Free E-Sampler for SFNovelists!

I belong to a SF&F author group online called SFNovelists and one of our current projects is to offer up free e-samplers. These samplers are to include 25 first chapters from novels written by members of the group. The idea is that you guys can download the sampler and then get a small taste of what the book would be like, perhaps even spurring you on to buy the book in whole. I think it's a great way to check out a bunch of new authors. Here's the pitch for it, and the cover art for the sampler. If you'd like to download it, head on over here and click on the appropriate link for your e-reader. And I hope you find some great new author and book! There will be other e-samplers coming shortly!





OPENING ACTS

Twenty-five First Chapters from Twenty-five Writers

Every reader knows that the trouble is not finding something to read, but finding something you want to read. Sometimes, it’s something familiar, something known. Sometimes it’s something new, something unexpected.

SF Novelists proudly offers you twenty-five teasers, twenty-five first chapters across the spectrum of SF and F. Twenty-five tastes, to tempt your appetite for adventure... to lure you into unknown worlds . . .

And give you something new to read.

Featuring:

7th Sigma by Steven Gould
Bone Shop by T.A. Pratt
Bones of Faerie by Jenni Lee Simner
The Brahms Deception by Louise Marley
Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee
The Cloud Road by Martha Wells
Dangerous Water by Juliet E. McKenna
The Dread Hammer by Trey Shiels
Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman
Fright Court by Mindy Klasky
The Heretic by Joseph Nassise
House of the Star by Caitlin Brennan
Indigo Springs by A.M. Dellamonica
Jade Tiger by Jenn Reese
Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
Medium Dead by Chris Dolley
Midnight at Spanish Gardens by Alma Alexander
Play Dead by John Levitt
Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
The Snow Queen's Shadow by Jim C. Hines
Spellcast by Barbara Ashford
The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg
TruthSeeker by C.E. Murphy
Up Against It by M.J. Locke
With Fate Conspire by Marie Brennan

Movie Review: Cowboys & Aliens

This movie was my most anticipated movie of the summer, because it was a new idea, not Smurfs 5 or soemthing. I watched the first trailer and thought, WHOA! and ever since have not allowed myself to see any trailers because they usually spoil a ton of stuff in the movie for me. (One of the disadvantages of being a writer: you can piece together plot fairly easily with little to no details.)

So, this past weekend I was bouncing in my seat waiting to see this. And now that I've seen it . . . well, it didn't live up to my expectations. This is not to say it wasn't a good movie, but I had high hopes that it would blow me away, like Inception did last summer. I WANTED it to blow me away, and there were some cool scenes in here, but the whole package just didn't make it up into the "great" category.

The premise is fairly simple: aliens have come to earth and have landed in the great American West, during the time of cowboys, stagecoaches, and riverboats. Jake wakes up with no memory and with a metallic wristband. He saunters into town to find out who he is. Just as things were going bad to worse for him, the aliens attack. Of course, no one knows what they are at this time period, but they know they're abducting their family and friends from town. They want Jake to help them rescue them all. Initially, he doesn't help out, but then he remembers that his girlfriend was abducted as well, so he goes along to try to save her.

My basic issue is with the first half of the movie. It takes a while for the setup, although I don't see how that could have been shortened much. But then there's a long sequence where they're following a wounded alien trying to find their main base, and that's where it drags a little. Once they find the main base, things pick up and the movie ends with a bang. So I felt it could have been tightened up more and certainly that lull in the middle needed to be dealt with.

Some of the good elements were that they did spend some time on actual character development. And as I said, the action of the last half of the movie worked fairly well. The plot held together, but it worked better as a western than a sci-fi movie. (I stole this last from Patricia Bray pbray.) I was simply . . . hoping for more. The premise appeared to have so much potential.

That said, it was much better than a couple of the other SF&F movies that have come out this summer. I look at you, Green Lantern. *evil eye*