Thursday, November 21, 2013

SQUISHY ANIMATION: An awesome company!

Check out this wonderful animation company, SQUISHY ANIMATION, with demos of their work - GREAT STUFF! I LOVE the main character logo: The fat, squishy rat! SO CUTE!

"Starting at $500 for a 2D animation and $1000 for a 3D animation, we will take your logo and make it dance, appear, transform or whatever you have in mind. Not sure what you want it to do? Most people don’t. Let us throw you our ideas. Use your new animated logo in your ads, on your web page, or bookending your powerpoint presentations.

"Want to dazzle your audience? Get their attention? Entertain them? Need an intro video to open your presentation or show? Let’s make your images dance!

"Need to show why your customers should choose you? Want to show how your services/product works? Do clients confuse your methods with a common misconception? Then let them SEE exactly why you are different. We build demonstration videos that explain what makes you unique and bring your expertise down to the level of understanding of your customers.

"Do you have a mascot or character who represents your company? Have you been thinking of one? Want something like the Geiko gecko or Pillsbury Doughboy? We can build it. Then make it talk, run, jump and represent!"
          - Kit and Nathan Rees (brothers) -

Check out their animated short, "Flex's New Workout."




Squishy Animation Clients Include: Microsoft, Novell, Attachmate, Boy Scouts of America, Overland Storage, Ping Identity, NetIQ, Wasatch Wind, 10 TV News HD, Fifty Films, Cibus, Blue Print Columbus, NU SKIN, Time Warner Cable, and SUSE.

E-mail: INFO@SQUISHYANIMATION.COM
Web Site: http://www.squishyanimation.com/
Like them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SquishyAnimation


Not only has SQUISHY ANIMATION done an awesome animated DRAGON for the Fantasy Con site (scroll down to the bottom of the Fantasy Con site to see it), but they are huge participators in the entire event. Fantasy Con, 2014 will be in Utah, July 3,4,5th. So far, celebrities John Rhys-Davies (Gimli from The Lord of the Rings), Graham McTavish (Dwalin from The Hobbit), and Sylvester McCoy (Radagast from The Hobbit) are guests and I know they are in the process of contracting MANY MORE! COOL!

Friday, November 15, 2013

TWISTED by Tayla Durham


Locked up in the Nansterdome crown castle prison, Aster the Terrible has little to look forward to, except his execution. All this changes when a wraith steals and important relic from the castle. Aster is pulled out of prison to steal for the king to combat the wraith. Things get twisted when Aster and his newfound rival, Allie Taylor learn that the wraith of isn't the enemy, but the one protecting them from the actual threat.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Twisted/168658493335482
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Twisted-Tayla-Durham-ebook/dp/B00FWT4BHW

Cover to FIRES OF MAN by Dan Levinson! AWESOME!

In a world where a gifted few can manipulate reality with their minds, two great nations—Calchis and Orion—employ these psionic powers in a covert war for global superiority. In the heart of Calchis, a young psion named Aaron is kidnapped and forcibly conscripted into the Calchan army. To the north, in the capital, a dastardly plan is hatched to decimate Orion, to be carried out by the ruthless operative known only as “Agent.” Meanwhile, across the vast desert that separates the two warring states, Orion recruit Stockton Finn finds himself thrown into a new world of incredible powers he has never dreamed of. And Orion officers Nyne Allen and Kay Barrett navigate the aftermath of their shattered love affair, oblivious to the fact that Calchis is drawing ever closer to destroying the tenuous peace between their two lands. Finally, in the arctic land of Zenith, Calchan archaeologist Faith Santia unearths a millennia-old ruin that may shed light on the history of psionic powers and a deeper mystery that could shake the foundations of all mankind.

DAN LEVINSON is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of Arts and has dabbled in acting, screenwriting, and writing for the stage. He lives in Great Neck, New York.

Dan's Blog:  http://www.danlevinsonwriting.com/blog/fires-man-cover-reveal

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Cover Reveal: DEPENDENT by Brenda Corey Dunne - SO GREAT!

Blurb:
When 45-year-old Ellen Michaels loses her husband to a tragic military accident, she is left in a world of gray. For 25 years her life has been dictated by the ubiquitous They—the military establishment that has included her like chattel with John’s worldly goods—his Dependents, Furniture, and Effects. They—who have stolen her hopes, her dreams and her innocence, and now in mere months will take away the roof over her head. Ellen is left with nothing to hold on to but memories and guilt and an awful secret that has held her in its grip since she was 19. John’s untimely death takes away her anchor, and now, without the military, there is no one to tell her where to go, what to do— no one to dictate who she is. Dependent deals with issues ever-present in today’s service families—early marriage, frequent long absences, the culture of rank, and posttraumatic stress, as well as harassment and abuse of power by higher-ranking officials. It presents a raw and realistic view of life for the lives of the invisible support behind the uniform.


Brenda originally trained as a physiotherapist and worked several years as a Physiotherapy Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force before meeting the love of her life, RCAF Colonel Tom Dunne, and becoming a military dependent herself. She has ridden the RCAF posting train with her Air Force husband and family, living in such places as Nova Scotia (Canada), Watchfield (England), and Elizabeth City (North Carolina, US). She also volunteered on the Board of Directors at a Military Family Resource Center.

Brenda completed her first manuscript in 2008 as a bucket-list item and caught the reading bug. Since then, she has self-published a YA historical fiction and is working on multiple writing projects. Brenda currently resides on a small hobby farm in Eastern Ontario, Canada, with her husband and three children.

Friday, November 8, 2013

COVER REVEAL: Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (that I know of)

CONFESSIONS OF THE VERY FIRST ZOMBIE SLAYER (THAT I KNOW OF) by F.J.R. Titchenell!

Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) blurb:
The world is Cassie Fremont’s playground. Her face is on the cover of every newspaper, she has no homework, no curfew, and no credit limit, and she spends her days traveling the country with her friends, including a boy who would flirt with death just to turn her head. Life is just about perfect—except that those newspaper headlines are about her bludgeoning her crush to death with a paintball gun, she has to fight ravenous walking corpses every time she steps outside, and one of her friends is still missing, trapped somewhere in the distant, practically impassable wreckage of Manhattan. Still, Cassie’s an optimist. More prone to hysterical laughter than hysterical tears, she’d rather fight a corpse than be one, and she won’t leave a friend stranded when she can simply take her road trip to impossible new places to find her, even if getting there means admitting to that boy that she might just love him, too. Skillfully blending effective horror with unexpected humor, this diary-format novel is a fast-paced and heartwarming read.

F.J.R. Titchenell bio:
F.J.R. Titchenell is an author of Young Adult Sci-Fi and Horror fiction. She is represented by Jennifer Mishler of Literary Counsel and currently lives in San Gabriel, California with her husband and fellow author, Matt Carter, and their pet king snake, Mica.
The "F" is for Fiona, and on the rare occasions when she can be pried away from her keyboard, her kindle, and the pages of her latest favorite book, Fi can usually be found over-analyzing the inner workings of various TV Sci-Fi universes or testing out some intriguing new recipe, usually chocolate-related.


Links:
  
Other details:
Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) is F.J.R. Titchenell’s debut novel, to be released May 6th, 2014. It is a Young Adult Horror-Comedy.

Pizza Bubble Bread

 Photo Credit: http://mandygirlsfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/08/pizza-bubble-bread.html
PIZZA BUBBLE BREAD
(makes 10-12 appetizers)
1 package (10 count) refrigerator biscuits
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
1/2 to 1 cup miniature pepperoni
1 cup (4 oz) mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cornmeal
        Sprinkle a greased 12-inch  pizza pan with the cornmeal. Separate biscuits and snip each into 4 pieces. Place in medium mixing bowl. Add sauce, and toss to coat. Arrange dough pieces in an 8-inch circle on the pizza pan. Sprinkle with oregano, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes, or until golden.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

NEW SIGHT cover reveal! Intriguing and mysterious!

 Title: New Sight
Author: Jo Ann Schneider
Genre: YA Fantasy/Adventure
Expected Date of Publication: April 2014

Giveaway code:
<a id="rc-0606e80" class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/0606e80/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>


Book Blurb:
Addiction equals power, but at what cost?

After succumbing to the sudden and terrifying urge to rip people's eyes out of their sockets, sixteen-year-old Lysandra Blake finds herself tied down in a psych ward, convinced she's crazy. The doctors have no answers, and Lys is ready to give up when the mysterious Jeremiah Mason appears, telling Lys that she's not insane—she's addicted to a rare and deadly drug that she has no recollection of using. Mr. Mason offers to take her to his facility where he can treat her.

Desperate yet suspicious, Lys agrees to go with Mr. Mason to his facility where she meets with a fellow addict, the tall and handsome Kamau. Together they discover that Mr. Mason may not have told them the truth about their condition—they're thrown headfirst into a world of daunting powers that are not only unbelievable, they are dangerous. Very dangerous.

Excerpt:
     The cobblestone driveway looked about a thousand miles below her. Lys slid over and dipped one toe out of the SUV. The tennis shoes she wore hit the ground, and she let the bottom of her foot succumb to gravity. The other foot followed, and as she stood, Lys felt her knees wobble. One hand reached out to use the roof of the vehicle for support, and she took a step. She tried another, but her foot stopped in mid-air, her body distracted by something much more insistent than gravity. The Need.
     Emotions, a week repressed by medication, came bubbling up from the bottom of a cauldron. Anger, fear, hunger—the Need. It swelled in her stomach and ached to make her fingers move. She doubled over, trying to contain it.
     “Lys, what's wrong?” Someone pulled on her arm.
     “Get away!” she pleaded. “Please.” She felt herself start to shake. She fell to her hands and knees and put her head down on the cobblestones, squeezing her eye shut. A voice said her name, but she didn't care.
     She wanted the feeling back. The feeling like after she ripped the frog's eyes out—euphoria. She was a hungry monster, demanding to be fed. The Need gnawed through her mind, screaming at her to do something. To hurt someone.
     On their own accord, Lys' fingers began to twitch. Why did he take the handcuffs off?
     The image of her mom's bandaged face sprung into her mind. All of the times her dad flinched away from her, and all of the looks the doctors gave her paraded through her memory. No, she wouldn't hurt anyone else. Not while she had an ounce of control left in her. She laced her fingers together and squeezed until her arms shook.
     # # #
     The dark behind her eyelids flared to life, and Lys found herself in another place. She stood in her room, looking at her bed. Everything was exactly as she'd left it, except the blood on the carpet. Someone had cleaned that up. Her MP3 player sat on the dresser, and her school bag lay on the chair.
     Lys tried to look over at the mirror. Her head wouldn't move. She attempted to look up. Nothing happened. What was this? She floated out of her body. Had it taken too long to get here? Was she dead?
     Panic filled her mind, and she wanted to scream. The picture of her room faded, replaced by the dark.
About the Author:
Jo Ann Schneider grew up in Utah and Colorado, and wonders how people who live in flat places can tell where they’re going.  In her sixteenth year, Jo went with her family to Europe.  This spawned a travel bug that will never be satisfied.  One of Jo’s goals is to travel to all seven continents—five down, two to go.
Perhaps the most challenging thing Jo has ever done (besides write novels) was stick with her Shaolin Kempo classes long enough to earn her black belt.  Persistence, not an overabundance of mad skill, is what got her there, and she just keeps going back for more. An intervention may be in order at some point.
Being a geek at heart, Jo has always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy.  She writes both, and hopes to introduce readers into worlds that wow them and characters that they can cheer for.
Jo lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her adorkable husband, Jon, who is very useful for science and computer information as well as getting items off of top shelves. By day she is a mechanical designer of disgustingly expensive hand-crafted steel lights, and by night she is a ninja.  Woosh, woosh.

Author web links:
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5894674.Jo_Ann_Schneider


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

CITADELS OF FIRE Cover Reveal. So Cool!

CITADELS OF FIRE by Liesel K. Hill has an awesome cover. It looks so dang cool!


Blurb:

In a world where power is paid for in blood, no one ever aspires to more than what they were born to, and danger hides in plain sight, Inga, a maid in the imperial Russian palace, must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she’s been bound with since birth. Inga’s life in sixteenth century Russia is bleak until a man she crossed paths with as a child returns to the Kremlin. Taras is convinced his mother’s death when he was a boy was no mere accident and has returned to try and discover what really happened, all during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit the throne of Russia. While Taras finds only lies and silence where he seeks truth, Inga struggles with the feelings of oppression that have plagued her for most of her life. Taras gives her the chance to leave her loneliness behind forever, but the cost and future of such a liaison is uncertain and Inga is afraid. Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian imperial court, Inga and Taras must
discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.


JFP Press Release:

PROVO, UT—Jolly Fish Press (JFP) is proud to announce the successful acquisition of L. K. Hill's stunning historical novel, Citadels of Fire, the first installment in Kremlins, a three-book series depicting the rise and fall of fifteenth-century Russia under the violent rule of Ivan the Terrible.

Following the literary traditions of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth and Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Citadels of Fire chronicles the unexpected turn of events that transpire within the walls of the Kremlin through the eyes of a palace maid as she is unwillingly pulled into the dangerous web of political espionage, royal scandals, rebellion, and savage wars, in her pursuit of love and a better life outside of the palace walls. In Citadels of Fire, Hill captures the grandeur of Russia in her meticulous description of a country that is both breathtaking and desolate, leaving the reader with the appetite for more, yet the fear of what comes next.

Hill has a degree from Weber State University, and has won numerous writing awards, including garnering first place in the 2011 League of Utah Writers Writing Contest. Citadels of Fire is slated for a Spring 2014 release.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

ELEANOR Cover Reveal! Just beautiful!

Cover reveal for Johnny Worthen's young adult paranormal novel, ELEANOR! 

“Eleanor is a modest girl, unremarkable but extraordinary, young but old, malleable but fixed. She is scared and confused. She is a liar and a thief. Eleanor is not what she appears to be.”


ELEANOR is scheduled for release Spring of 2014, so the most we can do now is tease it. ELEANOR is a stand-alone title, but also the first of a three book series all to be published by Jolly Fish Press. 

Congratulations on a beautiful cover, Johnny. Jolly Fish Press has done an awesome job again!

Join Johnny at his "Blog Mansion" for more information and updates on ELEANOR.
http://johnnyworthen.blogspot.com/2013/11/eleanor-cover-reveal.html