The Intern, starring Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro, is about a senior citizen who becomes an intern for a start-up Internet clothing company. DeNiro gets assigned to the owner, Hathaway, as her assistant. She doesn't want anything to do with this program and gives DeNiro little to do. He eventually becomes her driver and a friendship begins. DeNiro is old school-dresses in suit and tie, doesn't gossip, helps everyone, and believes in a hard day's work. His style rubs off on the other workers as everyone gets to know him. Hathaway even calls him her best friend. The main conflict is about her giving her company to a CEO or running it herself. DeNiro, the feminist of the two, believes that she will take the company to high places, but she thinks the extra help will give her more time to save her marriage. In the end, she holds on to her company and makes up with her husband.
My Review: DeNiro was clearly the star of this movie, playing a kind, smart, and hard-working man who is not good at retirement. Like most of his performances, you forget that he is Robert DeNiro and get sucked into his world. He is truly one of the most versatile and talented actors out there. Hathaway is also good at as a successful business owner who tries to balances out her family life and career. I liked the story. It shows the positive differences between the young and old people in the work force. The movie was sweet, humorous, and entertaining. 4.5/5 Stars
Evan
Powers has become the new manager in Nick Grady’s well-established marijuana
growing operation. Led by his roommate and best friend, little has changed in
Nick’s secretive business since the late ‘60s, which is just the way the aging
hippie would for like it to remain. However, Nick’s complex past comes full
circle, thrusting Evan in a scramble to decipher the truth behind the enigmatic
lives of the people he holds dear. Deep in the woods, demons will be unleashed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
We walked directly across the hall, to a second door leading
to a second warehouse. It was like those Russian Matryoshka dolls that get
pulled apart to reveal smaller dolls nesting inside. A warehouse within a
warehouse.
Nick took me to the door and knocked.
My previous work took place down the long hall to the left,
in a room around the corner in the rear of the building, and I looked over my
shoulder to where I normally worked with Becka. She was nowhere to be seen.
Whatever Nick was about to show me was entirely new, but I had a very good idea
of exactly what was behind that thick door.
A sliding viewing port opened, and a set of eyes looked out.
The viewing port closed, and the sound of a heavy lock clacked from the hollows
of the metal door. A moment later it opened and we stepped inside, shielding
our eyes from the glaring light.
“Holy hell,” I muttered, stepping into the room. The
temperature was hot in there, muggy, and my eyes were practically blinded from
the succession of thousand-watt high pressure sodium light bulbs lining the
ceiling. A sea of tall marijuana plants filled the room, all set in carefully
arranged rows, some attached to an elaborate hydroponic system. The smell of
fresh marijuana was as thick as soup. A silver tray holding orange slices and a
knife sat on a table by the door.
“So.” I turned to Nick. “What exactly do you need me to do?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Brandon Zenner
is an American fiction writer. His short fiction has been published in both
print and online publications, the first being submitted when he was just 19
years old. THE EXPERIMENT OF DREAMS, his debut eBook thriller, has reached
Amazon's top-ten charts within its genre many times. His categories of choice
are thrillers, dystopian, crime, and science fiction.
H. Peter Alesso will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn host.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Sci-fi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
He
thought Alaina loved him, but now she’s found someone else. A tidal wave of
loss and grief swept over Henry Gallant, leaving him undecided about what to do
next, or how to move forward.
Despite his sorrow, he
goes on a dangerous mission to an invading aliens’ home world in the Gliese-581
star system. There he uses a neural interface to penetrate their communication
network and steal a high ranking alien’s identity. Through this artifice he
learns about their history and society, and discovers a way to hinder and
possibly defeat them.
A side-effect of
linking into the alien network—which was created for autistic savants—is that
Gallant’s mind was stimulated and enhanced to the point where he begins to
experience superintelligence abilities.
Upon returning from his
mission, there is concern that Gallant might pose an even more serious threat
than the aliens. While he struggles to fend off those who doubt his loyalty, he
fights to win back Alaina.
This is the fourth book
of The Henry Gallant Saga, but it can be read as a standalone story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
As a scientist
and author specializing in technology innovation, H. Peter Alesso has over
twenty years research experience at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL). As Engineering Group Leader at LLNL he led a team of scientists and
engineers in innovative applications across a wide range of supercomputers,
workstations, and networks. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy
with a B.S. and served in the U.S. Navy on nuclear submarines before completing
an M.S. and an advanced Engineering Degree at M.I.T. He has published several
software titles and numerous scientific journal and conference articles, and he
is the author/co-author of seven books.
You can visit
his Web site at: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx
_______________________________________________
Author Social
Media:
Author Web site
at: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx
$40 Amazon Giveaway-Leave a Comment and Enter Rafflecopter!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
With
the rift closed for the season and no more monsters to fight, Daelin Long gets
bored as librarian in the podunk town of Settler, Oregon. A job interview and
her brother's arrival present a tempting opportunity to escape, until her
brother and her best friend, a ghost, disappear.
While
Daelin searches for them, more mysteries pile up: dead people coming back to
life, portraits of the town founders replaced with strange white trees, and
people on the other side of the rift returning. It’s impossible. The portal
that allows monsters from other universes to come to Earth is sealed until next
summer.
The
Rifters, a secret group protecting our world, believe the troubles are nothing
more than the tantrums of an offended ghost. Daelin disagrees. If she’s right,
the evil hell-bent on destroying Earth has new technology making the rift more
deadly.
Before
the monster summons the next apocalypse, Daelin must find it and destroy it.
Book
3 in the Rifter series.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Daelin Long raked her teeth over her lower lip. “Why didn’t
you tell me our sister sent you a package? We’ve spoken countless times since I
moved here.”
“You didn’t tell me she was in so much trouble.” Her
brother, Cobb, crossed his arms. “She asked me to be discreet and to say
nothing until I met up with you precisely on this day. The lengths she took to
guard whatever it is she’s hiding gives me the willies. What in all the mangled
circuits on the planet is she mixed up in?”
“This town is full of peril and secrets, Cobb. The biggest
is a portal in the woods. It opens every summer and closes on the fall equinox.
That has to be the reason Charming told you to meet up with me today.” Today
was one day after the fall equinox.
“How will what she hid help?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully, the hidden item will tell us.”
“Hope isn’t more than a wish to go on.” He examined the
tools and crystals on the workbench. “Have I been sucked into one of those
fantasy books you were always reading when we were kids? What does the portal
do? Where does it go?”
“I wonder the same thing. Are we trapped in a book?” Daelin
laughed softly. “The rift connects forty-two universes. She and I are in the
Rifters, a group of people who guard the world against what comes through the
portal.”
“Wh-why? What comes through it?”
His wide eyes whisked Daelin’s memories back to a time when
he was small and terrified of rubber toy snakes.
“No snakes,” she said, “but I’ve seen monsters. Monsters
that will have you wishing for snakes.”
“Ha.” He threw his head back. “Nothing can make me wish for
snakes.”
She patted his elbow. “I’ll make sure you never find out.”
“What have you fought?”
“A head-stealing ghost and a swarm of volcanic killer ash
bees.”
“What kind of bees?”
“Stones that morphed into killer bees in the sun.” She
explained the creatures and the harrowing days they had threatened the town.
“Charming returned to help win the battle, otherwise the whole country would be
having bee problems by now.”
“Returned?” Cobb’s face scrunched up. “Where is she?”
“The other side.” Daelin leaned against the workbench. “I
don’t know exactly what, but she warns of a great evil coming. She’s fighting
it over there.” Alone with aliens. Her sister depended on an alien acquaintance
to keep her alive. Sense didn’t always matter to Charming. It did do Daelin.
She couldn’t trust a man from another universe she had never met with her
sister’s life. No way would Charming fight alone much longer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
M. Pax is
author of the space adventure series The Backworlds and the urban fantasy
series The Rifters. Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons to her, and
she blames Oregon, a source of endless inspiration. She ghost hunts for fun
with a group of curiosity seekers, docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the
summers as a star guide, has a cat with a crush on Mr. Spock, and is slightly
obsessed with Jane Austen.
SUNSET
AT ROSALIE tells the story of a young girl, Carlin McNair, and her family on a
failing cotton plantation in Mississippi during the early 1900s. The coming of
the boll weevil and the sharp decline of cotton prices cause drastic changes in
the life of the plantation and in the lives of the family members. Carlin
adores her Uncle Will. But like the plantation, Will is doomed and his story is
an important part of Carlin’s growing up. McLaughlin describes this part of
Southern culture in vivid detail, which brings Carlin’s young life close and
makes that almost extinct plantation life come alive once again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
Carlin pushed back her brown braids and squinted down the
long drive, hoping to see Papa and Uncle Will riding up to Rosalie. The ball of
sun had turned the sky yellow-white beyond the pine trees, and she lifted one
hand to shade her eyes from its slanting light. They were late. The dark, live
oak trees that lined the road made a shadowy tunnel between the plantation’s
cotton fields stretching out green and white on either side. But there was no
sign of Papa on Graylie, his tall mare, nor of her uncle, whom her father had
gone to meet at the train station.
Soon Uncle Will would dismount right there, Carlin thought,
and sucked in her breath as she stared at the black hitching post at the end of
the red brick walk. He would glance up at the white house for a moment with its
columns and wide front gallery, and she would jump up from her seat on the top
step and rush down. “Carlie!” he would shout and stoop, opening his arms wide
to enfold her.
Of all Uncle Will’s returns, from Paris or from New Orleans,
this was the most exciting because next Saturday he and Carlin’s Aunt Emily
would be married. Carlin could see the slanting letters on the ivory wedding
invitations, with Uncle Will and Aunt Emily’s names at the top, the name of the
church, the date, August 28, 1909, and Warrington County, Mississippi, at the
bottom. The whole plantation was getting ready.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Ann L.
McLaughlin is the author of eight highly acclaimed novels including Lightning
in July and Amy and George. She teaches at the Writer's Center in Bethesda,
Maryland and lives in Chevy Chase.
The Fourth
Reichby Jim Marrs is a nonfiction book about the Fourth Reich that
hasn't "technically" happened, at least according to main stream
media, but is alive and well all over the world, especially America. The
author immediately points out that Reich means empire but reich means rich.
The inference sets up accusations that banksters are quietly running the
world. When business doesn't go their way, a war is staged through
financial decisions.The First Reich happened under the Holy Roman Empire of the
German Nation and lasted the longest from 962 to 1806. The Second Reich
lasted from 1871 until 1918, spilling into the first world war. The Third
Reich, arguably the most famous, occurred during Hitler's reign (1933-1945). Marrs spends a great deal of time explaining how the Third
Reich did not disappear, but found a new residence, especially in both of the
Americas. He goes into the conspiracy of Hitler's suicide and the massive
import of Nazi doctors and scientists under Operation Paperclip. He even
talks about Hitler's fascination with the occult and possible alien technology.
The Nuremberg Trials were a show for the world. The handful who were
caught served marginal jail sentences and then once released were given high
salaried positions for global corporations within the pharmaceutical and
defense corporations.
One of Marrs's most convincing aspects of
this conspiracy theory is the trail of the same people tied to the government
and national banking. He goes into the relationships that set up the
Federal Reserve, World Bank, and EU Monetary Fund. In short, Preston
Bush, Rothchilds, Rockefellers, and Warburgs are some of the same names that
repeat during the Third Reich and post World War II. He continues his
theory all the way up to 911 when high-ranking employees in the banking,
security, and transportation world sold stock the day before the Twin Towers
fell. Did they know there would be a crash? Suspicious. There
was so much more to this very long book. Not sure if I agree with
everything Marrs had to say, but he did an amazing job in researching all of
his claims. I do believe that he is on to something very profound.
He is obviously a believer in New World Order conspiracy. Instead
of coming off as a crackpot, his writing is clear, backed with facts, and easy
to read. This is a great book for anyone who loves an alternative
perspective to CNN and Fox News. I will definitely buy another Jim Marrs
book. 5/5 Stars
The new James Bond movie, Spectre, leaves Bond without a job. "M" is dead, but leaves James a video regarding her murder. The movie begins with him picking up where "M" left off.
The British Secret Service is undergoing several changes, including getting rid of their 00 program. James and his colleagues might soon be out of work. Without any support the Secret Service, Bond solves "M"s murder and takes down an international conspiracy plot. The villain is a global group called Spectre. Their goal is to take over the world through satellites, drones, phone taps, and other security measures.
My Review: I am not a fan of James Bond, but my husband is. Most of the movies are too light on plot and heavy on car chases for me to follow. Spectre is in a class by itself. The story is about the formation of a one world government sharing surveillance on every citizen, kind of like a modern day 1984. Being a New World Order conspiracy fan, I loved the story line. The villains were almost believable.
The opening scene hooked me from the first second. Bond began the movie in Mexico City during a Day of the Dead celebration, hunting down a cartel member. The scene had me on the edge of my seat and held my attention throughout the film.
Daniel Craig never looked better. His James Bond character had more depth in this movie. We finally learned something about his childhood backstory. His love interest was drop-dead gorgeous. She reminded me of a young Kate Moss. Another actor who caught my eye was the new "Q", a skinny, nerdy computer geek who was incredibly sexy. The settings (London, Rome, Tangiers, and Mexico City) worked almost like characters themselves, adding eye candy to the film. The movie was worth the price of the ticket. Spectre is highly recommended! 5/5 Stars
Like many people, I love the 1942 movie, Casablanca, staring Humphrey Bogart and
Ingrid Bergman as the ill-fated lovers Rick and Ilsa. In fact, one friend encouraged
me not to include the word Casablanca in my title lest readers become confused
and disappointed that Rick is not the main character in Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn. It has also been suggested that
people may be interested in any similarities between the book and the movie, so
how about a little contrasting and comparing?
Obviously, both are set in the same Moroccan city, but they
are set in different years. The book is set in early 1943 in the weeks leading
up to the first Allied Conference, after the Allies took control of the city
through Operation Torch in November 1942. For Rick and Ilsa, Casablanca is
still under German influenced Vichy control and the Allied invasion is just a
far off dream.
Pieces of paper are vital to the plots of both movie and
book. In the movie, letters of transit have people lying and dying to possess
them. In the book, a secret coded message sets Kurt and Sarah, the main
characters, on the trail of spies, double agents, and murderers.
Rick and Ilsa love each other desperately, but being
together is not possible. Sarah and Kurt fight falling in love with all their
might, but in the end they can’t help themselves. Kurt and Rick, both
Americans, are men of the world who know they face long odds of surviving the
tasks that lay ahead of them. Rick is in Casablanca by choice. Kurt is there
because he is a trained OSS officer with special skills that no one else can
supply. Sarah and Ilsa really have nothing in common in their backgrounds, but
they share certain characteristics. Both women are ferociously loyal to their
friends, to those whom they love, and to their ideals.
Both Casablanca:
Appointment at Dawn and Casablanca,
the movie, begin in nightclubs, but the book’s action quickly moves into
greater North Africa, including the cities of El Jadida and Tunis and the
Tunisian desert. In the end, both the book and the movie reveal sacrifices that
must be made for the greater good of defeating the Nazis.
While the book and the movie share a few similarities, the
stories are on the whole rather different. If readers are familiar with the
movie, however, they may be able to find the two very small nods to the movie
embedded within the novel. Do you think you will find them?
Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn
by Linda Bennett Pennell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: historical fiction with
romantic elements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Casablanca,
1943: a viper’s nest of double agents and spies where OSS Officer Kurt Heinz
finds his skill in covert operations pushed to the limit. Allied success in
North Africa and the fate of the First Allied Conference—perhaps the outcome of
the war—hang on Kurt’s next mission. The nature of his work makes relationships
impossible. Nonetheless, he is increasingly torn between duty and the beautiful
girl who desperately needs his protection and help.
Sarah Barrett, U.S.
Army R.N., is finished with wartime romance. Determined to protect her recently
broken heart, she throws all of her time and energy into caring for her
patients, but when she is given a coded message by a mysterious dying civilian,
she is sucked into a vortex of danger and intrigue that threatens her very
survival. The one person who can help Sarah is Kurt Heinz, a man with too many
secrets to be trusted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
“I’m Heinz. What do you want?”
“Oh. It’s you.”
“Yeah?”
“From the restaurant on New Year’s Eve.”
Kurt was silent for a moment, then it came back to him. “I
remember. Sarah, right? You’re the girl who refused to dance with me.”
A red flush crawled from her throat onto the apples of her
cheeks. “Yes. I’m sorry if I was rude.”
“I’ve been cut dead before. I got over it.”
The girl’s eyes glittered. “I’m sure you did. Are you going
to keep me standing here on the doorstep for everyone to see?”
“Why? I’m not expecting company. Would it be a problem?”
“It certainly might if the people who tore my apartment
apart followed me here.”
Kurt looked into her eyes with complete attention for the
first time since opening the door. Whatever had happened to this girl, she
looked terrified and angry. Not a particularly good combination for the covert
activities he and Phelps were up to.
Kurt made a quick decision. He stepped back and pulled the
door wide while raising his voice.
“You better come inside and tell me why you think what
happened to your apartment has anything to do with me.”
When they stepped into the living area, Phelps had
disappeared. Kurt gestured toward the sofa and the girl sat down.
Propping himself on the sofa’s arm, he looked down into her
frightened eyes.
“Now tell me how I can help you, Miss, uh…” “Barrett, Sarah.
US Army. RN.”
“Well, Nurse Barrett, what can I do for you?”
The girl stuck her hand in her coat pocket and whipped out a
scrap of paper that she waved in his face.
“By telling me what’s on this paper and why it’s so
important that somebody took a knife to my furniture.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
I have been in
love with the past for as long as I can remember. Anything with a history,
whether shabby or majestic, recent or ancient, instantly draws me in. I suppose
it comes from being part of a large extended family that spanned several
generations. Long summer afternoons on my grandmother's porch or winter
evenings gathered around her fireplace were filled with stories both
entertaining and poignant. Of course being set in the American South, those
stories were also peopled by some very interesting characters, some of whom
have found their way into my work.
As for my
venture in writing, it has allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly
multifaceted creatures, but unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each
other into neat, easily understood packages that rarely reveal the whole
person. Perhaps you, too, want to step out of the box in which you find
yourself. I encourage you to look at the possibilities and imagine. Be filled
with childlike wonder in your mental wanderings. Envision what might be, not
simply what is. Let us never forget, all good fiction begins when someone says
to her or himself, "Let's pretend."
I reside in the
Houston area with one sweet husband and one adorable German Shorthaired Pointer
who is quite certain she’s a little girl.
"History
is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes
coming up." Voltaire
Books:
Al Capone at
the Blanche Hotel from Soul Mate Publishing
Confederado do
Norte from Soul Mate Publishing
When War Came
Home from real Cypress Press
Casablanca:
Appointment at Dawn available 8/28/15 from the Wild Rose Press
The Santa Claus Man: The Rise and Fall
of a Jazz Age Con Man and the Invention of Christmas in New York by Alex Palmer Name
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: History/True Crime
Alex is giving away 20 and 10 dollar GCs!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Before the charismatic
John Duval Gluck, Jr. came along, letters from New York City children to Santa
Claus were destroyed, unopened, by the U.S. Post Office. Gluck saw an
opportunity, and created the Santa Claus Association. The effort delighted the
public, and for 15 years money and gifts flowed to the only group authorized to
answer Santa’s mail. Gluck became a Jazz Age celebrity, rubbing shoulders with
the era’s movie stars and politicians, and even planned to erect a vast Santa
Claus monument in the center of Manhattan — until Gotham’s crusading charity
commissioner discovered some dark secrets in Santa’s workshop.
The rise and fall of
the Santa Claus Association is a caper both heartwarming and hardboiled,
involving stolen art, phony Boy Scouts, a kidnapping, pursuit by the FBI, a
Coney Island bullfight, and above all, the thrills and dangers of a wild
imagination. It’s also the larger story of how Christmas became the extravagant
holiday we celebrate today, from Santa’s early beginnings in New York to the
country’s first citywide Christmas tree and Macy’s first grand holiday parade.
The Santa Claus Man is a holiday tale with a dark underbelly, and an essential
read for lovers of Christmas stories, true crime, and New York City history.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
It’s impossible to say who wrote the first Santa letter, but
it was almost certainly from the mythical saint, not to him.
From the earliest conception of Santa Claus in the United
States, parents used the voice of St. Nicholas as a means of providing advice
and encouraging good behavior in their children. The earliest reference to a
Santa letter in America that I could find came from Theodore Ledyard Cuyler,
recalling his childhood in 1820s Western New York when he “once received an
autograph letter from Santa Claus, full of good counsels.”
Fanny Longfellow (wife of poet Henry Wadsworth) regularly
wrote her children Santa letters, commenting on their behavior over the
preceding year. “I am sorry I sometimes hear you are not so kind to your little
brother as I wish you were,” she wrote to her son Charley on Christmas Eve
1851.
Soon enough, children started writing back, generally
placing their letters on the fireplace, where they believed smoke would
transport the message to St. Nick.
By the 1870s, scattered reports appeared of the receipt of
Santa letters by local post offices. But with no actual fur-coated toymaker to
receive his mail, each January, the department destroyed them.
It was a depressing business. But, officials asked, if
mailmen began delivering Santa’s letters, to which other fictional characters
would mail be shuttled?
In the face of negative publicity, however, New York City’s
postmaster finally relented. Every year, for the entire month of December, any
approved organization could answer Santa’s mail. No one volunteered. Then, in
1913, just as the Post Office was about to give up, a man named John Duval
Gluck stepped forward. He’d be Santa Claus.
He was also a con artist.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Alex Palmer is
the author of The Santa Claus Man: The Rise and Fall of a Jazz Age Con Man and
the Invention of Christmas in New York, called "required reading" by
the New York Post and "highly readable" by Publishers Weekly.
It tells the
history of Christmas in America through the true-crime tale of a Jazz Age
hustler who founded an organization to answer children's Santa letters -- and
fuel his own dark dreams. Palmer curated an exhibit about this Santa Claus
Association for Brooklyn's City Reliquary Museum, earning attention from the
Village Voice, Time Out New York, and inspiring a memorable segment on WNYC
(http://wny.cc/1bQIx5k).
The son of two
teachers, Palmer's love of learning and sharing surprising stories behind
familiar subjects has led him to become a secret-history sleuth. In addition to
The Santa Claus Man, he is the author of Weird-o-pedia: The Ultimate Collection
of Surprising, Strange, and Incredibly Bizarre Facts About (Supposedly)
Ordinary Things, published in 2012 by Skyhorse Publishing. it offers up a
wealth of unexpected facts of familiar things. His first book, Literary
Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature, takes a look
at some of the more colorful aspects of great writers and their works, and was
published in 2010 by Skyhorse.
He is a
full-time freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Slate, Rhapsody,
Smithsonian, Vulture, the New York Daily News, Publishers Weekly, and The
Rumpus, among others.
See more at
www.alexpalmerwrites.com and follow him @theAlexPalmer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER
CODE
Alex will be awarding a $20 Amazon or
B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10
Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host.
