8-Bit Cinema: PAN'S LABYRINTH

Ah, the story of Pan's Labyrinth finally makes sense to me. Thank you, 8-Bit Cinema!

Pokemon Theme Song As Jazz

Yes, it's good. Really good. You should listen to it. A lot.

Littlest Pet Shop: The Final Season Begins Nov. 7

Discovery Family just released promos for the Season 4 kick-off of Littlest Pet Shop (h/t to LPS superfan +Chevistian MadamePomNews for the heads up).

Unfortunately, Season 4 will be the last one since, despite strong ratings for DF, Netflix, and overseas, Hasbro has decided not to pick up the show--something to do with not selling enough toys, I'm told. <shrugs> Anyhoo, I had a blast writing for this awesome show and will miss working with a great bunch of people.

As mentioned, the final season will premiere Nov.7 and will be full of fun stuff so don't despair.  ;)

Check out the promo and let me know what you think!

iAi Bloggers' Book of the Month: THE PUPPETEER KING by Chris Ward

Once-human monsters, giant robot spiders, human statues and a madman with a thirst for destruction … Professor Kurou is back and more dangerous than ever.

After five years of incarceration, Jun Matsumoto is released from a mental hospital. With his hatred for Professor Kurou still consuming him, he enlists the help of some old friends and tracks his nemesis to Barcelona, where he hopes to rescue Ken Okamoto’s missing daughter, Nozomi.

Kurou, however, has a master plan that will not only destroy one of the greatest landmarks in mankind’s history, but bring war to an entire nation. Jun must battle not only ghosts from his past and his own failing mind, but a man who is now the undisputed Puppeteer King…

From the author of the acclaimed Tube Riders trilogy, The Puppeteer King is the third volume in Chris Ward's Tales of Crow series, a blend of science fiction, fantasy and horror set in the near future.

The Tales of Crow Series:

#1: They Came Out After Dark
#2: The Castle of All Nightmares
#3: The Puppeteer King
#4: The Circus of Machinations (coming soon)

Chris Ward is a native of Cornwall, England, but currently lives and works in Nagano, Japan. He is the author of The Tube Riders Trilogy, The Man Who Built the World and Head of Words, as well as numerous short stories and collections. He spends his time snowboarding, writing, playing guitar in his rock band, Steampunk Unicorn (www.reverbnation/steampunkunicorn), and generally having too much to say about just about everything.

Like Chris Ward (Fiction Writer) on Facebook for regular updates, or visit Chris's website at www.amillionmilesfromanywhere.net.

Book of Kells: Famed Illustrated Manuscript Enters the Digital Age

I recently discovered that, thanks to the fine folk at Trinity College in Dublin, the renowned illustrated manuscript known as The Book of Kells is available, free of charge and in its entirety, for online viewing.

Gospel of John

According to Wikipedia:

The Book of Kells (Irish: Leabhar Cheanannais) (Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS A. I. (58), sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Britain or Ireland or may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created ca. AD 800.

I was surprised at how long the manuscript is, weighing in at 680 pages. The vellum pages have been digitally scanned at a high resolution and are a delight to view. In case you can't tell, I'm really into this kind of stuff -- a big fan of Celtic culture in general and illustrated manuscripts in particular. If you are too, you should find this resource to be fascinating.

Check out Ireland's great cultural treasure HERE.

What's Up, Wabbit?

One of the better Bugs reinventions, I wrote a couple of episodes of Wabbit a while back. At that time, they were still accepting scripts from outside writers and I was quite pleased to be writing for animation royalty.

Wabbit just premiered September 21, 2015 on Cartoon Network, and will later premiere October 5, 2015 on Boomerang. Check it out and let me know what you think!

iAi Bloggers' Book of the Month: AFTER THE WAR by Autumn Birt

Peace is not what it seems…

How do you remove a war hero from power?
Known as the Lady Grey, her leadership won the apocalyptic war that ravaged Europe. But now in 2068 and three years into the official peace, the alliance she’s maintained with the seven ministers who rule Europe falters under the lack of an external threat. They want back the power she claimed in a bid to protect the continent; an authority they never authorized. With no war, she is no longer needed, even if she safeguards the borders from a threat that is hiding more than is dead.

But how do you plot the downfall of a popular wartime heroine – a woman who controls the armed forces? One dent at a time…

Continue the military dystopian series Friends of my Enemy with book 2, After the War. After the War can be read without reading book 1, Stories from the War, so join the near future thriller now!

Set in Europe, this series unfolds through the intersecting lives of a small handful of people. Though a fiction novel, real events such as terrorism, climate change, and manipulated politics play a role in this riveting story of romance, love, betrayal, and sacrifice made for the good of a continent.

Purchase AFTER THE WAR.

Autumn Birt (also known as Weifarer) is an indie author, conservationist, & world traveler with plans for many more adventures both real and fantastical! She is currently based in Maine where she lives in a small cottage lost in the woods, which she built with her husband along with the supervision (and approval) of two Cairn terriers.

FRIENDS Opening Recreated in Grand Theft Auto V

I know which version I like better...

iAi Bloggers' Book of the Month: 'THE MIGRANT REPORT by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

ABOUT THE BOOK: Against the glittering high-rises of the capital, Manu, a recent arrival from Nepal, drips his days away on a construction site, cut off from the world outside the labor camp. His sister despairs of finding him among the thousands of migrant workers flooding into the Arabian Gulf to build the country’s infrastructure. Manu and Sanjana must keep their younger siblings out of poverty, even if at their own expense.

Police captain Ali's hopes of joining the elite government forces are dashed when his childhood deformity is discovered. His demotion brings him face to face with a rising pile of unexplained dead bodies and also an aspiring journalist who is unlike any local girl Ali knows. In danger of flunking out of university, Maryam is searching for an original story that will appease her professor and keep her family’s machinations for marriage in check.

Can the unlikely trio fit the pieces of the puzzle together before agency thugs get to Manu?

Purchase THE MIGRANT REPORT.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar's award winning books have focused on various aspects of life in the Arabian Gulf nation of Qatar. From Dunes to Dior is a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf and named as Indie Book of the Day in 2013. Love Comes Later is a literary romance set in Qatar and London and was the winner of the Best Indie Book Award for Romance in 2013, short listed for the New Talent award by the Festival of Romance, and Best Novel Finalist in eFestival of Words, 2013. She currently lives with her family in Qatar, where she teaches writing and literature courses at American universities.

After she joined the e-book revolution, Mohana dreams in plotlines. Learn more about her work on her website at www.mohadoha.com or follow her latest on Twitter: @moha_doha.

SONGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW HAD LYRICS: LEGEND OF ZELDA

Who knew?

iAi Bloggers' Book of the Month: 'GRAY VENGEANCE' by Alan McDermott

From the iAi website:

Gray Vengeance, the fifth book in Alan McDermott’s best-selling Tom Gray series, launches May 26th, 2015 to great anticipation and acclaim.

What’s it about?

An African militia has a new leader—and Tom Gray has a deadly new problem.

 

Da Sunan Annabi has a ruthless new leader whose aim is to train British nationals to bring England to its knees.

As their plans unfold with deadly precision and Britain is crippled by a series of attacks, the government is forced to deploy its new secret weapon: a surveillance network that can spy on nearly every human being on earth. It is nearly foolproof—but is it ethical? And does that even matter now?

 

Soon, Tom Gray and his daughter are in the militia’s sights, and their lives depend on Gray finding the man behind the recent atrocities. His desperate search leads him to Africa and Cuba, for a final showdown with an enemy he could never have imagined.

 

About the Tom Gray series

 

The series began with Gray Justice, the story of how ex-soldier Tom Gray sets off to change the British justice system when the career criminal responsible for the death of Gray’s family gets off time served on remand. Engaging the help of his ex-SAS buddies, he kidnaps five repeat offenders and asks the public to vote on their fate: Should they be allowed to continue their criminal ways with inadequate punishment, or has Britain had enough? His website attracts a worldwide audience and, although the authorities know where he is, they are powerless to stop him. But someone else sees an opportunity to attack the UK when the authorities are focused on Gray.

 

The series continues around the world as trouble keeps finding Gray.

• Gray Resurrection—Gray is recruited in a dubious, dangerous assignment in the Philippines
• Gray Redemption—takes Gray around the world to Africa, where he begins to clear his name and meets an old nemesis
• Gray Retribution—Gray has to rescue his new wife and daughter in the UK and his oldest friends in an African war zone—at the same time.

Find more on Alan’s Author page. And get the book through Alan’s blog and website.

Super Mario + Game of Thrones = Awesomeness

I think you'll agree...

All Around the World, LPS Style!

"All Around the World," a fun, catchy tune written by talented LPS composer Daniel Ingram (in an episode I wrote called "The Expo Factor, Pt. 1") just topped 3 million YouTube views!

Congrats to Daniel and a h/t and special thanks to LPS fan Kaleb Korger for the heads up!

Check it out!

iAi Bloggers' Book of the Month: 'TAKE NO MORE' by Seb Kirby

A few words about this month's featured book 'TAKE NO MORE' by Seb Kirby:

An artistic voyage in crime – thrilling and original
When James Blake discovers his wife murdered in their London home, he is determined to find her killer. As the prime suspect, he flees England and sets out on a journey that takes him to Florence and Venice and into a dark underworld of corruption, a trail that will lead him to the killer – and the shocking truth behind the mystery.

 ★★★★★ ‘Wow! This is action-packed from page one, and the reader is instantly thrust into murder, suspense, and intrigue…… I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys a great crime thriller! And fans of Harlan Coben and Simon Kernick will love it!’ – (Author Sibel Hodge, amazon.com)

About Seb: 

I am the author of the James Blake Thriller series (TAKE NO MORE, REGRET NO MORE and, now, FORGIVE NO MORE) and the Raymond Bridges sci fi thriller series (DOUBLE BIND).
I’ve been an avid reader from an early age – my grandfather ran a mobile lending library in Birmingham and when it closed my parents inherited many of the books. From the first moment I was hooked. Now, as a full-time writer myself, it’s my goal to add to the magic of the wonderful words and stories I discovered back then.

To learn more about Seb and his books, please visit his WEBSITE.

Bookmarks and Autographs

Sending out bookmarks and autograph labels to Gio, a young reader who's been enjoying the paperback editions of Dragonfriend and Giantkiller. Some very thoughtful grownups in his life made the request and I'm happy to oblige.

If you'd like your own "kit," send me a photo of you and/or your reader holding the book(s) and I'll send you one, too!