Archive for Author MHD

We spotlight a lot of authors and indie books, so it is important sometimes to slow down and take a second look at some of the books we have been talking about. You can check out our last Indie Author roundup here.

Quántóu Rising
by J. Moody

Quántóu Rising is the sequel in my dystopian trilogy. The SEPA Project follows five characters from different walks of life as they try to unravel the secrets of their utopian society. New technology allows for those in power to steal memories, so it becomes a race to remember the truth. The novel looks at xenophobia, freewill, family bonds, and greed.” -J. Moody
Purchase on Amazon | Learn more about Quántóu Rising

Munchkin Tales
by Denny Griffith

Munchkin Tales, Book 1: Our lost Heritage is about three Munchkin cousins who want to leave Oz and have their own adventure. The first problem is no one is allowed to go out the back gates of the Emerald City which is the only way out. And no one knows why no one knows they can’t leave. They do find a way out, but only after some serious attempts to end them before they ever go. They can’t understand why it should be such an issue, but with the help of the Wizard, they soon at least get an inkling of who is behind them not wanting to leave.” -Denny Griffith
Purchase on Amazon | Learn more about Munchkin Tales

Ariya Kai
by F.Z. Zach

“The story, or idea, had been floating around in my head for a while and it was time to put it to paper. I wanted to create an action packed sci-fi story with themes that I thought were interesting to explore. And having worked on other creative people’s projects for a long time, it was time to work on my own.” -F.Z. Zach
Purchase on Amazon | Learn more about Ariya Kai The Secret of Colony L.I.F.E.

And don’t forget, you can follow all of our Indie Book Spotlights here!

Posted on February 21st, 2024 by MHD | Leave a Comment
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Detours was written and produced by Mara Lesemann and directed by Robert McCaskill. The movie is a drama about a recently single woman and her widowed father as they drive from New York City to Saint Petersburg, Florida. You can check out our full spotlight on Detours here and you can watch the movie for free on Tubi.

Detours stars Tara Westwood, Carlo Fiorletta, Paul Sorvino, Michael Cerveris, Deirdre O’Connell, Debargo Sanyal, Vanessa Aspilla, and Richard Kind.

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Finding Ophelia is a supernatural mystery and follows Advertising Executive William Edgar who “inhabits a strange dream-like reality. His obsession with a mysterious woman leads down a bizarre, dark path of signs and wonders. Sometimes finding the girl of your dreams can be a nightmare.” The movie was directed by Stephen Rutterford and stars Jimmy Levar, Christina Chu-Ryan, Ira Grossman, Alexandra Lyon, Alexandria Isola, and J.J. Crowne.

You can watch Finding Ophelia for free on Tubi here.

Posted on January 20th, 2023 by MHD | Leave a Comment
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The Stay is an independent thriller directed by Scott Hamm. The movie focuses on two couples that “rent a secluded house for a weekend getaway, and encounter an odd caretaker while facing a dangerous secret.” We talked to producer/star Kipp Tribble about the film, you can check out our spotlight post here and you can watch for free on Tubi TV.

The Stay stars Kipp Tribble, Nija Okoro, Rob Mayes, Scott Hamm, and Michele Martin. It was produced by Tribble, Hamm, and Charles Huddleston.

Posted on September 4th, 2022 by MHD | Leave a Comment
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What is Outcasts about?
Outcasts is a Young Adult fantasy novel about four enhanced teens who try to discover their origins. Lest people think, “Oh, another Fantastic Four ripoff”… not so! It’s more of an examination of the why as opposed to the how. And while there’s no shortage of action, it also focuses mainly on the individual relationships within the group. We have the MC, Mitch Kessler, who transforms to a gargoyle only when he’s angry. (He learns to control his transformation process later on in the story). He has a relationship with Callie, who’s a gender switcher, and she’s confused as to which gender she’ll end up as. Neil is a rock-man… ’nuff said. And Mitch’s best friend, Joe, is a spinning top. He can run and spin at high speeds, making him very effective as a crime fighter.

The plot concerns the Outcasts uniting under the US government’s aegis, breaking up- most of the the public doesn’t trust them, while some elements are indifferent to them- and then uniting again is when, ostensibly, a black-ops group, tries to kill them. Along the way, Mitch re-examines his relationship with Callie, decides he wants to stay with her, and he also tries to help his friends realize who they are. There is a HFN ending… and a sequel.

What inspired this story?
I wanted to get away from the usual punch-’em-up teen type of superhero novels. I’ve done those in the past and liked writing them, but I wanted to approach this novel from the perspective that our MC and his friends don’t like their powers or want them, and that they’re shunned by society for being what they are. For the record, I’m straight and married, but I have a lot of LGBTQI friends who are discriminated against simply because they are LGBTQI- no other reason. Discrimination in any form, religious/racial/orientation, is just plain wrong. I don’t push that as an agenda in the novel, but it comes out quite clearly. I don’t believe in spouting polemics. That’s a sure way to turn any reader off. But if they can identify with the characters, in this case Callie, they’ll get a better picture of how reality is.

Tell us a little about you, who is J.S. Frankel?
I was born in Toronto, Canada, long ago, and in my mid-twenties, I moved to Japan to work as an ESL teacher. Eventually, I fell in love with my wife, Akiko, and we got married many moons ago. We have two sons, and perhaps that’s helped to shape my writing and my outlook on life. I divide my waking hours teaching ESL and writing, and writing, while not a full-time gig, takes up a lot of time. The rest is for my family, movies, and food! Oh, and I love music videos… they provide great inspiration for my books!

How can we read Outcasts?
The book is available on Amazon. Oh, and you can also check out my novels as ExtasyBooks (links below).

Purchase Links:

Posted on April 25th, 2022 by MHD | Leave a Comment (4)
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Fathom podcast is back with their third season! The podcast is an anthology of short audio dramas that is a cross between The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Official podcast description: “An anthology series of short adventures that explore the fantastical, the mundane and everything in between. Humans are complicated creatures. In these episodes we explore what makes them tick. Morality tales that become something else. Supernatural thrillers that are more realistic than they first appear. This is a strange time in a strange world. What can you fathom?

The series is back with a new episode titled “Honesty is the Best Policy”, written and directed by our very own Ritchie Filippi, edited by Adrian Carey, and featuring the voice talents of Kirk Gostkowski, Adam Hamway, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Aimee Keates.

“Honesty is the Best Policy”
Episode Description: A brutal ode to a 90s slasher film, this Fathom tale concerns “Stu Who Knew,” a conflicted husband looking for advice. And maybe a bit more…

You can listen by clicking the below preview for Spotify or click here to listen on Apple Podcasts. New episodes of Fathom are released monthly.
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What are your favorite Podcasts? Let us know in the comments!

Posted on January 31st, 2022 by MHD | Leave a Comment (5)
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There were a lot of fun announcements and first looks at Disney+ Day (She-Hulk!!), but the one that surprised me the most was X-Men ’97, a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series. The original animated series was the show that introduced a generation to X-Men & Marvel Comics and totally set the stage for so much we see now. The show expertly adapted storylines from the comics with serial storytelling and a fantastic voice cast.

I had the pleasure of meeting X-Men: TAS director Larry Houston at Free Comic Book Day and I was really glad to learn that when he directed the series he was a huge X-Men fan. You could see that love on the screen as he had a big hand in shaping the stories that they told. I hope that the new series continues what TAS established, with the same animation, the same X-Men team, and adapting more recent X-Men stories into the world of the 90s.

Disney+ Day announced returning voice cast members including Wolvernie’s Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann and Chris Potter as Rogue and Gambit, George Buza’s Beast, Alison Sealy-Smith’s Storm, Catherine Disher’s Jean Grey (I still have the feels for her Phoenix saga), Adrian Hough’s Nightcrawler, and Christopher Britton’s Mister Sinister. Houston will be acting as a consultant on the new series along with Eric Lewald and Julia Lewald, producers of the original. Leading the creative team of X-Men ’97 is writer/executive producer Beau DeMayo, supervising director Jake Castorena, and supervising producer Charley Feldman. The show will launch in 2023 on Disney+. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

What storylines from the comics that have happened since the ’90s would you like to see adapted?

Posted on November 14th, 2021 by MHD | Leave a Comment
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