Sunday, March 31, 2013

Murderous Regrets by Beth Ann Masarik


Beth Ann Masarik begins the re launch of her series with this brilliant short story. After having to switch publishers she has been anxiously awaiting to share the beginning of The World Among Us with you. Murderous Regrets is the story of Elise Stevenson's interview with convicted killer Leon Greene. It begins the story of the rebirth of the moon goddess and the underhanded methods of the Lord of the Underworld, Hades. It begins the explanation of the supernatural world to be found in this series as well. The best part is that even though it is short it is written well. Many details and great conversation between the characters really set the stage for what's to come!

It can be found at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and .ca as well as on smashwords. At only a 1.00 it is definitely worth the price to read this beginning short story, soon you will be hungering to be lost in this world with the rest of us!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Cover Reveals!!!!!

I am so excited to be able to share this opportunity with you guys! My friend Beth Ann Masarik, the author of the World Among Us Series, is having 4 wonderful short stories published soon and, dear readers, we are lucky enough to actually see the covers revealed early!!! In a few weeks I will also be reviewing them and telling you guys where to find them online!

The World Among Us Series is based vaguely on the Greek myths and what if those gods were still in play in today's society. This series has it all: love, danger, humour and the enduring spirit of humankind. All of the following short stories are based off of The World Among Us: Prince of Darkness which is due to be re- released shortly as well!

So the first cover is ... Murderous Regrets!


Leon Greene is being accused of killing his best friend, Jason Aysel, and the world wants to know if he really did it. Cue Elise Stevenson, the top news reporter for the Daily Gazette who gets the scoop. Will Leon tell her the truth and his motives behind the murder?


Moon Spirit


Raul Blackoak's world is tossed upside down when he stumbles upon a damsel in distress. What he wasn't expecting was that his life would be changed forever by her. Because he risks his own life to save her, he is stuck between two worlds; the world into which he belongs and the human world. Will he be able to balance between the two worlds or will he have to give up one to be happily ever after in the other?

Hell Bound


After impressing her boss with the interview with Leon Greene, Elise is hell bound to do an interview with the  Lord of the Underworld himself. Mr. Murphy wants her to find out the dirty scoop on Hades while foiling his attempt to take over the world. Will she survive the clutches of Hell?

Hell's Captive



As if interviewing Hades wasn't bad enough, Elise gets sucked into interviewing his son, Prince Damien. It turns out the Prince has a few tricks up his sleeve though as well as some deep and dark secrets. Like the possibility that he is in love with the woman who was murdered .... can Elise really dig deeper into Hell's royal secrets and escape alive?

I am going to include all the info she has given me on herself but first just let me say that she is an amazing writer. I had the pleasure with writing/role playing with her for years. Plus she is the publisher for the magazine that publishes my reviews as well as some of my meandering poetry! As soon as these are available to review and thus for you folks to buy I will keep you up dated on all that good information!


Beth Ann Masarik was born on Long Island, NY in the year 1984 with an over-active imagination. She used to love playing make-believe games, and now loves creating her own fantasy worlds. Masarik has been writing since she was 15 years old, and had her first newspaper article published in her high school newspaper in her sophomore year. She has taken several creative writing classes, and started writing her very first novel in college, and is currently searching for the right literary agent. Aside from writing novels, Masarik enjoys bowling, gaming, and role playing online. She enjoys reading fantasy novels written by Richelle Mead, L.J. Smith, and J.K. Rowling, and looks to them for role models.

Beth is recently married, and when she isn’t writing or role playing, she is found volunteering down at her church.

Masarik is also the founder of Literary Lunes Magazine/Literary Lunes Publications, a bi-monthly zine that is dedicated to promoting authors.  You can find out more about Literary Lunes by going to its website at www.literarylunespublications.com

You can find Beth at the following places:

Twitter: @theworldamongus and @literarylunes




Saturday, March 16, 2013

LARP: The Battle for Verona by Justin Calderone



Larp: The Battle for Verona was a really interesting read for me. It might be because I am a nerd and I used to LARP (live action role play for those who don't know) in the World of Darkness and I'm an avid fan and player of Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and pretty much any other system that I can play in. So to me nothing could be better then donning armor and going to save the world! Okay in this case it's an island but your home is always your world, at least in my world it is so there.

The story begins with Dennis reminiscing about his character Sir Dengar as he struggles to think about how his life would have been different had he not started to play LARP. His brother was a popular football player and Dennis was following in his footsteps until during a gym class he befriended Mark and Freddy, the resident nerds. They introduced him to LARP and ten years later he was still playing. Dennis feels that he should be more grown up now and focus on his job at the bank and he wonders if he missed out on the chance for love because of his affection for the game. He is also troubled by his friend Mark's personality when he plays because of his controlling and egocentric personality.

The boys head off to their yearly convention on the Washington main land away from their beloved island of Verona. Meeting up with the friend Jenn who works at the museum in near by Seattle. Unfortunately the weekend quickly goes bad for Dennis when Mark puts himself in a bad situation and Dennis ends up "dying" because of Mark's foolhardiness. Dennis leaves the convention in a huff and head back home until he is stopped at the bridge to Verona. Turned away by the military he becomes intrigued and pulling around to the back of a local store Dennis uses binoculars to spy across the water. He is disturbed to see flames and smoke and blackness as all the electricity has been turned off.

Dennis returns to the convention and gathers his friends together to discuss what he has seen. Jen gets a hold of her father who happens to be a general in the US Army. A plan is soon formulated that involves both the military and all of the larpers as it seems like the people who have attacked the island are Mongolian's who have forsaken the modern world.

I really liked reading this book. The characters are well rounded and have great depth. It's well written with great humour and the action seems to move along at a good pace. The main bad guy could have been a little more thought out and have more background but otherwise really good. The Mongolians were great sympathetic bad guys. I loved the conflict with Dennis and his friends as they try and re counsel what they feel are teenage hobbies with their adult responsibilities.

You can find this great book at Amazon both .com and .ca, it's a steal for under 4 bucks if you buy the e version. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!!