Hi everyone! Make sure to pick up your copies before the deals are gone!
DIVIDE is FREE to download until midnight and Wings of Caligo is only .99 cents for today! That’s 75% of its list price! Make sure to snag both door busters before it’s too late!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you and your family are having a wonderfully blessed holiday!
To brighten the day of those who aren’t enjoying their day, whether because of work or in-law proverbial hell, here’s an exclusive sneak peek at my WIP The Cursed Ellipse from my Vaktare of All Realms series. Read on ahead and I think you are going to see why I felt this excerpt would be befitting for turkey day…
…
Unfortunately far from convinced, Heidi’s eyes flickered up to the rear view mirror, checking on the car behind us. But then they widened and focused on whatever was behind us. “Well, my, my. This ought to be good.”
I turned around in my seat to see Peter waltzing up to an enormous tom turkey that had been imperiously strutting across the road after its hens and blocking the car. We could see Brin leaning out the window and yelling after him, but Peter seemed determined. “Peter, I wouldn’t do that if I were you-“
“Get out of the way, you big, stupid oversized chicken! Go on! Git!“ Peter squawked.
“That flock has been living here for years,” Heidi murmured. “But that tom has a formidable reputation for being territorial-“
She never had to finish her sentence. And if she did, I didn’t hear it as I howled laughing.
Peter took one look at the now charging turkey and fled, arms outstretched with a yelp. The attempt he made to flee back into the safety of the car was unsuccessful, however. He gave the car door one haphazard tug before the bird got too close and he had to run for it again.
“Thank you, God,” I murmured as Heidi dug out her phone to film it.
We both chortled as they ran rings around the SUV; Peter running for his life and the turkey following close behind with its feathers fan out. The loud gobbling I could hear over Peter’s cursing did nothing to lessen the hilarity, however. I sat open mouthed as he let out a loud scream to his brother for help, still running.
Brin, of course, made no move to help him (he was probably just as thrilled as we were), other than to shout out his window, “get in, Peter. Get in the car-“
All attempts to remind Peter that he could produce Tru failed as he took a flying leap onto the hood of the SUV. This did nothing considering the turkey was able to fly. It only caused Peter to catapult off just as quickly when it flew up and pecked him in the butt with an irate cackle.
“This is gonna go viral,” Heidi snorted. “His mama is gonna to love this!”
But the hilarity wasn’t done as Brin got out to try and help. He’d no sooner stepped out when one of the hens went after him, enforcing the tom who was still chasing Peter. Brin tried to shoo it away but in the process, Peter darted around the back of the car unaware Brin had gotten out, too, and slammed into him. They both went down with Peter landing on top of Brin. And much to Heidi’s and my glee, the tom then proceeded to hop on top of them both, flapping its wings and still gobbling.
“Peter!”
Brin sat up with an angry grimace as Peter tried unsuccessfully to squeeze himself under the car to escape. All the fun ended as Brin promptly aimed a sleeping intent at the unsuspecting birds. They wobbled on their legs a few times and then fell over. Peter cursed and rubbed his ass, watching indignantly as Brin kindly picked it up and deposited it off the road.
Heidi at this point was too busy uploading the video to the internet to notice Fae staring out the back window. Fae had jumped up to watch, too. She turned to me, luminescent eyes aglow with humor. “Now that was entertainment.”
…
Did you enjoy this clip? It has roots in real life, as my father was once chased around our car just like this! It provided the perfect basis for this scene from my upcoming novel, The Cursed Ellipse from my Vaktare of All Realms series.
If you wish to read more of my writing, make sure to check out my Black Friday Book Sale here. I have a few freebie books and 75% off my newest novel, Wings of Caligo, so make sure to check it out!
I wish you and wonder Thanksgiving and a blessed holiday season. Keep an eye out for more posts from me over the next few days. I’ll be releasing excerpts from several of my upcoming books, including Robin Hood: The Delunian Kingdom, so stay tuned!
– Author Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel
Okay, folks. Here is the newly redesigned cover for Wings of Caligo! I loved the old cover, but too many of my readers felt that it gave off a ‘YA novel’ vibe because the color was so bright. And as those who have read the story know, there’s too much action for the story to fit the YA bill. It’s action, adventure and romance fantasy. So here we go: the new cover. What do you think?
Vs. the old cover:
Let me know what you think of the new cover! I always want to hear what my readers think!
Well, it’s the holidays.
Am I the only one who feels like the summertime was only a passing dream that I’d like to relive? This of course comes as the snowflakes are fluttering down here. Am I a little grouchy watching them come down? Yes, I am, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
But enough about me. How are you all doing? Are you excitedly trimming your tree or are you sitting in the corner like a grinch like I am? Okay, that might be a little too much. Not quite a grinch, but the holiday commercials are a bit over done considering it feels like Halloween just ended last week.
Either way, I’m trying to launch myself into the holiday mood. I’ve got a Thanksgiving children’s book coming out this week, plotting out a new Christmas science fantasy novel, and yes, to sate your 2019 TBR pile, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals coming your way next week. Make sure to stay tuned because there’s sure to be freebies to stock your kindle with, and if you are a paper lover like me, your stockings as well.
Let me be the first to wish you Happy Holidays. And whether hearing it so soon is an irritant to you or not, I still wish you happiness all the same.
And to make your holiday shopping a little easier, I’ll send a free copy of my best selling prequel STILL DEATH to anyone you wish me to. Either send them this link so they can download it or pop me a reply with their email address so I can send it directly to them!
Love, Maggie Lynn
P.S. If you haven’t read War Machine yet, keep an eye out for my Black Friday deals email. Slave to War is coming this December and you’ll need to be caught up
before it is out!
In this excellent story, a story which shines light on interpersonal relationships and the relationship between two societal factions, Ms. Heron-Heidel weaves an intelligent and compelling tale which, if one wants to see what she’s actually saying, teaches us why all of humanity should and must tear down the walls that we have put up between each other in order to make a better world. It is vastly different than her first book, but that is fine with me. Why? An author, and an author of a caliber such as she, should have a range which can handle whatever genre they write in. This story exhibits the inescapable fact that Ms. Heron-Heidel is a force to be reckoned with any genre she may choose to write in. Once again, Ms. Heron-Heidel, KUDOS TO YOU! Another fine job.I have a confession. Sometimes I struggle.
Struggle – a word that I simultaneously love and loathe. It implies that I am less than able to cope with a situation or a problem. It makes me feel weak even admitting it’s something I encounter. But to struggle also implies that I am still learning, which is something that I love.
I never stop learning. New knowledge is something I am constantly seeking after with a voraciousness that cannot be quenched. I devour books, seek new vocabulary words whenever I can, and watch videos all the time trying to understand as much as I can about the world.
But still, even with all the learning I do, I still find myself struggling sometimes. It’s inevitable. Even the smartest of people find themselves on the edge of a very sharp drop sometimes and without a safety net under them to catch their fall. But this admission isn’t a condemnation. It’s meant as encouragement.
A lot of people look up to me since I have a fan base watching my films and also reading my books. There seems to be a notion that just because I’m out there on the internet and in the spotlight, that I have everything together and have the perfect life. And while that’s sweet of you all to think, I’m here to tell the truth.
No one is perfect. My life certainly isn’t. There has been a hell of a lot of days when my biggest effort has been to plaster a smile on to try and cheer people up. Physical pain hasn’t held me back from being a filmmaker or an award winning author either. Right now our film studio has been ruined because of toxic mold in our house and still my partner in parody crime, Peg Heron Heidel, and I both still are trying to navigate around this huge obstacle so we can cheer people up with our comedy. Even when we both feel like we’re dying inside, we still keep going to try and lift others up.
Many times it’s a struggle to even put our productions together, but one that is worth it when we hear how we made someone’s day or made them smile.
So what is my point here? It’s okay to struggle. Everyone does with one thing or another. I pray to God every day for His guidance and without fail, I live to see another sunrise. Life wasn’t promised to be without obstacles and sometimes we don’t overcome them on our first try. But the important part is that we get up, dust ourselves off, and try again. Because without the struggle to succeed, all we can do is fail.
Anyone who spits out the phrase ‘do or do not, there is no try’ needs to get their head out of their ass. Because without trying, there will never be a chance at succeeding. Yoda obviously never met Bruce Lee who was famously quoted as saying, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Think about it. Without a first attempt at learning to fight, Bruce would never have become the legend we all know today.
For without the struggle, you will never have a chance at success or happiness. You will have given up before you even started.
May God bless you today in all your circumstances and may you triumph over whatever obstacles are in your way.
– Love, Author Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel
*Comment below and tell me about any obstacles you have overcome in your life. You may have a chance at having your story featured in a future inspirational post.
Did you enjoy this article? Then you might like my weekly newsletter. Just for joining my VIP readers club, I’ll immediately send you my best selling prequel to the Destiny in the Shadows series STILL DEATH.
Warning: spoiler alert, and you’ll be glad I ruined it for you. I’ll have saved you from viewing this box office run-on sentence.
Jurassic World was a contrived effort. That’s all I can say. In this instance, the rule that a sequel will generally suck after the first blockbuster hit was not broken. The alluring trailer seemed promising, but upon seeing the whole movie it became clear that the show stopping action sequences had one mortal flaw: they were trying too hard for a hit.
Over all the film felt forced, strung together by a shoestring plot that anyone in grade school could have written. Much like a stereotypical horror movie, the character’s choices of self preservation were downright laughable.
Who would hide from a raptor by locking herself in a room and then pulling her quilt over her head? The camera shot of the raptor’s hand reaching for the covers was a classic film nod to the original Jurassic Park and one that sold the viewer by its teasing placement in the trailer. But in this newer movie, it felt like it had been stuck in the final cut in the film like a sore thumb: unnecessary to the plot and merely a selling point for the film.
The love story was nonexistent, highlighted with only a few bad jokes and an ill-placed kiss scene that left the audience asking, ‘really? There’s a raptor chasing a kid in the other room, but you two choose to make out now at all times?’
Even the dark undertones of genetic engineering throughout the movie and the overt warnings from the filmmakers felt underplayed and drowned by ‘jump scares’ that were nothing but predictable. Giving the audience a tease that perhaps human cloning had taken place in the laboratory felt like it had been placed in the movie merely to give intrigue and keep the viewer watching to find out if the young girl was indeed a clone. And at that, the tease was never explored; only one more loose thread left behind by a rapidly unraveling film.
Undoubtedly the stellar box office performance of the first reboot was the inspiration for this waste of two hours in a movie theatre. But somewhere in the film’s development, the audience itself was forgotten. Hollywood executives drastically insulted their viewers by presenting them with the same movie simply repackaged with new jokes and with the same premise and same Dino’s. Nostalgia was the main selling tool, and one they successfully – and desperately – exploited.
Jurassic World was nothing but one giant action sequence meant to sell tickets and to set the scene for the third movie which was heavily implied by the almost-cliffhanger ending. The main characters were dead-set on ‘saving’ the creatures which were avidly hunting them down, even setting them free to prey on society at the end… giving Hollywood the perfect excuse to create a third movie.
But one thing remains true. The title ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ was the perfect name for the movie. It reflects how perfectly the franchise has ‘fallen’ from its original glory. One can only hope that the next movie is called Jurassic World: Dinosaur Extinction.
But I might make a suggestion on how to make this film credible. Turn it black and white and feature it as a ‘classic film’ from the 1950’s. Even with all the technological puffery that went into the making of this film, the special effects were weak in comparison to the real life puppetry used in classic science fiction films. Even Sharknado looked plausible in comparison to this train wreck, whether it be by plot or special effects, in all the continuing Sharnako’s 3, 4, 5, and even 6, movies. Need I say more?
Come on, guys. Really? This was the best you could do with a $187,000,000 dollar budget? Do better with the next sequel which is already in pre-production. It’ll be hitting us in 2021.
And gee, I can hardly wait. Stay true to Michael Crichton’s original books and I might be impressed. Let’s not insult his legacy again, shall we?
– Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel
Did you enjoy this article? Then you might like my weekly newsletter. Just for joining my VIP readers club, I’ll immediately send you my best selling prequel to the Destiny in the Shadows series STILL DEATH.
I am a rebel. I prefer books to e-readers. I live in real life as opposed to a virtual reality. I dance on my own time instead of running to the world’s relentless clock. I create instead of consuming creation. I write with a pen and paper before my fingers ever touch a keyboard.
We all have our own way of doing things, but I refuse to be a statistic lost to the ever consuming sea of advertising and technology.
Now don’t take this as an attack on technology. No, I see it as an aid to help with tasks, not a way of life. However, when I read these statistics, I felt I needed to address our future:
“Technology is so important to Millennials that 53% would rather give up their sense of smell than their tech. Over 80% sleep with their mobile phone and 32% of millennials check social media from the toilet. A Nielsen report on Millennials found that more than 74% feel that new technology makes their lives easier. While 54% said that new technology brings them closer to their friends and family.”
The article from Forbes was on VR, that being virtual reality and how we as humans are embracing it. But as we tip into dangerous territory, we risk being consumed by the very things that we are creating. We all already know someone who is obsessed with their phone to the point we feel our presence in their life isn’t as important as their fixation with their tech.
My point here is that we cannot let our minds slip into the potential Venus fly trap that is our new ‘reality’. Technology is made to assist our lives, not become our lives. We are at the precipice of a very deep chasm and one that would be next to impossible to climb out of once we fall in it.
So the next time you see a beautiful picture of roses on social media, perhaps instead of hitting the like button I’ll instead ask you to go outside and enjoy their delightful scent in real life. Our world is not just a virtual reality. It’s not a picture, a video, or a blog post that we can come back to later once a moment has passed. It’s our reality and every choice shapes it. Be present in every second because once a moment is gone, it’s gone. Life doesn’t have Tivo. Life doesn’t have a pause button. But it does have a power cord that can be cut short at any moment. And there’s no plugging back in once the power has been shut off.
Love,
Author Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel
Did you enjoy this article? Then you might like my weekly newsletter. Just for joining my VIP readers club, I’ll immediately send you my best selling prequel to the Destiny in the Shadows series STILL DEATH.
https://www.facebook.com/MaggieLynnHH/videos/2163613310560601/
I want your opinion folks! Do you feel this cover is appropriate for the hotly anticipated second book in the Destiny in the Shadows series? What do you think of when you see this cover? Comment and let me know!
– Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel
Author and Filmmaker
If you haven’t read the first book in the Destiny in the Shadows series, STILL DEATH, you can read it for free! I’ll send it to you immediately just for joining my VIP readers club!
Best Selling Author Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel 