Review of Freaks of the Heartland by Steve Niles

Freaks of the Heartland

Paperback: 170 pgs.  | Digital: 137 pgs.

Publication: July 19th 2005 by Dark Horse Comics (first published July 20th 1995)

Writer: Steve Niles     Art and Lettering: Greg Ruth

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Under the weathered skies of America's heartland, and in the wounded hearts of every family in one tiny rural town, a terrible secret has been kept for too many years. Now, a young boy named Trevor must try to keep his younger brother Will from falling victim to the worst fears of a troubled town that can't begin to understand the tragic secret that binds its families together. Some folks would call Trevor's brother a monster. But to Trevor, Will is just another kid trapped in a dark reality he can't comprehend. When the situation moves from bad to worse, and their father threatens to do away with Will, Trevor learns that they're not alone - that "freak" children were born to other families in Gristlewood Valley. Against all odds, and with nothing but love for his brother in his heart, Trevor is going to do whatever he can to get the freak children out of harm's way, if it's not already too late.

Latest in Blog Visiting: May 2012

Check Out!

The favorite blogs of the month and why their content made them the favorite of the month!

1. Experiments in Manga blog: Yes, indeed, Ash continues to introduce us to more interesting anime, manga, and articles.

Post visited @ Experiments in Manga- My Week in Manga: May 21-May 27, 2012

2. Civilian Reader blog:  News on the new U.S. cover of Stormdancer (The Lotus War: Book One) by Jay Kristoff look that's wonderful-looking! And mentions on the creation of the the book's story at Civilian Reader.

A book review also of Bad Blood by Chuck Wending. Being the continuation for Double Dead.

Posts visited @ Civilian Reader-Artwork: STORMDANCER by Jay Kristoff (Tor US)

and “Bad Blood” by Chuck Wendig (Abaddon)

3. Dub Sub Reviews blog: Michael reviews Spirited Away a very famous anime with great graphics in his review.

Post visited @ DubSub-Anime Reviews-Spirited Away Anime Review

Review of Enclave (Razorland #1) by Ann Aguirre

Overview
WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE

In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.

As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning.

Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn’t like following orders. At first Deuce thinks he’s crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don’t always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she’s never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace.

As Deuce’s perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy… but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she’s ever known.

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Recommended: Yes, you need to check it out!

About Enclave 

Available as: Hardcover $10. 98 from Amazon.com (and lower prices) / Paperback $9.99 from Amazon.com ,  E-book $9.99 from Amazon.com Kindle's Edition , Paperback $7.49 from The Book Depository 

                                                        Recommended Ages: 15 and Up

                                                               E-book: 270 pgs.

                             Published: April 12th 2011 by Feiwel & Friends

                                  For This Review: *Self-Provided E-book Copy For Review*

Seers Online Book Tour: Review of Seers (The Seers Trilogy #1) by Heather Frost

Overview
For Kate Bennet, surviving the car wreck that killed her parents means big changes and even bigger problems. As she begins to see auras and invisible people, Kate must learn to trust Patrick O'Donnell, a handsome Guardian, or risk her life being overrun with Demons. She soon realizes that both she and her heart are in big-time trouble.

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Recommended: Not for Everyone 

                           About Seers

Available as: Paperback $13.25 from Amazon.com ,  E-book $4.99 from Amazon.com Kindle's Edition  , Paperback $13.98 from The Book Depository 

                     Recommended Ages: 15 and Up

Hardcover: 330 pgs

Published: October 4th 2011 by Bonneville

For This Review: *Netgalley E-book Copy*

Holiday Weekend The Reckoning Book Giveaway, will ship internationally

Alma Katsu has recently received a box of finished copies of The Reckoning her newest novel. She has decided to have a quick contest for the holiday weekend.


Entries must be received by midnight PT, May 28. The winner will receive the book BEFORE IT GOES ON SALE:  June 19th.

Review of The Strange Talent of Luther Strode Volume 1 by Justin Jordan

Volume 1

Paperback: 144 pgs.  | Digital: 162 pgs.

Publication: April 17th 2012 by Image Comics

Written by: Justin Jordan  | Art by: Tradd Moore

Publisher: Image Comics

Luther Strode is just your average geek until he sends for an exercise course from the back of an old comic book. What he gets is the instruction manual from a murder cult as old as mankind that does everything that it promised and more.

Collects THE STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE # 1-6

About the Author

Justin Jordan is from the wilds of Pennsylvania, and has been everything from a lumberjack to a librarian, but has settled on writing because it doesn't require an axe, which was a flaw in both lumberjackery and librarianhood.

In addition to Luther Strode, his comics work has appeared in a dozen or so anthologies, most of which aren't on Amazon.com. 

Author Interview with Zeinab Alayan author of "Puppet Parade", A Chilling Fantasy Adventure

Zeinab Alayan's Bio

Zeinab Alayan, more commonly known as Zen, is a writer, an editor, a translator, a bookworm, an artist, an avid movie watcher, an anime fan, a procrastinator, a paranoiac, a dork, a bit of a Grammar Nazi and most importantly... a chocoholic.


Author Interview
Questions and Answers

Learn About Puppet Parade: Review of Puppet Parade by Zeinab Alayan

1. Extremely happy to have you here at Book & Movie Dimension a Blog, Zeinab! 

Especially with you being one of my favorite authors.

First off, would you introduce Puppet Parade to the masses?

I'm happy to be here as well! Thank you for having me.

The one thing a reader needs to know about Puppet Parade is that there's more to it than meets the eye. It may seem like an innocent tale of a puppeteer and a masked girl who go in search of a bunch of puppets who came to life and escaped, but once those two enter the world of the Parade, the reader will notice that there's something strange going on, something that's definitely not as perfect as everything seems on the surface. 

Hunger Games Doesn't Satisfy Satire Cravings

The Hunger Games is certainly not starving for attention.  According to Lionsgate, the production studio responsible for the cinematic adaptation of the first installment of Suzanne Collins' wildly popular teen fiction series, the film's total domestic gross so far is $302.8 million.  The film continues to dominate the box office, topping Titanic 3D and American Reunion even in its third week.  
For anyone not yet familiar with the latest young adult phenomenon, The Hunger Games takes place in a post-catastrophic parallel America called Panem in which the governing force every year demands two teenage sacrifices from each of the twelve districts to take place in the eponymous annual Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games are televised brutality — the whole of Panem watches as teenagers kill each other and try to survive the elements to claim the riches that await the last boy or girl standing.   The reason for these gruesome games?  To remind the nation of the uprising that threatened the aristocracy years ago, and to ensure that a similar coup is never attempted.
Katniss Everdeen, the story's gritty, virtuous, and hardened heroine from District 12, the poorest of the districts, eventually emerges from the violence as victor, though the end of the novel brings a twist: Peeta, the second sacrifice (or "Tribute" as they are called in the book)  from District 12, survives as a second victor when the couple threaten mutual suicide.  
The craze over the series began with the first book in 2008, and has held fans both teenaged and adult captivated, similar to the Harry Potter series.  In fact, given that the first installment of The Hunger Games was released just one year after the last Harry Potter book was published, it isn't so surprising that it climbed to such immediate success.
Both the book and the movie are entertaining, and make for a quick, enjoyable read/watch.  However, some critics, and I would have to agree, argue that the film lacks a satirical bite that might make audiences think about the material they are viewing more profoundly.  
One cannot overlook the resonance the series shares with reality television; the author herself has even claimed that the inspiration for the series came when she was surfing television channels and saw reality TV on one channel and footage from the Iraq War on the next.  But the potential depth that could be drawn from that parallel is missed, and instead what we have is bloodless violence in a world that is accustomed to watching children die on television.
If the premise of The Hunger Games horrifies you, it should.  And yet, we flock to the series and to the newly released movie without a second's consideration that we ourselves might actually be transforming into the violence-hungry citizens of Collins' Panem, eating up the fare that the movie and book offer, without taking a moment to think about the philosophical and social ramifications.  
Here's hoping that our appetites are satisfied.

About the Author:

This guest contribution was submitted by Samantha Gray, who specializes in writing about bachelor degree online. Questions and comments can be sent to:  samanthagray024 [at] gmail [dot] com. 

Listed [below] are some of Samantha's articles:

http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2012/the-10-biggest-book-burnings-in-literary-history/

http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2012/10-most-controversial-excerpts-taken-from-american-textbooks/

http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2012/50-hottest-twitter-hashtags-for-job-seekers/

http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2012/10-moving-movies-about-the-creative-process/

Jackie Gamber's Redheart is now free for the Kindle at Amazon!

Enter the lands of Leland Province, where dragon and human societies have long dwelled side by side. Superstitions rise sharply, as a severe rought strips the land of its bounty, providing fertile ground for the arker ambitions of Fordon Blackclaw, Dragon Council Leader, who seeks to subdue humans or wipe them off the face of the land.

As the shadow of danger creeps across Leland Province, a young dragon named Kallon Redheart, who has turned his back on dragons and humans alike, comes into an unexpected friendship. Riza Diantus is a young woman whose dreams can no longer be contained by the narrow confines of her village, and when she finds herself in peril, Kallon is the only one with the power to save her. Yet to do so means he must confront his past, and embrace a future he stopped believing in.

A tale of friendship, courage, and ultimate destiny, Redheart invites readers to a wondrous journey through the Leland Dragon Series.

Genre: Fantasy 

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Keep reading to download this book as a free e-book download from Amazon.com!

Blitz Day with Unraveling Midnight by Stephanie Beck and Sigma by Annie Nicholas Winners!

The winners are June M. and Joanne. 


Babs at Lyrical Press (lyricalpress.blogspot.com) has let me know that everything concerning prizes has been settled.

Thank you everyone for entering. 

Review of Puppet Parade by Zeinab Alayan

Overview 
The life of a puppet master is never ordinary. Oliver Deere knew this when he ran away from home to take up the trade of puppetry, but he had no idea just how much his life would change. After his puppets come to life and flee town, Oliver meets up with a masked girl who hides a mysterious past.

As they travel together in search for Oliver's lost puppets, they find that the line between puppet and master is becoming much less clear - and much more deadly. 

When Oliver and his companion enter the strange world of The Parade, they begin to realise that their journey will lead them to discover the truth behind a dangerous villain's path, and in the end, discover more about each other.

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Recommended: OF COURSE, AWESOME STUFF!

About Puppet Parade 

Available as:  E-book $1.59 from Amazon.com Kindle's Edition 

                                                        Recommended Ages: 15 and Up

                                                               E-book: 270 pgs.

     Published: Published April 20th 2012 by Lulu (first published April 18th 2012)

                                  For This Review: *E-book Copy Provided For Review*

Review of The Last of The Greats Volume 1 by Joshua Fialkov

Volume 1

Print: 136 pgs.  | Digital: 137 pgs.

Publication: April 3rd 2012 by Image Comics

Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov     Penciller: Brent Peeples

Publisher: Image Comics

MEET THE LAST - He's mankind's last hope and he HATES us! As the Earth stands on the brink of annihilation we must beg the last survivor of a family of superheroes to put aside his hatred and save our butts. From the Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated writer of Echoes, Tumor, and I, Vampire comes the complete first volume of the critically-acclaimed vision of Super Heroes for the 21st century.

About the Author

Joshua Hale Fialkov is the creator (or co-creator, depending) of graphic novels, including the Harvey Nominated Elk’s Run, the Harvey and Eisner nominated Tumor, Punks the Comic, and the Harvey Nominated Echoes.

He has written Alibi and Cyblade for Top Cow, Superman/Batman for DC Comics, Rampaging Wolverine for Marvel, and Friday the 13th for Wildstorm. He’s writing the DC relaunch of I,Vampire, as well as debuting the new Marvel character The Monkey King. This fall sees the launch of The Last of the Greats from Image Comics with artist Brent Peeples.

He also served as a writer on the Emmy Award Nominated animated film Afro Samurai: Resurrection, and as Executive Producer of the cult hit LG15: The Resistance web series.

Advance Reader Review of Crimson Rising (Skyship Academy #2) by Nick James

Overview 
After the events that transpired in Seattle, the faculty at Skyship Academy have kept Jesse a prisoner in his own home, fearful of his ability to break Pearls. Cassius has escaped to the Polar Cities of Canada, fleeing the Unified Party — the very organization he’d once counted himself a part of. But when Jesse manages to smuggle onboard the Academy a mysterious red Pearl, he sets forth a destructive chain of events that leads him back to the Fringes and to a reunion with Cassius. It's there that the brothers meet Madame’s newest protégé, a troubled youth with a dangerous secret waiting to be unlocked.  But a larger threat looms in the stars. Together, Jesse and Cassius must race against the clock, and those they thought they could trust, to prevent extermination at the hands of their ultimate enemy — an enemy hatched from crimson and ready to strike.

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Recommended: OF COURSE, AWESOME STUFF!

About Skyship Academy: Crimson Rising 

                  Available as: Paperback $9.99 from Amazon.com 

                                                        Recommended Ages: 15 and Up

                                                               Netgalley E-book: 190 pgs.

                  Expected Publication: September 8th 2012 by Flux

                           For This Review: *E-book Copy Provided For Review by Netgalley For Early Review *

Upcoming Publication of The Reckoning (Book Two of The Taker Trilogy) by Alma Katsu!

Expected publication: June 19th 2012 by Gallery Books

A love triangle spanning 200 years…Alma Katsu takes readers on a breathtaking journey through the landscape of the heart.

New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld (Leviathan) praises Alma Katsu’s The Taker as, “a centuries-spanning epic that will keep you turning pages all night. This marvelous debut is a thinking person’s guilty pleasure.” And Keith Donohue (The Stolen Child) says, “The Taker is a frighteningly compelling story about those most human monsters—desire and obsession. It will curl your hair and keep you up late at night.”

Now Alma Katsu delivers the highly anticipated follow-up to her haunting novel about an immortal woman learning firsthand that the heart wants what the heart wants…no matter how high the stakes. Fans of The Taker can finally indulge in their next juicy fix with the second book of the trilogy, The Reckoning. In this gripping, pulse-pounding supernatural sequel, discover what happens to Lanny, Luke, Adair—and Jonathan. The Reckoning picks up where The Taker leaves off, following Lanny on her path to redemption—and creating a whole new level of suspense.

Win a NOOK tablet for The Reckoning release!

May 2012 The RECKONING is almost here We're Giving Away a NOOK tablet  to Celebrate Dear Friends, I hope you’re as excited as I am that the second book in The Taker Trilogy, The RECKONING, will be published on June 19. Reviews are starting to come in and they’re, well, wonderful. RT Magazine has made it a Top Pick! for June, saying “Katsu's brilliant series second will utterly enchant you. The story is told in such a distinctive voice you won't be able to stop thinking about it. It’s one of this reviewer’s favorites so far this year.” And Publisher’s Weekly said, "Katsu's seductive second book in her supernatural thriller trilogy picks up where her well-received first book, The TAKER, left off.” Other reviewers have compared the story to Diana Gabaldon’s fantastic bestselling Outlander series for its mix of historical and fantasy elements. Another called Adair "a 21st century Lestat."  What can you expect in THE RECKONING? I think one book blogger put it best when she said The Reckoning is "two separate journeys, Lanny’s journey to escape Adair and Adair’s pilgrimage to find the woman who fills him with both ice and fire…Adair’s complexity will be explored and expanded, Lanny’s adventures will thrill you, new characters will steal and break your heart, old characters will boil your blood, and dark magic will snake up the bones of the story like the vines of a rogue bush.  But my favourite part of this story, as always, is its haunting prose, the elegance and terror that fills every word." You can pre-order The RECKONING before its release on June 19. Pre-orders send a message to booksellers, reviewers and bestseller lists, letting them know that readers enthusiastically support the series. Let them to hear from you! BUY THE BOOK:  IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Powell's BUY THE eBOOK: IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN A NOOK TABLET and help promote the RECKONING’s release at the same time? To celebrate The RECKONING’s pub day, we’re giving away a NOOK tablet ($199 value), $50 Barnes & Noble gift card and other goodies, including a bit of alchemy: perfume from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. This contest is a little different, though: you enter by spreading the word about the new book. Tweet, post on Facebook or get a friend to join the mailing list and you could win a brand new NOOK for yourself or to give as a gift. Follow this link for complete contest details. In TAKER news: We were interviewed by USA Today’s Happily Ever After column Publishers Weekly “The New (Para) Normal” featured us alongside bestselling authors Sherrilynn Kenyon and MJ Rose We’ll be touring again starting June 14 at WriterHouse in Charlottesville VA. See the complete schedule here. BUY THE BOOK: IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Powell's BUY THE eBOOK: IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes Hello to all the new subscribers from RT Booklovers Convention. Did you enter the drawing from the Mystery Chix and Private Dix gift basket in Club RT or attend our breakfast mixer? If so, that’s why you’re receiving this newsletter from me. I hope you’ll continue with the mailing list, as there’s some exciting book news coming as well as monthly drawings for eclectic prizes. Thank you for your support Tell your friends Visit me at www.almakatsu.com

If you do enter mention me: Cassandra as your source of letting you on this promotion (if you sign up for the mailing list). Thanks everyone.