Movie Review: The Intern

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

Goddess Fish Presents: Whiskey Devils by Brandon Zenner

Whiskey Devils

by Brandon Zenner

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

$20 GC Raffle-Leave a Comment!

GENRE: Crime Thriller

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

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.

Links:

Vote for this book on the Kindle Scout program: 

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2LQVZULLLRYJM

 

Information about the Kindle Scout program: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/about

The Kindle Scout Page: 

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2LQVZULLLRYJM

Social media, website:

http://www.BrandonZenner.com

https://www.facebook.com/brandon.zenner

https://twitter.com/SlapstickII

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Brandon will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goddess Fish Preesents: Commander Henry Gallant by H. Peter Alesso

Commander Henry Gallant

by H. Peter Alesso

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

Goodreads Address: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/413852.H_Peter_Alesso

YouTube trailer for Henry Gallant Saga: http://youtu.be/2eciKOBFBSM

 Facebook for Henry Gallant Saga: https://www.facebook.com/TheHenryGallantSaga/

Amazon link for the Henry Gallant Saga: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011M9O9RC/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goddess Fish Presents: The Reader by M. Pax

THE READER

by M. Pax

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Fantasy

$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.

Learn more at mpaxauthor.com.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mpax1

FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/M-Pax/115874581852313

 See what inspires The Rifters on Pinterest :  https://www.pinterest.com/mpaxauthor/the-rifters/

The first two books in the Rifters series can be read for free by becoming an M. Pax Reader. at - http://mpaxauthor.us11.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=5e298cfbe42080a411dcdd9a3&id=c01a285202

Amazon

AmazonUK / AUS / CA / DE / FR / ES / IT / NL / JP / BR / MX / IN

Bookcessories

iBook / Nook / GooglePlay / Kobo / Smashwords / inktera / Scribd

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The author will be awarding a $40 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goddess Fish Presents: Sunset at Rosalie by Ann L. McLaughlin

Sunset at Rosalie

by Ann L. McLaughlin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE:  Southern Historical Fiction

10.00 Rafflecopter Below-Leave a Comment

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

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.

Links

Websites

Ann L. McLaughlin

http://www.annmclaughlinwriting.com/index.html

Bacon Press Books

http://www.baconpressbooks.com/#/sunset-at-rosalie/

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/65645.Ann_L_McLaughlin

Amazon Author Page

http://www.amazon.com/Ann-L.-McLaughlin/e/B001K7ZSB8

Facebook

Bacon Press Books

https://www.facebook.com/BaconPressBooks

Twitter

Bacon Press Books

https://twitter.com/baconpressbooks

Purchase

Amazon paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Sunset-at-Rosalie-Ann-McLaughlin/dp/098630607X

Amazon Ebook

http://www.amazon.com/Sunset-at-Rosalie-Ann-McLaughlin-ebook/dp/B01620YC96

Barnes and Noble Paperback

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sunset-at-rosalie-ann-l-mclaughlin/1013605893

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Fourth Reich by Jim Marrs

The Fourth Reich by 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