednesday: The Dusk Watchman by Tom Lloyd

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



The Dusk Watchman by Tom Lloyd



Book Five of The Twilight Reign



After his pyrrhic victory at Moorview, King Emin learns the truth about the child Ruhen - but he is powerless to act. Instead, he must mourn his dead friends while his enemy promises the beleaguered peoples of the Land a new age of peace. The past year has taken a grave toll: the remaining Menin troops seek revenge upon Emin, daemons freely walk the Land, and Ruhen's power is increasing daily.



And yet, a glimmer of hope remains. There is one final, desperate chance for victory: a weapon, so terrible only a dead man could wield it, and only a madman would try. But if they do not grasp this opportunity, King Emin and his allies will be obliterated as Ruhen's millennia-old plans are about to bear terrible fruit. If his power continues unchecked, Ruhen will achieve total dominion - and not just over mankind, but over the Gods themselves.



One way or another, the future of the Land will be decided now - written in the blood of men. (August 30, 2012)



Yet another series I am woefully behind on - sometimes it just seems as if there aren't enough hours in the day! I'm hearing good things about the series from a few guys in the office, though, so I'll be making time for it soon.

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eBook Review: The Cannibals of Candyland by Carlton Mellick III

Sometimes you want to sit down and savour a literary meal, to indulge yourself in a four-course door-stopper of a novel that leaves you feeling comfortably bloated at satiated at the end. Then again, sometimes you just want to grab a narrative snack, to guiltily devour the sugary goodness of a candy-coated novella, preferably one that leaves you feeling just a little bit sick as you force down that last bite.



The Cannibals of Candyland is that perfect candy-coated treat.



Here we have an entire race of cannibalistic beings who have evolved from candy, in a land made of candy, surrounded by homes made of candy. It's a world where taste and smell trump physical appearance every time, where mates are taken for life, and where your original candy coating provides proof of virginity. There's no flesh in Candyland, just an infinite number of variations upon candy cotton hair, gumdrop eyes, marshmallow breasts, licorice limbs, and rock-candy teeth. Actually, there is a tiny bit of flesh in Candyland - all of it belonging to children stolen from the human world. After all, even people made of candy know that you can't live on candy alone.



Before we get to Candyland, though, we need to backtrack a bit. The story opens with a rather peculiar gentleman by the name of Franklin Pierce. He's a man with two wives (one of whom is his mother), both of whom revel in the opportunity to publicly cuckold him. He's a man with a flawed cybernetic brain, guaranteed to breakdown and drive him insane within the next few years. He's also a man who devoted his entire life to proving the existence of the candy people, ever since he watched them eat his siblings years ago.



I won't spoil the story by going into too much detail, but this is very much an Alice in Wonderland type story, except that Franklin goes through the candy dish instead of the looking glass. There is falls victim to a kind of Stockholm syndrome that sees him partially eaten, reconstructed with candy, and forcefully mated by the very same candy woman who ate his siblings. It's a rather twisted tale of the extent to which one man will go to ensure his revenge, but also a surprisingly sweet tale of the love to be found in the oddest flavours.



A quick read, filled with just enough sugary gore to delight even the most perverse of readers, it's a book that more than delivers on the promise of its concept.

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Retro Saturday Geek-Out at the NFCC

So, we had a retro geek-out day today at the Niagara Falls Comic Con. Considering the convention first saw life last year as tiny ad-hoc affair, squeezed into the corners at Dave & Busters on Clifton Hill, the 27,000 square foot set-up at the Scotiabank Convention Centre was a pretty impressive full-scale debut.



Coming into the hall, the first thing we encountered was a trio of R2-D2 droids, followed by a pair of Stormtroopers.

On display at the back of the hall was the original Batmobile and (my personal favourite) Doc Brown's DeLorean.

We weren't about to pay $20 a pop for photos with any of the celebrities (apparently the wrestlers were charging $30!), but it was easy enough to snap a shot or two over somebody's shoulder.

Burt Ward (TV's Robin).

Robert Picardo (Voyager's holographic Doctor)

Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface)

Of course, there were a virtual plethora of comic book and collectible vendors, some with some amazing bits of nostalgia to offer. I was sorely tempted to blow my day's budget on this alien Visitor from the original 'V' miniseries, but somehow managed to keep my wallet in my pants.

Can't say I'd heard of the Dead Glamour Girlz before today, but I couldn't resist snapping this shot of them hanging out with a Ghostbuster.

The local cable television crew was on-hand, well into the spirit of things with a Princess Leia and a Bartman. Definitely an odd couple . . . but not the oddest we encountered.

Not sure why he was so popular, but there had to be at least a half dozen Boba Fett clones walking around, including an entire family of them.

Unfortunately, he'd run out of books for the day, but I did have a good chat with Wayne Mallows, author of Whitechapel Road. He's got a really interesting take on vampires, so I'm curious to give the first book of his trilogy a read.

On the vendor side of things, I really liked the clothing from Nekrotic (particularly their Ram Man shirt), and Bev Hogue's work really caught my eye. The ZombieBit.Me gang was pretty interesting, and the 40rty Grit work was fantastic.Oh, and we got a signed poster of Red Squirrel, so here's hoping Gordon gets his publishing deal and becomes a HUGE success!

All-in-all, a good day a good deal. Definitely looking forward to seeing what next year brings.

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TGIF - Feature & Follow Friday

Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to provide some much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each of whom feature a chosen blog for the week, it's an interesting way to get to know one another.

Apparently I need to pay closer attention - this week is FF #100, with a massive list of giveaways. I missed out on joining the giveaway hop, but I'll definitely be looking for some good sites to visit and giveaways to win.



Parajunkee also hosts a Social Hop for Facebook and Twitter, which I've taken part in the past two weeks. So, if you're one of those people who aren't on Blogger, or who just don't like Google Friend Connect, it's a great way to keep in touch and follow one another.

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TGIF is another blog hop designed to provide much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by GReads, it's an interesting way to recap the week, pose a question, and find some exposure with a different audience.



Question of the Week: If you could use existing characters from some of your favourite books to create a new story, who would be in it?



I'd bring together a few villainous hordes, just to mix 'em up and see what happens. Invited to the party would be Brian Lumley's Wamphyri, Clive Barker's Cenobites, Robert Jordan's Forsaken, and Terry Goodkind's Mord-sith (before Richard went and redeemed them).

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