A. Renee Hunt's Blog, page 56

Sadako vs. Kayako

*Movie Review, courtesy of Shudder.com      For years, Japan has been the master of horror and the paranormal.  When Ju-On 
​(呪怨), and the American version titled: The Grudge hit movie screens, tickets flew! I know I went to see it.  The same thing happened with Ringu (リング), The Ring. There is something about the style of Japanese horror, and a never ending ending.  So what did these two movies have to do with one another?  A cure for a curse.
​     A girl with a gift moves next door to the accursed home where Toshi, and his mother Kayako were murdered. She hears a suspicious call, but never dares to answer it until a spooky night when she sees someone in the window of the abandoned home.  Meanwhile, college friends, Yuri and Natsumi purchase a VCR to create a DVD for Natsumi’s parents, for their anniversary. Unknowingly, they purchase an urban legend; the Cursed Video is inside. The tape is played and the story begins.
 
     Because I’ve watched both versions of each movie, I knew what could possibly happen, but I would never have predicted where this movie took me. Sadako vs. Kayako was great because it clung to the natural presence of their predecessors.  From Kayako’s spine-chilling croak, to Sadako’s creepy, hunched over walk, it brought all of what made the first movies fantastic. There were no jump scares, but lots it was extremely haunting, thanks to all the  effects.  Neither side lost their roots, making the new characters special to me. 
 
     I found myself attached to Yuri, but even she didn’t respond the way normal folks would- and I lived in Japan for a year and a half.  The bodies piled up, yet no police were called and Yuri kept her cool the entire time. She was the one you kept your eyes on, and I think that was intentional. The ones who assisted in finding a solution weren’t very likable either, but they kept the story interesting. I wasn’t disappointed.
 
     Once the action really kicked off, you barely needed to read the subtitles! Sadako vs. Kayako turned out to be a fun movie, and I think it deserves a ton of attention.  The movie trailer gives no justice to story.  I do believe I’ll add this one to my movie library. Sadako vs. Kayako
Directed by Kōji Shiraishi
Screenplay by Takashi Shimizu and Koji Suauki
Produced by Kadokawa Pictures
June 18, 2016

Troll Hunting, a short story from up-coming Youngspell, by J. Rae Moore

     I met author, J. Rae Moore on Twitter and when she offered up a short story, I had to get in on it.  Especially since it's fantasy!  The short is called Troll Hunting and it's cute.  If  Moore's up-coming novel, Youngspell, is anything like Troll Hunting, it will do very well.

     The story is about Juliana, a witch.  She needs a particular ingredient for a portion, but it must come from... a troll!  They're nasty buggars and won't give what she needs in any kindly sorta way.  So she has to be clever about it, but her method causes more trouble than she'd anticipated. Especially for her!

     The story was creative and easily described in a way that allowed me to see the adventure taking place.  Because Moore's audience is middle grade, it will also be a fun read for my son and I.  As soon as her novel, Youngspell is released, I'll have it in my homeschool library, no doubt.  
  
     That's all for today and I'm off to the next read!

Floating Ink: Echo on the Water by James Livingood

           I enjoy alien invasions.  There are so many ways to pull it off and usually they're executed very well.  The author stated the reader range is age 12-18, but I think it should be geared towards younger readers.  This is Floating Ink by James Livingood.

     The world is under attack.  The Xenophan have watched earth for years, waiting for the perfect time to intervene and help us be the best they can be.  Have they?  

      Young Ruth is enticed by the offers of the Xenophan, but she can also see right through them.  A gift from the Xenophan that's backfired...     I have to first say, this book has an amazing cover!  The depiction of the aliens is near exact to what the author described.  It's covers like this draw me in.  It's eye-candy.

     Sadly, this story was all over the place and very hard to understand.  Ruth starts off speaking as though she's a Queen.  I'm thinking the girl (I couldn't quite tell what age she was)  was enjoying dreams of grandeur when the floating ink creatures attacked.  But it was never stated.  Then things take a turn, where I can't quite say I understand what happened.  And why did the Xenophan's have to obtain our planetary money to start up corporate businesses?  Especially when they ran the world anyway- I was just confused.

     I originally purchased the audiobook, but it was so bad I returned it and purchased the ebook, thinking I must have missed something.  I walked away from this book terribly confused.  

     I don't know what to really say about Floating Ink.  It's definitely a different sort of tale, but not one that held my interest.  You may enjoy it though, so check it out from either Audible.com or Amazon.com.
I"m off to the next read!

Ascension, book 3 of the Luptator series by Tyler Watkins

                    

​Diving into book three of the Luptator series and very happy to see what's going on in Wesley's world!  I was able to enjoy this series from the start, and witnessed Wesley's growth and maturity as a likable character.  I watched as he dealt with being part of a supernatural order, develop his power and lose his true love.  He's come a long way, and this book takes him one step further!  The demons below are hungry and want their way on earth again.  Wesley has to deal with a deep loss and deal with a group of demons, more powerful than any Roce he's come against.  This is book three, Ascension, by Tyler Watkins.      Wesley Pike's been through a lot.  From the discovery of his family's legacy to being a fighter of a special group, the Luptators.  Oh, and let's not forget, he's Daemon Angelum, the greatest of the Luptators!  This time, near Christmas, he goes from being lonely to being matched to Aiden, by his nosy and sneaky grandmother.  The story takes him on another adventure that's full of soul separations, betrayal and greater magic!

     I've been able to watch the author, along with Wesley grow up and I see great things coming.  I love how he added in the new relationship, though they moved a little faster than I'd have wanted for Wesley.  His love was , in my mind, supposed to be the greatest thing, next to his Daemon Angelum status.  I didn't want him to find someone else!  OTP's and all.  Anyway, it worked for the story as well, and I enjoyed the adventure.
     If you're looking for magic, monsters and some serious butt-kicking, read the final book in the Luptator series. I'm on to the next read!

Alice in Deadlands Trilogy (Books 1-3) by Mainak Dhar

     Whenever I think of fairy tales and horror, I think blasé and recycled.  Thankfully that was not the case with Alice In Deadland by Mainak Dhar.  The story took a turn that was totally original and moved at a pretty fast pace.  I was immensely grateful, but did I like the story trilogy?          Since both Amazon and Goodreads have this as single book and trilogy, I'm going to give my review for all three.  The story is about a girl, Alice, who was born after The Rising (when the undead took over the world).  When Alice follows a "Biter" wearing rabbit ears, down a hole she finds herself in a violent world, run by flesh-eaters.  A world where "Biters" think and act in a manner familiar to those still human.   There she finds The Queen, a woman who communicates and, for lack of a better word, rules over the Biters.  The Queen tells her a story that's considered prophesy and that Alice is a sort of savior.  There's a huge conspiracy and this girl is the one to uncover it all- saving both humans and biters alike!

     Now, I love YA, but I have to tell you, when the fate of the world falls upon the shoulders of a fifteen year old, I find issues.  But I've gone off on such tangents before, so I'll not repeat myself.  I can say that outside of said issue, I enjoyed this series, but grew frustrated.  It carried a herky-jerky feel from time to time, like the repetitiveness of Alice's thoughts.  She was constantly going over the same things- other characters too.  It's like the author needed to excessively remind us what was going on.  Or the story would speed to the point I was just told things instead of explained.  The details disappeared and something would just happen- you know how that is.  It just threw me off and I was left a tad confused.

     There was also an unreal amount of grammatical errors.  So much that I almost quit the books.  Errors like these are hard to overlook, and can deter a reader from returning to the author.  And the errors were in both the ebook and physical book.  Sorta sad. 

     I liked the concept, loved the machination, but it just didn't come together the way I thought.  If you are a lover of the zombie genre, you'll enjoy the originality of the story.  It's crafty and cool, but you have to be ready for the errors and the jumps in action.  Live through those and you'll be all right!  Check out Alice in Deadland while I move on to the next read!  

Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes by Scott Caution and Kira Breed-Wrisley

     Okay, so when I first heard of this game, Five Nights at Freddy's, I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard of!  I watched people on YouTube play it and even my son- Ugh... The thing that sucked the most was that I thought the storyline was INCREDIBLE!  I loved the idea of animatronic animals going on a murderous rampage!  I grew up with Showbiz Pizza for a short while so if I could get rid of Chuck E. Cheese- wouldn't that be amazing... but in this story, the robotics carried something more.  Something sinister and vengeful...      The story is about Charlie, the daughter of the creator of the animatronics and owned Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. (Sorta like Showbiz/Chuck E. Cheese).  She returned to Hurricane, Utah for the memorial and scholarship set up for a friend who'd been murdered ten years earlier.  But she and a group of friends end up on the run, from the past, a murderer and some strange robotic demons!

     As I've previously mentioned, the original FNAF game sucked to me.  I thought it was highway robbery, but the story behind the game sounded so good to me.  Sadly, Scott Cawthon allowed Breed-Wrisley (unless Scott did it alone: Kira Breed-Wrisley is suspected to be his pen name)  to muck it all up.  This story is dull and gets you nowhere until the freaking last like, 80 pages.  Nobody even dies; I kid you not AND ITS OVER 400-PAGES LONG!  

​     Talk about a waste of time; but you do find out who caused all the hauntings and why.  I can't tell you though, because you know I don't believe in SPOILERS!  What I can say is that I was very disappointed with this book.  I'm also surprised to have found there are a few fan-fictions stories that seem to be better than this one!  How can that be?!

     So I'm on to the next book.  You can give this book a try if you're a fan, but you may be disappointed.  The cover is cool and the very end was okay because it answered a question or two, but for real... I feel as though I wasted a few days. 

Guest Post: Mike Lackey on his journey with The Bad Seed

     Well first of all, I love writing. I love the whole aspect of telling a good story. I started writing The Bad Seed about three years ago. The moment I first wrote actual story content I was so excited, so fulfilled. As the writing process continued, more and more words flooded my pages and I thought "I can do this, I can write a book!"

      The day came for me to click that button and unleash The Bad Seed into the world. I was a nervous wreck. I had amazon down to a one click process. Then reality set in. No one knows who I am or that I wrote a book! How was I going to change this? Social media madness! I took to Twitter, Instagram and even Tumblr flooding my followers with a blast of my book in their face. Did it work? Yes, to some extent. I have met a lot of very nice people on social media, many willing to give me their hard earned money to read my story, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

      I called every bookstore in my area, most saying they didn't know me and since I was self published they really couldn't help me. Some understood. The Barnes and Noble stores in Chattanooga, TN, Tuscaloosa, AL and Boaz, AL said yes. THEY SAID YES!!! I couldn't believe my book was going on the shelves of a national bookstore. But still, just because they are on the shelf that doesn't mean they will sell. The world of being a writer is hard. Being a self published writer with no money to promote and get the word out is even harder. I believe that dreams are worth hard work. I believe you have to get dirty and sweaty putting in the man hours and foot work to push your dreams where they need to go. I will not stop. I will not give up. Why? Because I want this. I have seen my name on the cover of a book and I love it. So if you're on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or Facebook and see an Indie author pouring his or her heart out, listen to them. If you have the extra coin, stop by Amazon and purchase an ebook, most are under $4 we can all spare that! So until next time, let the Light shine through you. You may be the reason someone's day is a little brighter.      I wrote this on my website in January of 2016. The Bad Seed was just a month old and I had no clue what I was doing. Some things have changed, some not so much. In addition to the Barnes and Noble stores in Chattanooga, TN, Tuscaloosa, AL, and Boaz, AL I now have my book in Barnes and Noble stores in Los Angeles, CA and Las Mesa, CA. have sold to people around the world: Australia, Germany, India, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Europe. Adding to the list of accomplishments I was chosen as the author of the month for July 2016 at the Barnes and Noble in Chattanooga, TN. A self published unknown as the author of the month! I started this journey in the dark. No idea where to turn or what I was going to face, but I did not let myself quit. Anyone reading this that has a story just bursting inside you, trying to get out take it from someone who knows; take it from someone without a college degree or background in writing. You can do this. Let your story out to meet the world, we want to hear it.
​
    Recently I have signed with a new and promising publishing company; The Polyethnic Publishing Co. I made it. Say it with me, all together; I MADE IT!  This company isn't a big 5 in New York... yet. I knew this going in. I have faith and confidence with the talent they have signed, one day we will be and I was there from the start. I am releasing the second edition of The Bad Seed on January 1st from my new publishing company (still sounds great saying it). I am sharing the new cover here with you as well as some inside the writer's office pictures. Thank you so much, Alyssa for this opportunity for me to be heard. Please, everyone reading this, go to your local bookstore, your Amazon account on your reading device or the world wide web and find an indie author and show them some love, we need it.

Yesterday's Gone: Season One by Sean Platt & David Wright

*Audio Review      When I found this series, I was ecstatic!  I love stories like this- end of the world and no zombies! It provided the right amount of innocence, patience, anxiety and vile acts of humanity, in just the right portions for me to love it all!  

     Season one of Yesterday's Gone, by Sean Platt and David Wright, is about a few groups, survivors of the world's dematerialization.  Gone, everyone's gone, even the cars in some cases.  It's like there was a rapture, but not of the heavenly kind.  Some of the worst people are gone... but a few of the worst have remained.  

     There are also some folks who knew the vanishing would take place.  They had dreams, heard voices- a premonition within a dream that let them know they had a job to do- but what do they do with said information?  And who can survive the dark things that are after them?  The things that offer up an infection of your worst nightmares?  There's something wrong with the world or something could just be wrong with them...           This series is so freaking entertaining!  I loved every minute of it.  When I first heard of Yesterday's Gone, (​www.collectiveinkwell.com)  The episode of Season One: episode 1 was free.  I downloaded it and listened and was so entranced, I purchased the full season.  I then found season's two and three and snatched them up too!  I was so entranced and the cliffhanger was way too much to let get away!

     The story hold a fistful of mystery and I couldn't figure it out.  Even when a piece of the puzzle was provided, I was still lost as to which way it would all go.  I love that about a good story.  Platt and Wright put the story together with such chemistry, I became a fan and now follow them on their website and Facebook page.  

​     There are no zombies- which is the best part.  The apocalypse isn't always about flesh eating creatures, but these creatures can eat you.  Also, there's an infection that makes you miserable when you listen to it.  What takes place in this series is totally what I love in horrific sci-fi.  If you're tastes are like mine, you will really love listening to this series.  Oh- it's also available in book and ebook form too.  No joke, I've got the physical books on order for my library; that's how much I loved the story!

     Check out Yesterday's Gone while I move on to Season Two!

Yesterday's Gone: Season Two by Sean Platt & David Wright

*Audio Review      Season One of Yesterday's Gone, by Sean Platt and David Wright was amazing and kept me hooked the entire time.  Season Two just blew me out of the water.  And that cliffhanger!  

    So in Season Two, everything's based on fate.  Will has seen everything and knows the information he's received is to be taken for truth, and nothing can change it.  The visions he has are going to come to fruition, and sadly, there are no loopholes... even though he'd created one before.  But as the voices warned, they found a loophole within his loophole.

     The bulk of the story lies within a compound, with a man called The Prophet as leader, but he's being used and every follower, and our heroes are trapped within the sanctuary walls.  Surprisingly, the monsters never near... *Because I have the audio-version of the books, I have no idea how to spell any names.  I couldn't even find them online!    
 
     So many things happen this season!  Charlie, Cali and Adam were in such a row, then there's Ed and Brent who were helping folks and getting robbed- and let's not forget the rest of the gang at the sanctuary.  It was insane, especially for two who become infected!  Sorry, no SPOILERS!  I can tell you this though- what happens to these people is horrific, both alive and dead!  

     The good part is, questions are answered.  Not all of them, but one that I loved, of course, is the one I figured out.  And it was big!  I was very proud of myself, but I still don't know enough, especially about the island.  It's unreal the things taking place.  Though a bit gross in parts pertaining to Boricio, I have to say I enjoyed this series immensely!  The action was there, the fighting, monsters, infections- it was all good and I can't wait to see what's next.

​     While you check out Yesterday's Gone, Season 2, I'm going to lay down and begin season 3.  Off to the next read! 

Yesterday's Gone: Season Three by Sean Platt & David Wright

*Audio Review      Okay, I am a Boricio fan - I am on Team Boricio!  This guy went from serial killer to an emotional Terminator and I loved every minute of him.  Even his horrible name calling (his perversion knows no bounds) but he was "fixed", making him a good guy and I loved it!

     So there's so much going on here, but everyone is now rushing to Black Island in New York.  Luca is the key but he's now what Boricio calls a Man-Boy since he's aged so much, he's a senior citizen!  Charley's gone Dark and Ryan's barely human.  So much happens in this season, and guess what?
I'm going crazy because season's four through six aren't on audio!  I am so bummed out because now I have to purchase the books.  My ebook and physical book TBR is so backed up- I won't be able to return to that world for quite some time.  
​RATS!      So let me tell you why this audio set is so awesome. Positives first!
     First, there's a ton of action.  Ever since The Event that took place on October 15, two seasons ago, there's content running from monsters (both alien and human), there's personal conflicts and complete understanding of why everything ended up the way it did.  There's a true reasoning.  There's also a lot of real life people.  Everything can't be supernatural and this story, with is various storylines, offers up the humanity.  lastly, outside of Boricio's insane analogies and name calling, it's a totally good story!

     The Negatives... let's see.  Boricio's crazy name calling and analogies!  From every name in the book that's vulgar and totally nasty, to Mary and her Little Lamb, he said it all.  But that's what he was like and you were given his backstory to understand the why in him.  Now there are two Boricio's, if you know the story.  They're not the same, but that's the biggest issue in the series- his potty mouth.  The only other issue I can find is that there are no more audiobooks for this series and there are THREE MORE SEASONS!  That means I have to either wait for other books to come out or purchase the books.  Doing that means I won't find out what happened for a while.  My TBR obligation is vast!

​     So there you have it and there you are!  My take on Yesterday's Gone, seasons 1-3... so far  I hope to get the others very soon and finish with another review.  Until then, I'm off to another read!