The Ghosts of Belfast: Movie Update

Stuart Neville has shard his thoughts on the film version of his excellent, and one of my favorite all-time novels, The Ghosts of Belfast. The film title is Last Man Out and it looks like Pierce Brosnan is lined up to play Gerry Fagan. I you have not read this novel, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Check out Stuart's take, on his blog HERE

Over at the My Book, The Movie blog, I was pleased to find out about a novel by Stephan Talty, that I find very intriguing.  Here is the elevator pitch:

"In this explosive debut thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Blue Water, a brilliant homicide detective returns home, where she confronts a city’s dark demons and her own past while pursuing a brutal serial killer on a vengeful rampage."

Check who Stephan thinks would be in the movie cast, as well as finding out more about him HERE

TeamNerd Reviews: Grimm Tales

While surfing the net, I found a very detailed review of Grimm Tales via the TeamNerd Review blog. I had a  story in this anthology, Divided We Stand.. A lot of the stories took it to the chin, but some seemed to really impress. The main complaint was the overuse of Hansel and Gretel, which I can certainly understand,  but the authors had no idea which fairy tale the others were choosing. My take from the beginning was to try and use one that I thought no one else would use, so  in that respect, I lucked out. As I read through each story review, I was cringing waiting to see what was in store for my story. But, I was somewhat spared.

Divided We Stand

Author: Sean Patrick Reardon

Mini-Review: This short read like a scene from within an already ongoing scene. It’s hard to wrap your head around what the hell is going on until closer to the end. The ending was good though.

Anyway, you can see the full review and check out the TeanNerd Review blog ( which is a really cool site) 

HERE

Banshee on Cinemax

Recently got turned on to a new crime series, Banshee, which is on Cinemax. Really digging this. It is totally over-the-top in terms of violence, language, and sexual content. Just about everything about it screams inappropriate, and of course, I am all in!  Here is the premise, which at first glance almost seems absurd, but they make it work and pull it off. 

Banshee takes place in the fictional small town of Banshee, Pennsylvania. After serving 15 years in prison for stealing diamonds from Ukranian gangster Mr. Rabbit, the unnamed protagonist travels to Banshee to find his heist accomplice and former lover, Anastasia. When he finds her, the protagonist learns that she is now a married mother of two living under the assumed identity of Carrie Hopewell. Later, when the incoming Sheriff is killed, the protagonist takes on his identity as Lucas Hood, becoming the town's new Sheriff. Banshee sees Hood struggle with adapting to his new identity while dealing with the machinations of local crime lord Kai Proctor, and remaining hidden from Rabbit.

The opening couple of scenes are action packed, and really kick things off with bang. It has all the ingredients I love in a show, although, just my taste, they could cut down on the sex scenes, and dedicate more of that time, to story. It's got the brutality of Oz, the small town dynamics of a Stephen King story, and best of all everyone is a bad guy at heart, even the "good" guys. It's one of those shows where you belief system surely needs to be suspended, and compared to Downton Abbey ( which I really love as well) It is one of those "guilty pleasure" shows.

I love villains and Banshee has plenty. Here's my top 3;

Kai Proctor, played by Ulrich Thomson

* intimidating and wealthy  Banshee businessman who considers himself above the law. Disowned by his Amish family, Kai has a hand in nearly all of Banshee's criminal enterprises.

Job, played by Hoon Lee  ( also a Massachusetts native, extra props for that)

* cross-dressing hair stylist and genius computer hacker who plays a key part in Lucas' criminal endeavors.

Olek aka Widowspeak played by Christos Vasilopoulos

*head henchman and bodyguard of Ukrainian mob boss

An extra special villain bonus goes to the character "Albino" who appeared in one episode.

Addicted to Books

While over at the Kindle Boards, there was a discussion thread focusing on websites / blogs that offer free book publicity / promotion. I'll be slowly checking them out, but I did register for one already, Addicted to Books. Nice, user friendly site, and I received an email from them when my novel, Mindjacker, was featured. Nice touch!

The link to Addicted to Books is HERE