Reid Stories: Wool by Hugh Howey and Vecto: Vengeance Chapter 4.9

Here's a book trailer for Wool by Hugh Howey:



"Silo is a series of science fiction novellas, also available as a single novel, by American writer Hugh Howey.^[1] Film rights to the story have been sold to 20th Century Fox;^[2] director Ridley Scott and Steve Zaillian expressed interest in the film adaptation.^[3][4]" - Wikipedia

Here's where you can buy it: Wool

And here's the last Vecto: Vengeance scene of the week:

Reid Stories: X-Men: Days of Future Past and Vecto: Vengeance Chapter 4.8

Here's a trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past:



 "The X-Men are a fictional team of superheroes that appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The X-Men were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and were first published in 1963. They are among Marvel Comics' most popular and lucrative intellectual properties, appearing in numerous books, television shows, films, and video games." - Wikipedia

Here's where you can buy it: X-Men: Days of Future Past [Blu-ray]

And here's my Vecto: Vengeance scene of the week:

Reid Stories: I, Robot Trailer and Vecto: Vengeance Chapter 3.4

Below is a trailer for the I, Robot movie. It's based on the theme of Isaac Asimov's stories of the same name.



"I, Robot is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published by Gnome Press in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. The stories are woven together as Dr. Susan Calvin tells them to a reporter (the narrator) in the 21st century. Though the stories can be read separately, they share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots, and morality, and when combined they tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics." - Wikipedia

Here is where you can find the movie: I, Robot (Widescreen Edition).

And here's my Vecto: Vengeance scene of the week:

Reid Stories: Cyborg 009 Trailer and Vecto: Vengeance - Chapter 3.2

If you like cyborgs, check out this trailer to the anime version of Cyborg 009:



"Cyborg 009 (サイボーグゼロゼロナイン Saibōgu Zero-Zero-Nain^?) is a manga created by Shotaro Ishinomori. It was serialized in many different magazines, including Monthly Shōnen King, Weekly Shōnen Magazine, Shōnen Big Comic, COM, Shōjo Comic, Weekly Shōnen Sunday, Monthly Shōnen Jump and Monthly Comic Nora in Japan. The first two arcs of the manga were published in English by Tokyopop with all the sound effects left out untranslated; as of 2006 it is out of print. However, in 2012, comiXology acquired the digital distribution rights to Shotaro Ishinomori's catalogue.^[1]"

Here's where you can buy the eight episodes of the 2003 anime version: Cyborg 009 - Uncut and Unedited.

And here's my Vecto: Vengeance scene of the week:

Early Impressions: How CassaFire Seems to Improve from Last Book

Author Alex J. Cavanaugh's book CassaFire has a new trailer, which piqued my curiosity as to what I should expect from the book.
 
For those who don't know, CassaFire is the sequel to CassaStar, which was published by Dancing Lemur Press, LLC, in 2010. The sequel is set to be released Feb. 28, 2012, by the same publisher. Visit Cavanaugh's blog at alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com for more information.

I reviewed CassaStar on March 19, which can be viewed here. I enjoyed reading the book and pointed out areas I thought needed improvement if he wrote a sequel (which I'm glad he did). Now that there is a book blurb and trailer for the sequel, I already can tell some of those issues have been addressed. Below are some of my concerns from the first book followed by how I think the sequel seems to remedy those problems.

1. One of my concerns for the first book was the lack of a strong female presence, and I hoped that a female plays a lead role in a possible sequel. I'm elated to read that there is a lead female character named Athee in CassaFire. According to the book's blurb, Athee is a pilot "whose skills rival Byron’s unique abilities." I also like how Byron no longer has the best mental abilities. Not every hero has to be the best at everything, so hopefully, Byron's personality will shine more.

2. I also didn't think the universe in CassaStar was fleshed out as much as I hoped. I wrote, "You only get the closed-in view of the military, which may have been done so the reader feels isolated like Byron." In the sequel, Byron is an explorer, like he said he was going to be at the end of CassaStar. I'm glad Byron kept his promise to his mentor. Having Byron leave piloting to explore the universe does two things, in my opinion:

a. It keeps the sequel fresh without sounding like just-the-same-story-with-a-new-enemy plot.

b. It gives Cavanaugh a chance to do some world-building and give the reader insight into the universe.

As for the trailer for CassaFire, although some people may say the graphics are 15 years old (I, myself, am reminded of the intro to Tekken 2 for the PlayStation in 1996), please be aware that Dancing Lemur Press, LLC, is a small book publisher, so they probably had only one person working on the trailer. It's also hard to do facial expressions in CGI (computer-generated imagery). Overall, I loved the voice of Byron, the music that comes in at the right time and the pacing of the trailer. Well, here's the trailer for CassaFire:



I look forward to reading the sequel and congratulate Cavanaugh for having his second book set for print.