The awesome Charity Bradford interviewed me and you can read it today. Short and to the point, plus I reveal the best compliment I’ve ever received regarding my writing.

Science Fiction Movie News


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Big announcement last Friday – Rian Johnson will write and direct Star Wars VIII and possibly IX.
Jo Blo posted that while J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars VII, the reins are being turned over to Johnson after that. (Johnson directed Looper and Brick.)
Gareth Edwards (Godzilla and Monsters) is directing the first standalone film, which comes out December 16, 2016. Josh Trank (Fantastic Four and Chronicle) will direct the standalone film that comes out in 2018.

This is how recent science fiction films have fared at the overall world-wide box office:
#61 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier - $710.7 million
#64 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - $702.8 million
#69 - X-Men: Days of Future Past - $677.8 million
#160 - Godzilla (2014) - $443.2 million
#418 - Edge of Tomorrow - $255.5 million

Book Progress


On the writing front, I’m now on round three of edits. I like editing SO much more than writing the first draft! Anyone else weird that way?

I had to add quite a few scenes after the first draft was finished, beyond just adding description. (I’m a bare bones writer.) The word count is over 70,000, which stuns me because when I hit the midway point of writing in my outline, it looked like I’d be lucky to hit 50,000 words. So I’m really happy with the current word count. I know, most writers have to cut stuff to hit a word count. Just how I roll.

Maybe some of you roll that way as well…

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Ninja News


Today’s Themes That Rocked feature at the A to Z Blog is Bob Miline and his speculative fiction book covers.

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Pat Hatt’s latest is out - Cassie and The Wild Cat: A Ball At Cat Hall! Buy it on Amazon

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Donna Weaver’s Torn Canvas is also available! Pick it up on Amazon

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Carrie-Anne Brownian’s Little Ragdoll is out! If you like epic historical fiction, check it out.

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Tara Tyler’s Broken Branch Falls comes out June 24!!

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Cover reveal –

Effigy by M.J. Fifield
Release date: July 22, 2014
Cover art by Ravven

The survival of a once-mighty kingdom rests in the hands of its young queen, Haleine Coileáin, as it slowly succumbs to an ancient evil fueled by her husband’s cruelty.

Add it on Goodreads now.


Mark Noce’s story at Every Day Fiction got so many hits, they are doing a special feature on him this week. They also accepted another story of his last week at Every Day Fiction. Congratulations, Mark!

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Songs of Summer Blogfest
Armchair Squid, Suze, and Cygnus
On Friday July 11, post your top five favorite summer songs – and why.
(I’ll be posting mine on Monday of that week.)

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Don’t forget Heroes of PHENOMENA is now available for free at Amazon, Kobo, and Smashwords. It includes my short story, CassaFate, along with stories from a dozen other authors.



And finally, has anyone heard from Fanny Barnes Thornton? She was taking a break at the end of May, but failed to return for the June IWSG as promised. Several bloggers have emailed her with no response. If you’ve heard from her, please let me know!

Quick NetFlix Movie Reviews


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The Art of the Steal
Starring Kurt Russell, Matt Dillon, and Jay Baruchel
I’d never heard of this film until it showed up on NetFlix. It turned out to be a surprisingly entertaining film! Good heist caper movie that features twists and turns similar to an episode of Leverage.

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Anchorman 2
Sorry to say, I didn’t laugh that much. As a character, Ron Burgundy works best in five minute spurts or less. However, if you liked the first one, you’ll like this one.





Picking up some new books or signing up for the blogfest? Heard from Fanny recently? How’s your writing progressing? Seen either of those movies? And what do you think about the Star Wars VIII director choice?

Don’t forget to visit Charity Bradford!

Movies Posts

Sep 14, 2015

The Martian Reviewed, Godzilla and King Kong, America’s Got Talent, Iron Maiden and Muse Album Reviews, and Ninja News!

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Entertainment News The upcoming film, The Martian, was just reviewed at the Toronto International Film Festival. According to JoBlo’s site - As such, The Martian really is terrific family entertainment....

Sep 07, 2015

Too Much NetFlix? The Shannara Chronicles, Hellboy 3, New releases in DVD-music-games, Favorite Job, Mini-Alex and Cicadas, and Ninja News!

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Happy Labor Day to my friends here in the States! Entertainment News This article caught my eye - New Study Suggests Americans are Watching Too Much NetFlix. From JoBlo’s site...

Aug 24, 2015

RiffTrax Live! Plus Movie Reviews, Trivia, and News; Dragon and Cassa News, Battle of the Banned, and Ninja News

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Back from vacation! I’m starting to really enjoy those… RiffTrax Live! Two more shows remain in this year’s RiffTrax Live line-up – Miami Connection and Santa and the Ice Cream...

Aug 17, 2015

Dragon’s Destiny! Plus Movie News, War Movie Trivia Answers, Ninja News, Box Social Winner, and Internet Questions for Everyone…

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Movie News World Wide Box Office – Jurassic World is now number three: 1 Avatar - $2,788.0 million 2 Titanic - $2,186.8 3 Jurassic World - $1,582.4 4 Marvel's The...

Aug 05, 2015

Roving Packs of Ferals

By Morbid Is as Morbid Does

I’ve wanted to start writing about the science fiction books that influenced my writing and there’s no better place to start than the book that revised my world and showed me what was possible in fiction.

Jul 27, 2015

Justice League: Gods & Monsters (Review)

By Comics Worth Reading

Justice League: Gods & Monsters is the best of the DC original animated movies in a long while. That’s because it’s fresh. It’s based on an original story by Bruce...

Jul 25, 2015

Pixels

By Comics Worth Reading

Pixels is exactly what it promises: a movie where video games have come to life, and Adam Sandler and friends, former arcade champions, are the only ones who can save...

Jul 20, 2015

The State of Sci-Fi Shows, Ant-Man Review, Movie News, Mini-Alex, and Reading Ambitions

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

I’m back from vacation! And it was awesome… I’m also over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group with guest blogging tips. Movie News Ant-Man Review I’m happy to say the...

Jul 15, 2015

Review: Space Cowboys & Indians by Lisa Medley

By Escape Reality, Read Fiction!

My Review: While Space Cowboys & Indians isn’t really like the 2011 movie Cowboys & Aliens, it also isn’t not like it. Along with a bit of Farscape or the...

Jul 13, 2015

RiffTrax Sharknado 2 Review! Plus Minions Review, How Often Should You Blog, Box Office Results, and Ninja News

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

RiffTrax Live – Sharknado 2 Review and Feature On July 9 (with an encore presentation on July 16), the RiffTrax crew tackled a classice – Sharknado 2. I felt bad...