Reid Stories: Cool Ender's Game Scene and VECTO Prologue 0.2

Here's a cool scene from the Ender's Game movie:



"Ender's Game (1985) is a military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled mankind after two conflicts with the "Buggers", an insectoid alien species. In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, children, including the novel's protagonist, Ender Wiggin, are trained at a very young age through increasingly difficult games including some in zero gravity, where Ender's tactical genius is revealed." - Wikipedia

Here's where you can find the book: Ender's Game: 1 (The Ender Quintet).

And here's my VECTO scene of the week:

Reid Stories: Favorite Star Wars Scene and VECTO Prologue 0.1

Here's my favorite scene from the Star Wars movies (spoilers):



"Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. The film series, consisting of two trilogies, has spawned an extensive media franchise called the Expanded Universe including books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books. These supplements to the franchise resulted in significant development of the series' fictional universe, keeping the franchise active in the 16-year interim between the two film trilogies. The franchise depicts a galaxy described as far, far away in the distant past, and it commonly portrays Jedi as a representation of good, in conflict with the Sith, their evil counterpart. Their weapon of choice, the lightsaber, is commonly recognized in popular culture. The franchise's storylines contain many themes, with strong influences from philosophy and religion." - Wikipedia

Here's where you can find the original movie trilogy: Star Wars Trilogy Episodes IV-VI (Blu-ray + DVD).

And here's my VECTO scene of the week:

Free Promotions, Steelheart Book Trailer, and VECTO BitNovel

I'm going to change the direction of my blog to promote my VECTO story while helping other authors as well. Until August 1, 2014, I'm offering a chance to promote books by writers of science fiction or superhero fantasy, which will accompany a scene of my story. The space will look something like below.

Here's a book trailer for the Steelheart book by Brandon Sanderson:



"The Reckoners series is a fantasy series written by American author Brandon Sanderson. Three books are planned in the series: Steelheart (published 2013), Firefight (forthcoming 2014), and Calamity (forthcoming). In the post-apocalyptic world of the Reckoners series, random people have gained superpowers. These actions of these new super powered individuals, known as "Epics" have caused the collapse of traditional governments." - Wikipedia

Here's where you can find the digital book: Steelheart (The Reckoners).

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The promotional space will contain a trailer or image, a 100-word-maximum description of the book or series and a link to where people can find the book. If you have a science fiction, fantasy superhero, or anime-style book published that would be rated PG-13 or below if it's a movie (no sex scenes, no strong language, etc.), then you can contact me with the above information. The book must be available via online retailers such as Barnes & Noble and/or Amazon. You can find the contact form by clicking the "Contact Me" tab above. I'll let you know what day your info will be posted and only ask that you link back to my blog from your website if you have one. In the meantime, I will post videos from popular book, movie, and TV franchises.

Below the info, I will provide a BitNovel version of my VECTO story starting from the beginning. There will be a post every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. until at least December. The story is still in draft form, so I appreciate any comments or suggestions.

What's a BitNovel? Simply put, it's a name I created for bite-sized novels ideal for mobile phone users or readers who are in a hurry. Each part is short, and the following posts will pick up right where you left off with a brief reminder of what previously happened. Every time a chapter is completed, I'll post a detailed summary of the chapter on the following Wednesday at 5 p.m. This will help refresh your memory before the next chapter or help those new to the story get up-to-speed on what has happened.

VECTO blurb:  
"An obsessed robot, sidekick cyborg, ex-military commander, sword-wielding thief, determined assassin, martial arts master/farmer, and others cross paths in this action-packed, kick-butt story about a robot with emotions named Vecto who goes on a revengeful search of a longtime nemesis. But as Vecto's actions turn drastic, will he become a hero or a villain? Inspired by anime, comics, RPG video games, and other media, this story blends the best of all worlds. I rated it 13+ due to violence."

I hope you enjoy my book and learn more about other great stories.

(Oct. 23, 2014, update: You can buy my Vecto: Vengeance light novel on Amazon here: Vecto: Vengeance.)

Reid Review: 'Star Wars: Threads of Destiny' Best Fan-Made Movie?

Threads of Destiny movie poster collection.

Fan-made movies, although thoughtful, usually are terrible in quality, which hinders the audience's experience. Not this film. Star Wars: Threads of Destiny, directed by Rasmus Tirzitis, recently was released after nine years of development. It had a small budget of between $5,500 and $6,000, involved more than 100 volunteers, and was created to showcase their talents, according to its website: www.swtod.com. Although it had a low budget, it seems that its talented volunteers worked well with their resources and made a surprisingly good fan film.

It won't win any battles as a feature film, but it's quality is on par with a made-for-television film, which is actually really good for a fan-made movie. The acting was convincing despite some flaws from side characters, and the effects must have taken a long time to do but paid off. There wasn't as much action as official Star Wars movies, but the action scenes it had were suspenseful and felt like I was watching official Star Wars scenes. Of course, the heart of the movie was its story, and it delivered a Star Wars-like experience. Frankly, I think it's the best fan film I've ever seen.

It stars Patrik Hont, Carolina Neurath, Karl Lindqvist, Andreas Rylander, Karl Windén and Pale Olofsson and was produced by Tirzitis Entertainment, Branbomm film, and Eclipse FX, according to its website. I'd only recommend seeing this movie if you've seen the official Star Wars films. It's apparently made for fans of the franchise.

You can download the movie for free on its website: www.swtod.com. Or you can watch it below.



What do you think of it? Comment below.

Reid Picks: Little-Known Robot Movie (Enthiran) is Blazing Good

Robot (2010) from Amazon.com

I recently came across this little-known movie from 2010 called Robot (or Enthiran in Hindi), and I'm glad I did. I first saw a YouTube video of the action scenes and then watched the movie in Hindi (I later found out that there is an English subtitled version). Although I didn't understand a word they said, the pictures say thousands of words.

The action concepts are just amazing (even though the CGI isn't the best), plus it's surprising that the movie actually has a strong love story, which I didn't expect but which worked quite well with it. I think I love it because it reminds me of my Vecto character and the outlandish types of action scenes I come up with.

I couldn't embed the over-the-top action clips from YouTube on this site, so here is the link to it:

http://youtu.be/yysbbPStfWw

What do you think of the movie's action scenes?

Read Chapters of My 'Vecto' Book for Free

Vecto is the first book in a trilogy that I'm writing. I'm posting chapters for free on Wattpad.com, but they're not the final versions. If you want to be a beta reader, visit my page at wattpad.com/ReidKemper and make sure to leave a comment and vote for it. I'd love to hear your opinion!

Art by Rafael Fitzgerald.

The book stars a character that I created in 1996 named Vecto--a robot made of floating parts who has emotions. I created him for a collaborative universe I helped start called the Alpha Squad. The stories have always been something my friends and I enjoyed creating, and I'd like to share that universe with you.

In the storyline, Vecto was created in the year 3,005 by a scientist named Vic who is part of a midget race of beings called Dinishmen (the race is small and frail because they are optimized for brain power with less resources provided to their bodily form). His being consists of an orb that projects layers of form-fitting shields around a body of floating parts. Although he helps fight in a war, he is eventually disowned by his master and is recruited by a group of fighters called the Alpha Squad. The A.S. was created with the sole mission of eliminating a nine-foot-tall cyborg called Morphaal, who is considered the most dangerous being alive.

Years later, Morphaal is killed and the Alpha Squad no longer has a purpose. Even after Morphaal's death, his henchmen live on and Vecto's best friend is killed. The Vecto book starts off with Vecto trying to deal with his friend's death. To top it off, he hears that Morphaal has been revived and is looking to conquer a hidden planet called Zendora, where Morphaal plans to move his base of operations.

The story chronicles Vecto's quest to find Morphaal. However, the loss of his friend causes him to obsess over finding Morphaal to exact revenge. This results in rash decisions and violent behavior. His noble journey soon becomes a killing rampage, and his Alpha Squad teammates must find a way to stop him.

I'm writing the story in chapters that mimic TV episodes. Similar to light novels, which are popular in Japan, the story is focused on dialogue and action to maintain a quick reading pace. I don't take three minutes of your time to elaborate on a three-second scene. I try to match reading speed with the actual time taking place. Although it's written with older teens in mind, it's a good read for adults as well. If you like action-packed stories with unique characters, comic book movies, RPG video games, anime, and other media, you should read the book ... and let me know what you think!

Reid Review: Ender's Game Movie Lives Up to Expectations

Ender's Game movie poster.(

(Update: March 2, 2014)

So many people have reviewed the Ender's Game movie with very different opinions. Some love it; some hate it. Some like it better than the book, and others think it pales in comparison. There are even reviewers who have never read the book and enjoyed it or hated it. As a science fiction fan who's favorite book is Ender's Game, I equally enjoyed the movie.

Here's a one-sentence description of the film from the Internet Movie Database: "Young Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against the Formecs, a genocidal alien race which nearly annihilated the human race in a previous invasion." You can learn more about the basic plot from the book description (click the Amazon link below), so I won't bother explaining.

The movie stars Asa Butterfield as the protagonist boy Ender Wiggin, Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff, Hailee Steinfeld as Ender's friend Petra Arkanian, and Abigail Breslin as Ender's sister Valentine Wiggin among others. It's based on the book of the same name, which won both the Nebula and Hugo awards. If you haven't read the novel, you should read it. Below are links to the book and movie, which is now on Blu-ray.


So here's my review: