The von Strassenberg Saga: The First Four

The first four installments of The von Strassenberg Saga are now available in one enormous bundle! The length depends on the eReader you use (the Word document is 988 pages, Kindle is somewhere around 925). The bundle price of $5.99 will save you two dollars. 
Filter $2.99
Bluestocking Girl $1.99
Katherine's Journal .99
Lipstick & Bolsheviks $1.99 (for a limited time...so after that limited time the bundle price will actually save you $3). 
And because it's so ginormous, the sample is actually fairly long. Most of the first book, I believe. 

Note: Lipstick & Bolsheviks is NOT the end!
I had a reader who was slightly heartbroken because he thought Lipstick & Bolsheviks was the end of the series and he was actually putting off reading it because he didn't want it to end. IT'S NOT THE END! In the very least there will be three more full-length installments and I don't know how many in-betweeners. It will keep going on until all of your questions are answered and there are no more cliffhangers to be hung. 

The bundle is available for NOOK and KINDLE. 

Lipstick&Bolsheviks, Part One Available!

In case you have somehow missed the news, Lipstick and Bolsheviks, Part One of The von Strassenberg Saga book 3 is now available on Kindle and Nook and at Smashwords. 
When will the rest be available?
Soon-ish. 
Part One changed a lot of things on me and tomorrow I begin writing a previously unplanned interlude between the two parts. So. Soon. 

The Stuff of Nightmares

Something wicked this way comes and it seeps into my brain just before waking. At least it has for the last two nights, actually mornings, just before waking. It almost embarrassing, these nightmares that have begun to plague me. You would think I had been watching horror movies or reading Lovecraft right before falling asleep. But no. I have been reading Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear. Nothing scary about that. The nightmares have been of such a personal nature that they leave me unnerved for several hours after waking. Yesterday was worse, and I won’t even tell you about it. I have considered that perhaps it is the stress I am under. But no, despite some obvious difficulties in our lives right now we have been through much, much worse. The other thought is that perhaps it is focusing on my novel, Filter, that has brought it back. Toward the end, the story does become very dark, the reason I recommend an audience of 16+ for my family saga. If it was my daughter, she wouldn’t be allowed to read it until she was 16. Or, maybe 15, but I digress. It is difficult to think straight when my brain is so tired and confused. I could draw you a map of the neighborhood my dream took place in, it was old and slightly run-down, decorated with old trees with low-hanging branches. It must have been near a river or a powerful fog machine because there was a constant fog. Myself and some unknown person were house-sitting in this creepy, rambling three-story home. And, after a week of being there, we opened a door that we had never stumbled across. That was when the dream took a sharp turn from thriller to horror. And the evil that was behind that door followed me through the rest of the dream. The strange thing was that I wasn’t even in a deep sleep. My son stepped lightly into the room and the sound of his socked feet on the carpet was enough to wake me. Perhaps later I will tell you the rest of the dream but for now it is still too disturbing and I’m not even sure I could articulate the cause behind the terror. So much for sweet dreams.

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Infinity

For the first time ever I had to take a break from reading an LJ Smith novel.
So instead of finishing Shadow Souls I picked up Infinity: The Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon. It looked like something my oldest would be interested in but I wanted to read it first before letting him have a crack at it. The lead character is a high school boy and I was afraid that would lead to material unsuitable for a 9 year old. It did. My son can't read it yet, but I enjoyed it.
The writing wasn't the bestest in the world and, at times, the dialogue suffered horribly. Some of the analogies were a little too feminine for a boy book.
But all that aside, it was entertaining. There are zombies and vampires and creatures I haven't heard of all roaming around in good old New Orleans. It only took me two days to get through it. And it's kind of like watching horrible horror movies. It isn't always going to make rational sense, but it's fun. The characters were vibrant and alive and the story sure made me want to drive down to New Orleans.
With some more practice Sherrilyn Kenyon could become a force to reckon with. I even want to read her previously published books, The Dark Hunters.

The Mist~Stephen King

This is one of the MOST idiotic movies.
It's completely unoriginal. Usual Stephen King Formula.
Oh and let's not forget the liberal crap tucked so neatly into it.
The Vietnam vet is a quivering mass and not to mention a complete imbecile.
The hero, who is an artist, is all brave and has to tell the soldiers to get off their butts and help.
What?
Whatever Stephen King once had (and I think he had it most in Bag of Bones) it's gone.
This movie is just ridiculous. The characters are caricatures and the dialogue is stupid.
These people have to be the stupidest people in the world all stuck in this store together.
Waste of my time. It's actually still on right now and I don't even care.
.......
I have now finished watching this piece of trash, throwback movie.
Wanna know the moral of the story?
The military causes trouble and then, when things are all jacked up beyond recognition, they finally come in to clean up their mess.
You think I'm overstating things, dig around in some interviews King has done and you'll see I'm not.
The ridiculous part (and yes, I am breaking my own rule here), they discover there's a gun in the grocery store. And their trying to figure out if anyone knows how to properly use it.
....Um, morons, there are three uniformed soldiers in there with you. They might have some idea.
Of course two soldiers hang themselves and the third is sacrificed to the Mist.
....Yes, I know. I'm always finding some political slant to things, but wake up....they do it intentionally. Have you ever seen the kids' movie, Igor? Oh it's hilarious, we own. But it's a total platform movie, which is what I call these movies with agendas. Like Happy Feet and Avatar.
You may hate politics and you just want to watch a movie, but movies shape people's perceptions and beliefs. If not shape, then reinforce. And this movie ticks me off. I'm surprised they didn't make the soldiers alcoholics as well.