Sometimes Saying Goodbye is Hard to Do

 Once Upon a Time, I had an Acer tablet. It was big, heavy, and wonderful. My husband called it 'clunky' but I loved my clunky tablet. It and I had been through a lot together. Briefly, it had belonged to my husband, but he gave it to me when I became bedridden with sciatic pain. When I couldn't move off my side and our eldest child wasn't available for "Golden Girls" marathons, I would open that tablet and play hours of game apps. I could read on it, netflix, game... It was a necessary distraction from my endless pain.

 Many years Tablet and I were there for each other. Tablet would play all night, running documentaries for me on Hulu so I could block out the other noises around me. I even started using it to review books for authors, as sitting up to read on the laptop or computer wasn't a comfortable option for me. So when my tablet slowed to the running speed of a sloth, my husband restored it to factory settings for me. It ran smooth, it ran cheetah fast, and it refused to accept the transfer of any files from any other device, thus rendering my book reviewing hobby a no-go.

Unacceptable! I had authors waiting on my promised reviews! What was I going to do? Get a new tablet, my husband says. A... new... *erk* tablet. New. A ... new... tablet. He even found a buyer for my old, impeccably kept Acer. BUT I DON'T LIKE NEW THINGS!!

I think you can see how this change was something I wasn't looking forward to. And when that pretty new tablet with the chocolatey metallic siding came home, I was leery. I watched my husband play with it and I wasn't sure I wanted to. I looked at it. Put it aside. Later that night, I transferred my books to review, easy peasy. Ok, that was nice. And it was HD. Not bad. But it was slippery! I couldn't prop it up, holding it was a pain in the rear, and I was right all along! A new tablet couldn't be as perfect as my old one. Until the husband bought me a cover-slash-stand.

Sunrise! Beautiful magic happened and now I love my new Samsung friend. I still love and miss my Acer, but making new friends is good too. So here's to my husband, who knows when I need something replaced and isn't afraid to hear me whine about it. And here's to my new Galaxy Tab. You both rock.

 Also, there is a lesson to be had here, but I have a tablet to get back to.

"Project Lullaby" by T.L. Onyx (4 Stars)

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Project Lullaby

#1 - The Project Lullaby series
by T.L. Onyx

Genre: Horror

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Project Lullaby is a top secret program involving the use of various torture and conditioning techniques on children in an attempt to find the perfect method for creating a flawless, emotionless assassin. Under the umbrella organization, the Left Group, Project Lullaby was both a success and a failure; they succeeded in creating killers but they ultimately lost control in a karmic bloodbath kind of way.

We follow two escapees from the program -the only two left- as they walk very different paths on the road to life after the project. One woman is filled with a need for justice and revenge, the other is just trying to live a normal life. Both are killers and both are survivors. And eventually their paths are going to have to cross.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and was very pleasantly surprised by the intricacies weaved in this tale. It was an emotional, human story and I don't want to say too much about the journey because any detail could really ruin the trip, but I will say that my favorite character turned out to be a little girl named Chloe.


If I've intrigued you with my little snippet, and I hope that I have, please check out Project Lullaby at Goodreads and then hurry on over to amazon to pick it up for your own reading pleasure.

A New Stock Photo Gallery is Launching!

What?! How many people are using me?

Are you a writer? An artist? Do you struggle to find just the right stock photos for your projects? Maybe you're just tired of seeing ten other people using the same exact image as you! Well then, you're in luck! Dreamscape Covers is launching a new gallery offering EXCLUSIVE rights to stock photo images.


Taken directly from the Facebook page:
Dreamscape Covers is one of the few places you can acquire exclusive rights to use an image for your cover and we DO NOT charge the amount that photographers and exclusive stock sites charge. We will be launching a gallery for you to be able to view our exclusive stock! We do not require you to use us as your cover artist either, since we understand the bond that forms between artist and author. Our main concern is that you MUST credit everyone involved in the photos you purchase. The countdown until the gallery launch begins now! Feel free to invite author and blogger friends! NOTE: Exclusive means that no one else will have the image you buy & you can use it on merchandise related to your book or blog.


If this sounds like a sweet deal to you, and I know it does, then visit Dreamscape Covers and join the Launch today!

Facebook Page - Gallery Launch Event
www.dreamscapebookcovers.com

"Alien Hunter: Genesis" by Chris Sapp (4 Stars)

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Alien Hunter: Genesis

by Chris Sapp

Genre: Campy Sci-Fi

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The author gave me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and I was expecting a pretty good time. I wasn't disappointed.

Alien Hunter is a novella about a middle age actor on the dying end of a film career. Born Kris Dunn, he is better known as John Stone, his butt-kicking alter ego. He knows his career is circling the drain and the latest production of the AH franchise is total crap, but that's not why he took a break from his day job to film Alien Hunter 6: Revelations. That was purely ego. No way was he going to let some other punk revise the roll he made famous.

By the end of Chapter 2, Kris Dunn is in a real world of hurt when a not-a-meteor falls to earth and wrecks the heck out of the set of Alien Hunter, revealing a true-blue alien menace. Now it's time for this washed-up actor to revise his roll for real, becoming John Stone to fight for humanity. Oh, and he's going to get some help from a cat named Ollie.

"Alien Hunter: Genesis" brings to mind my favorite campy films in a unique, insightful way. I actually felt like I was getting a peak into the behind the scenes of movie production and being that Chris Sapp is also a screen writer, I felt pretty good about believing the less glamorous lifestyle of a low budget actor. Of course, you have to suspend belief, as well, but then that's a big part of campy movies. 

It's not about the realism - it's all about the ride, baby.

To note: The author has said he's likely not going to continue this series, though the ending does indicate another episode could be coming. I hope he will reconsider.

Are you hooked? Want to know more? Check it out at Goodreads and then buy your own darn copy at amazon!

"Bloody Mess" by Joshua M. Phillips (3 Stars)

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Bloody Mess

A Crimson City Tale

by Joshua M. Phillips

Genre: Crime Fiction

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I received a copy of Bloody Mess from the author in exchange for my honest review and the best way for me to describe it is as a novella of revenge.

Detective Jonathon Saint works the Crimson City beat, a city plagued by a corrupt and lax judicial system, where crime pays and brutality is the spice of life. Det. Saint isn't afraid to rough up his perps and he's an ask questions later kind of guy. His partner and best friend, Det. Jerry Fuentes, isn't quite as dedicated and likes to spend his considerable paycheck as fast as he gets it.

It wasn't hard to see where this story was heading, the author setting up a classic revenge tale early on. I knew as soon as the Detective started talking about his beautiful wife and their record breaking 9 orgasms, that she was going to get whacked and Det. Saint's steadfast religious beliefs weren't going to stop him from getting his revenge.

I'd like to see the book get a good, strong edit, however, as it has a lot of grammar and spelling errors, but what made it sometimes hiccup in the smoothness of the read for me, was the unfortunate lack of possessive cases. Needs more apostrophes, please! =D 

I hope the author puts out a second, edited edition. I think it will make it a much stronger read.

Want to know more? Check it out at Goodreads and then amazon!

"Order of the Dimensions" by Irene Helenowski (3 Stars)

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Order of the Dimensions

by Irene Helenowski

Genre: Sci-fi

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First and foremost, I received a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion and review.

"Order of the Dimensions" is about a physics grad named Jane Kremowski and she's been working on a groundbreaking project dubbed "The Multiverser". It's purpose is to allow people to travel into other dimensions; essentially other worlds where different versions of themselves may exist leading completely different lives.

We learn that Jane's Multiverser works and she's the first to use it, but two weeks into this new dimension and she's kidnapped to another one - one where she's the wife of a man with ambitions to lord over every world and dimension. And he's her number 1 obsession.

The supporting cast of characters includes Dr. Anton Zelov, an ex-KGB mountain of a man with an interest in the project that we soon learn to be sinister. Randy, the sweet cheeks to Jane, a man she believes she might like to marry some day. And then we also are introduced to Tina, Jane's mentally impaired cousin who she cares for and loves above all.

While reading, I encountered one of those moments where you blink at the page, go back a page, read forward and then go back again, puzzling over what you missed. It happened with the first jump into another dimension, and unfortunately, the confusion continued throughout. For me, I think it had a lot to do with the fact that the story isn't really written in a way that you get to experience everything that is going on, as it's lacking crucial setting details. You have the story told at you - you are told what is happening through dialogue and simple sentences, rather than being given a rich atmosphere and vivid descriptions. This forces you to accept that things are happening (like time jumps) without having any real feeling for how it occurred.

The author has some really great ideas that she worked to share, however, with an intriguing plot that made me want to dig in and devour this book, which has me looking forward to seeing what else she has under her belt and what other stories she has to tell!

If you'd like to learn more, view "Order of the Dimensions" at Goodreads and amazon ; or you can find the book on Facebook or the author on Twitter.