Giveaway Reminder (Info at bottom of old release announcment.)

Originally posted Tuesday, October 1, 2013 on Fantasy Book Critic here.

GUEST POST/GIVEAWAY: Top 10 Amazon Fantasy Author, M. R. Mathias, Announces the Release Date for “Saint Elm’s Deep”!

Hey FBC fans, it’s me again, M. R. Mathias, with some news, and as always, some cool FREE fantasy stuff.

Saint Elm’s Deep is the third and latest entry in the The Legend of Vanx Malic. Book one of the series made it to #1 in the Amazon Fantasy/Mythology Bestsellers list, in May 2013, and book two has been as high as #3 on that same list.

In book three, Saint Elm’s Deep, our hero, a half-zythian bard named Vanx, is being drawn to places from his father’s infamous past. After helping Darbon get over the loss of his first love, and finding a map on a grueling hunt, Vanx and his curious group of companions decide to travel to the Bitterpeaks. There they hope to find the fabled Hoar Witch’s palace in a hidden valley of the treacherous Lurr Forest.

Don’t listen to me ramble about the books, though. Get caught up for free! From October 1, 2013 through October 5, 2013, EVERYONE can get Through the Wildwood (The Legend of Vanx Malic Book One) Dragon Isle (Book Two) FREE in the Amazon Kindle Store.  If you don’t have a kindle, just get the free Kindle reading app for your phone, PC, or tablet HERE. Then get the books and enjoy them, along with thousands of other free classic reads. It’s that easy.

Saint Elm’s Deep – The Legend of Vanx Malic, Book Three, is now available for pre-order in eBook and paperback formats at Amazon HERE and will officially release on November 20, 2013.  And even better, book four, That Frigid Fargin’ Witch, is coming down the pipe and should be released in early 2014.

I can’t think of much else, unless you are an agent who wants to shop the foreign language, and movie rights to fifteen or sixteen Kindle store bestsellers… LOL.

Enjoy the two free novels, look for #ian1’s huge Christmas Kindle giveaway, and if you need a free fantasy read, after you’ve finished The Legend of Vanx Malic one and two, then stop by ReadFantasy.org.

Thanks for the time guys, MR.

@DahgMahn

@WizardWyrm

www.Dragoneer.info

GIVEAWAY: Win A SIGNED Set of M.R. Mathias’ The Saga of the Dragoneers!

In addition to the recent announcements above, M.R. Mathias is giving away THREE SETS of his fantasy series The Saga of the Dragoneers. Each set will include the following titles, with each title SIGNED by the author:

The Royal Dragoneers (Volume 1)

Cold Hearted Son of a Witch (Volume 2)

The Confliction (Volume 3)

The Emerald Rider (Volume 4)

Crimzon & Clover (Short Story Collection)

To enter, please send an email to fbcgiveaway@gmail.com with your Name, Mailing Address, and the subject: DRAGONEER. Giveaway ends Friday, November 1, 2013 – 11:59AM PST and is open to Anyone Worldwide. Thank you for entering and Good Luck! (P.S. If anyone is interested in reviewing any volumes of The Saga of the Dragoneers, please contact M.R. Mathias at michael@mrmathias.com.)

GIVEAWAY RULES:

1) Open To Anyone Worldwide

2) Only One Entry Per Household (Multiple Entries Will Be Disqualified)

3) Must Enter Valid Email Address, Mailing Address + Name

4) No Purchase Necessary

5) Giveaway Will End November 1, 2013 – 11:59AM PST

6) Winners Will Be Randomly Selected and Notified By Email

7) Personal Information Will Only Be Used In Mailing Out the Prizes to the Winners

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We review R.I.P.D. – Amazon Streaming – A M.I.B./True Grit crossover that has its moments. – MR

We review

R.I.P.D.

 

 

 From wiki:

R.I.P.D.
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Schwentke
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz Mike Richardson David Dobkin Peter M. Lenkov
Screenplay by	Phil Hay Matt Manfredi
Story by	David Dobkin Phil Hay Matt Manfredi
Based on	Rest in Peace Department  by Peter M. Lenkov
Starring	Jeff Bridges Ryan Reynolds Kevin Bacon Mary-Louise Parker Stephanie Szostak
Music by	Christophe Beck[1]
Cinematography	Alwin Küchler
Editing by	Mark Helfrich
Studio	Original Film Relativity Media Dark Horse Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Pictures[2]
Release date(s)	July 19, 2013 (2013-07-19)
Running time	96 minutes[3]
Country	United States[2]
Language	English
Budget	$130 million[4][5]
Box office	$75,218,855[5]

R.I.P.D. is a 2013 3D American^[2] supernatural comedy film directed by Robert Schwentke,^[6] based on the comic book Rest in Peace Department by Peter M. Lenkov and published by Dark Horse Entertainment. The film stars Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges as Nick Walker and Roy Pulsipher, respectively.

Filming was completed on January 28, 2012,^[7] and the film was originally set to be released on June 28, 2013^[8] in United States by Universal Pictures but was pushed back to July 19, 2013. The film received negative reviews from critics and performed poorly at the box office.

 

Plot

Boston Police Department Detectives Nick Walker and Bobby Hayes stole a chest full of gold found during a drug bust, and Nick buries his share of the gold in his backyard, intending to use it to create a better life for himself and his wife, Julia. However, he regrets his decision and informs Hayes he intends to return the gold. Later, during a raid on a warehouse, Nick and Hayes get into a shootout with criminals, and Hayes kills Nick to prevent him from returning the gold, framing one of the criminals for the murder.

While ascending through a tunnel in the sky to the afterlife, Nick is pulled into the office of Mildred Proctor, director of the Boston division of the Rest In Peace Department (R.I.P.D.), an agency that recruits deceased police officers to patrol the afterlife and capture “Deados”, spirits that failed to cross over and return to Earth as monstrous ghosts. Nick agrees to join the R.I.P.D. after Proctor explains that it would stave off a potentially negative final judgment for at least a century, and meets his new partner, Roy Pulsipher, an ex-U.S. Marshal who lived in the 1800s.

Nick and Roy return to Earth to attend Nick’s funeral, where Nick learns R.I.P.D. officers are assigned avatars, which is how humans perceive them. Nick’s is an elderly Chinese man, Jerry Chen and Roy’s is an attractive Russian woman, Opal Pavlenko. After failing to communicate with Julia, Nick accompanies Roy to the apartment of a suspect, Stanley Nawlicki, who tries to escape and is killed by the duo. Pieces of gold identical to the ones Nick stole are found in Nawlicki’s possessions and logged into evidence.

Nick and Roy then meet with Elliot, a dealer set to make an exchange with someone, revealed to be Hayes. Nick and Roy follow him to Nick’s house, where Hayes retrieves Nick’s share of the gold, leading Julia to believe Nick was corrupt. From there, the duo tails Hayes to an abandoned warehouse where he gives the gold to a Deado, Pulaski, who escapes and causes enough destruction due to Nick and Roy’s intervention that it makes national news. Proctor, infuriated, takes them off the case, but they decide to continue the investigation on their own after learning the pieces of golds are components of the Staff of Jericho, a mystic device that could reverse the tunnel that transports the dead into the afterlife, returning them to Earth.

Our Thoughts:

Jeff Bridges’s voice was annoying for the first half of the movie, and then by the time it grew on me, Kevin Bacon’s voice turned annoying. Besides that gripe, I liked this sci-fi/action/thriller/cop/drama/ mash-up…lol. Ryan Reynolds is good, as are the other actors. This isn’t too much like Men in Black or Ghostbusters, but if you liked either of those movies, this is right up your alley.  It lacked that spark of life that makes a movie like this a blockbuster, but it was still good fun and somewhat original. It has its moments. 4 stars – MR

Find R.I.P.D. at Amazon