Mind Sieve 8/26/21

Table of Contents

News/Musings  StoryOrigin Swaps
Mini Movie Reviews B&N Sales from Zimmer
Movie Previews Reads for Reviews
Just for Fun! Strong Women – Strange Worlds

 

Greetings!

Back again with a myriad of things to share!

 

News/Musings

Exercise for the win! 🏋️‍♀️ Yes, I am back on the exercise horse! Booyah! Ring Fit is a major workout. I am on the lowest setting, only do a level or two, and I still feel like I’ve run through a gauntlet. 😜 This stuff gets harder as I get older. DOH!

Work continues on Book 2 of the Daiyu Wu Mysteries. I started something new, and I’ve been posting WIP quotes once or twice a week on Twitter and Facebook. The name for book two will be White Gold. (I went back and forth a few times, but now that I have some of the plot points nailed down in my brain, this one should be it!)

The Daiyu Wu Mysteries now has a Facebook page! Feel free to like/follow so you won’t miss anything Daiyu Wu related or just to show the love. 😊

 

 

Extra stuff I’ve shoved in here:

1) One info swap from StoryOrigin.

2) Last chance for two opportunities for you to get free books 📚 if you leave reviews of them in exchange.

3) Last chance for the Zumaya Publications B&N ebook sale that includes some of my titles.

4) Latest set of authors that will be doing readings for Strong Women – Strange Worlds.

More deets on all of these in their sections. 😊

 

Conspiracy: Book One of the Rim Chronicles by Edita A. Petrick

Conspiracy: Book One of the Rim Chronicles by Edita A. Petrick

StoryOrigin Swap

When a signature has the power to start a galactic war….

Parv Zarinth learned early in life that if he wanted to defy his father, he’d have to do it from somewhere half-way across the galaxy. He does his best on Hettamir to represent his father’s interests. He steers away from any conflict that may threaten the family business which translates into galactic empire.

Hettamir is a world with no other than hospitality industry. It’s a pleasure to do business on Hettamir, in every sense of the word. And Parv has been mixing business with pleasure for five years now, flying under the radar of his tyrannical father. The business is to expand his father’s business empire. The pleasure has a name: Arun Dyem. She is as beautiful as she is crafty, having risen from the ranks of sex industry to lead her people in a ‘velvet’ revolt.

As the champion of her people’s rights and freedom, she is relentless in lobbying the Galactic Confederation for a treaty that will bring Hettamir protection. It is the last thing the warlords of New Hebrides want.

Parv watches the preparations for the grand event, even as he tries to shake off the feeling that something…or everything is going to go wrong. He finally has what he’s always wanted—a woman he loves and means to keep. She is his whole life, his destiny. And he will fight to his last breath to hold on to his future….
Everything changes when he discovers a power of his own – the ability to converse with Beasts.

Consumed by this new magic, Fulco devises a plan to earn the respect of the elves – he will join the elven academy and earn his place through Portare; a dangerous game played upon horses and monsters where the riders wield their magical gifts to influence the outcome.

However, it seems that getting into the academy isn’t the largest of his concerns. There is more to his wizardry than meets the eye, threats he never imagined possible and an epic destiny that he must fulfil.

Now, with the guidance of a mysterious witch and a bow-tie wearing werewolf, Fulco must unravel its mystery and harness this strange magic in order to protect his adoptive family and the elven girl he loves… even if it costs him his life.

Mini Movie Reviews 🎥

★ – Why did I go see this? Why?!

★★ – Showed promise but on execution, crashed

★★★ – Enjoyable, just don’t look under the hood too closely

★★★★ – A great film, totally worth seeing!

★★★★★ – 🤯 Too fabulous for words!

Free Guy

Free Guy

 

This movie was a blast! There’s so much going on in the background you can’t catch it all. There are a ton of inside jokes in this film as well. If you’ve ever played an MMO, this is for you! Favorite Quote: “But they don’t have a button for that!” The showdown between Guy and Guy2 cracked me up!

Rating: ★★★★ out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission to See Again!)

 

Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes

If you totally and completely ignore anything and everything you know about Snake Eyes from the GI Joe comics, it wasn’t a bad film. It had great stunts and fight scenes (some made me think of scenes from the game Yakuza O. Otherwise, they hosed up so many points, the character resembles the true Snake Eyes in name only. One of the snafus was blatant – ninjas do not use samurai swords, they use ninjato, which are straight swords rather than curved and have a square guard. They introduce a romantic element with no time to mature and is not Scarlet. Snake Eyes, by the time he joins GI Joe, can’t talk but that was ignored as well. (Adding his clan’s symbol to his uniform made no sense! The whole point of ninjas is to not draw attention to that fact! Doh!) 

Rating: ★★★ 1/4 out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Jungle Cruise

Jungle Cruise

African Queen meets Pirates of the Caribbean! 

Lots of fun moments, and a decent film if you don’t look under the hood. One of the major plot push items would have never happened as secrets revealed later in the film mean it was impossible for the german bad guy to know where to look for the cursed ones. (Made me sad…) Special effects were great, lots of action, winks in Disney’s direction, and more.

Rating: ★★★ 1/2 out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Price of Admission)

Reminiscence

Reminiscence

There were a lot of good things about this film as well as some bad. The acting was top-notch, which helped me overlook the bad science and bad explanations for the flooding and how the rich made it worse (Any possible displacement of water they could have done would not have affected the height of the water one bit.) Unlike a lot of movies that pull memories and show the person who owns them as well as what they remember, these guys at least tried to give an explanation of how that could be. Was it a good enough explanation? That’s for you to decide. The very end, while emotionally satisfying, was also far-fetched/bad science.  

Rating: ★★★.5 out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Better on Cable)

Zumaya Publications August 2021 Barnes and Noble eBook Promotion!

Zumaya’s August Promotion is almost over –  get your 30% off promotion on already discounted select ebooks over at Barnes & Noble.

Use Promo/Coupon code “BNPZUMAYA08” at checkout for your 30% off already discounted ebook pricing.

***US ONLY***

Below is a list of the ebooks in the promotion.

 

Boundless - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Sexual Orientation Yesterdays - About Us Agents, Adepts & Apprentices
Alien Redemption by Gloria Oliver Bad Day for the Home Team Dark Legend by Christopher Stires
Otherworlds - Deem Haven's End by Greg J. Austin Heart of the Morning Calm by Galen Kindley
In the Service of Samurai by Gloria Oliver Milky Way Marmalade by Mike DiCerto Murders in Manatas by Roberta Rogow
Ordinary Women NOT! by Shelly Gail Morris Reality Ali by Christine Marciniak The Crown of Zeus by Christine Norris
Thresholds - Door to Far-Myst The End of the Tether by Harold R. Thompson The Library Beneath the Streets Anthology

Movie Previews 🎥

The Batman – looks like there’s going to be another NEW Batman remake. Lol. Looks very dark. Batman will be played by Robert Pattinson from the Twilight Saga. 🤯

Queenpins – I love Kristen Bell, but not sure if this my speed. Lol.

The Duke – looks adorable! 

Find Your New Favorite 08.2021
Take some time in the sun and review a historical fiction book

Yep, this one is for historical fiction! Click the banner or here for a full list of books included.

Time is almost up to get in on this one, too!

Just For Fun!

This month over at the Animal Rescue Site they had the cutest story about a Golden Retriever names Leny who loves to slide down a hill on his back! So cute! The article and a couple of videos can be found here

Hubby sent me the link to this video called Ice Age – No Time For Nuts 4D. Scrat has been his favorite character for years! It’s a long video at 9 minutes, but it was a blast! 

Strong Women - Strange Worlds - Virtual reading for 9/3/21

The next Strong Women – Strange Worlds virtual reading will be on 9/3/21.  More info and a link to pre-register can be found here.

 

Have a great Friday!

 

Gloria