Wednesday 15 December 2010

A Present For Everyone

Well how’s this for an unusual post on TheMovie411, Christmas Day is around the corner, and if your struggling for gift ideas then why not support some of your fellow Bloggers who just happen to have some rather fab books out you can purchase before the big day. Also news on a groovy new contest you can join in and get all festive about hosted by BestForFilm.Com



CassaStar By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Sci-Fi blogger and author Alex J. Cavanaugh released his first book CassaStar in October 2010 and has been subject of huge acclaim in the Blogosphere these past few weeks.

Synopsis:
To pilot the fleet’s finest ship…

Few options remain for Byron. A talented but stubborn young man with a troubled past and rebellious attitude, his cockpit skills are his only hope. Slated to train as a Cosbolt fighter pilot, Byron is determined to prove his worth and begin a new life as he sets off for the moon base of Guaard.


Much to Byron’s chagrin the toughest instructor in the fleet takes notice of the young pilot. Haunted by a past tragedy, Bassa eventually sees through Byron's tough exterior and insolence. When a secret talent is revealed during training, Bassa feels compelled to help Byron achieve his full potential.


As war brews on the edge of space, time is running short. Byron requires a navigator of exceptional quality to survive, and Bassa must make a decision that could well decide the fate of both men. Will their skills be enough as they embark on a mission that may stretch their abilities to the limit?(less)

A great gift for anyone who loves the Sci-Fi genre and is available over at Amazon now.


Maxie Briscoe: Werewolf by Melissa Bradley

Soon to be guest writer at TheMovie411 in January, accomplished author Melissa Bradley released her new book Maxie Briscoe: Werewolf this year.

Synopsis:
The name’s Maxie Briscoe and I am a werewolf...


That’s right, Maxie’s a real life, full-moon-loving, Halloween icon. It’s hard for a girl like Maxie. To survive, she hides her true self and acts the part of a normal human, all the while discreetly indulging the Beast within her. Talk about walking a narrow ledge. And that’s not even the worst part of her life. Sex is. Maxie can bench press a pick-up truck and that spells disaster in the bedroom. She can’t have any real fun knowing she might accidentally crush a lover while in the throes. Kind of kills the mood.


When a friend’s murder shatters the careful existence Maxie has carved out for herself, she comes face to face with Damien and Noah, two of the hottest men she’s ever laid eyes on. And it only stirs her Beast and turns her on more when she realizes they’re hot for each other. They’re also the first werewolves she’s run across since her own conversion. The attraction between the three of them is instant, but complicated, and the sex...explosive.


Too bad there’s a killer out there with his sights set on her...

Like the sound of this one? Details on how to purchase can be found here.


Name That Movie! By Brian Leaf

For a book you can really get involved with and have some fun, Brian Leaf’s set of Name That Movie books is a perfect gift this Christmas.

Can students really learn the high-level vocabulary words umbrage, imperious, innocuous, categorical, and mawkish from the Harry Potter movies? Did Captain Jack Sparrow use the words macabre, belligerent, and superfluous in Pirates of the Caribbean movies? The answer is “Yes!”


In his new Name That Movie! books (Wiley, December 2010, $9.99), test-prep author Brian Leaf merges his teen readers' passion for movies with their need to learn standardized-test vocabulary words. The two books (one a comedy/action edition and the other, a romantic comedy/drama edition) provide quotes from popular movies. Readers attempt to name the movies and define the boldfaced vocabulary words in each quote.


The books are half movie trivia and half vocabulary instruction, with 1,000 vocabulary words in each. Words are taken from Harry Potter, Step Brothers, Juno, Knocked Up, 300, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Iron Man, Mean Girls, The Notebook, Wedding Crashers, Pride & Prejudice, Miss Congeniality, Shrek, and more.


The books hit the stores this week, just in time for Christmas. Learn more about Name That Movie! and check out a free sample chapter at http://www.brianleaf.com./

NEW CONTEST
And finally, we have our grand final of TheMovie411 Blog Awards 2010 tomorrow. Sad this years contest is coming to an end? Well fear not my fellow readers, a new and fun contest for the creative minds is being hosted over at BestForFilm.com.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Looking for a creative project over the festive season? Film website Bestforfilm.com are currently touting “Write Christmas”; an international yuletide writing competition with a once in a lifetime first prize. The concept? Write a film review of the Greatest Christmas Film Never Made.

You can enter the competition at: http://bestforfilm.com/community/write-christmas-competition

With Hollywood churning out the same old Christmas fare every year it’s difficult to see how we’ll ever get a truly brilliant NEW Christmas story on our screens. Best For Film are looking for fantastic writers to review the NEXT greatest, most ridiculous, potentially iconic Christmas film – the fact that it doesn’t actually exist yet is merely a quibble. Stick in some actors, a director, a star rating and send your shiny review over to info@bestforfilm.com. First prize is a hundred quid and a glorious full-sized film poster of your imaginary film made by OTM Entertain (the clever chaps behind the posters of The Hurt Locker, In The Loop, Splice and more) and two runners up each get fifty quid each. Not bad eh?

The comp is open until the 24th December, so you’ve still got plenty of time to concoct a festive masterpiece. And if you’re looking for inspiration, have a quick look at the entries so far!
 
Read any of these books? Leave your comments below and let us know your thoughts on them.
Are you entering BestForFilm contest? Let us know.

8 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Hey, thanks for the mention! What a surprise.
Have to think on that contest. Be fun if it were for the WORST Christmas Film Never Made. Of course, that might be too easy.
Looking forward to tomorrow! I intend to blog about the winners as soon as they're posted.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much Dempsey! It was a beautiful surprise to see Maxie here. This contest sounds like a lot of fun and I think I might just enter.

Happy Birthday to you my dear friend! Hope you are having a rockin' great day. I knew there was a reason why I liked you right away. :)

DEZMOND said...

CASSASTAR, CASSASTAR! It is so nice of you to promote our fellow writers a bit!

And why are that shark's jaws aiming at your head, Agent Sanders, in your banner???? We wouldn't want you getting eaten in that way :)

RaShelle Workman said...

Dempsey - I'll say it again, You are one AWESOME guy!! Anyone would be lucky to read Alex's CASSASTAR. Great story. And, the others sound fun as well.

Also, what a fun idea on the contest. Thanks for the info. =D

Dempsey Sanders said...

@ Alex,
Your welcome buddy, and ha yes, I could imagine that being fun too, though some of the posts I have read on the contest are hilrious, you should definately give it a go.

@Melissa, very welcome my dear, can't wait for you to be a guest here, my readers are going to love you as much as I do, still shocked we share the same Birthday, madness!

@ Dezmond, Thank you, I like to do things for my readers and I felt rather Christmas'y today, so inspired the post.
As for the new banner, yep Jaws has been after me for a while, its why I wont swim in the ocean.

@ Rashell, I think your Awesome too, and btw, don't think I have forgot your fab work my friend, I'm just saving it for tomorrows post ;)

Dark-Blue-Jeans said...

A blog that supports others just shows you are not afraid of competition Dempsey, what a nice thing for you to do, and the best of it is these blogs and their owners love you too!

There are going to be so many posts on the blog awards tomorrow I just know it and can't wait for them, (will read Alex's too now).

Are you doing any interviews? would love to know what made you do the contest and things like that too. Who is Dempsey hmmm?

levian said...

wow, book released by a blogger! how i wish to do that one day. it seemed so difficult, but would definitely be a dream come true. i bet it also felt this way for the author! i'm more into supernatural genre, so the one with the werewolf story has my most interest. time to start searching!

Jaccstev said...

Some really interesting reads, can't wait to see them turn into a movie.