For my third show review, I chose the new Sam Esmail series, Mr. Robot, on Amazon Prime.

Now, I was surprised when I came across this show and uncertain whether I would enjoy it. I hadn’t heard anything about Mr. Robot, but the reviews thus far were good and I’ve always enjoyed Christian Slater’s acting.

The reviews were right. If you are into the tech underworld and flawed characters rebelling against corporate America, this show is for you. Think modern Fight Club. Rami Malek, a new actor for me, did a great job, and Christian Slater performed just as expected. Be sure to watch the entire first season. There are twists and turns that make up for the earlier slow pacing.

If you are a fan of Fight Club, the tech underworld, and darkly twisted shows, I highly recommend Mr. Robot.

Mr. Robot: 5 Stars

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

Today I have a book review and an additional surprise. Anjenique Hughes’ break-out novel Sovereignty is the topic of discussion, and to add to this discussion, Angenique herself has agreed to join us for a little interview. I tell you, it’s always nice seeing where other authors started out and where their writing career leads them, what lies on the horizon you might say. The horizon looks quite good for this first-time author. As an added bonus, she is also a teacher by day, like Stephen King, and Brent Weeks. So many writers start out that way. We are in good company. Go teachers! So, before I get to my review of Sovereignty, let’s meet Anjenique. 

Bio:

Yes, it’s me, Anjenique “Jen” Hughes, a wacky high school English and math teacher who loves to travel and loves my students. Saying I am “young at heart” is an understatement; I happen to be fluent in sarcasm, I can break the sound barrier with my loud teacher voice (students have complained when they were within earshot), and I am never short of snappy comebacks. I am blessed to be doing what I absolutely love doing in life: teach and write. My work with ethnically and socio-economically diverse youth has inspired me to write books that appeal to a broad variety of students seeking stories of bravery, perseverance, loyalty, and success.
W: Hello there, Anjenique. Good to have you aboard.

A: Hi!

W: So why don’t you tell us about your new release, get the readers into your world.

A: My book, Sovereignty, is a thrilling dytopian YA fiction novel centering around the life of three 18-year-old guys living in the 23rd century. In a city once known as Los Angeles, families live under an oppressive government regime that controls their every move through human identity chip implantation. Naturally, the teen leader of these three, Goro, is itching to rebel against the powers that be; he and his two friends embark on a treacherous road to accomplishing just that. Goro unwittingly possesses an important piece of intel that his ISIS-style dictatorship wishes to acquire, as well as the underground resistance movement. Goro has his own plan of how to proceed in rebelling, however, things never go according to plan; Goro is hurtled down a unknown path which causes him to question everything he knows to be true in life. It’s a scenario in which we human beings may very well find ourselves in the near future.


“Nothing is sacred, secret, or safe.”

W: Wow! I hadn’t really thought about the ISIS connection potential, but having just finished Sovereignty, I can certainly see the similarities. I was more reminded of George Orwell’s 1984 and the Divergent series initially. But you are right. This seems like it could really happen in the not-so-distant future. How does this world differ from our normal world?

A: The world in Sovereignty is different than our world in the sense that we currently do not have the government controlling everything we do and say, at least not here in the United States. We still have ample freedom and tolerance is present. In my world, hardly anything is tolerated; how you dress and how you wear your hair is strictly regulated. The technology is not that far off, though. Eventually we will have something akin to implanted micro-chips. We already have surveillance systems that allow for monitoring environments. For example, my colleague has a system set up in her home in which she can swipe an app on her phone and she can see what her daughters are doing in the living room, what her dog is doing in the yard, etc. It’s fascinating!

W: Whoa, fascinating yes… and a little scary. This is where it’s so similar to 1984, like I mentioned. With the future in people’s minds and the upcoming election, it’s certainly a fear. So who or what inspired you to write this book?

A: In all honesty, I wrote this book for my students. They inspired me every day, and though all of them are now graduated, I still think of them often. The three main characters that are most prominent throughout the book, Cory, Alex, and Goro, are named after three students throughout my teaching career with whom I built strong relationships and whom I individually mentored. They say, “To teach is to touch a life forever.” Well, those three young men touched my life and probably taught me more than I taught them!

W: Isn’t that the truth. My inspiration for writing A Life of Death came mostly from my students, so I completely understand. We grow and learn from the people we meet, even our students. I just hope I’ve helped them learn more than they taught me. Speaking of characters, do you have a special formula for creating characters’ names? Do you try to match a name with a certain meaning, attributes of the character, or do you search for names popular in certain time periods or regions?

A: Great question! Most of the names I chose in the book are named after real people, either a student or a family member. Just a few names, such as Mickey and Josiah, I chose because I just liked them. The names of those who are in power were specifically chosen because they signify a darker reality and allegorically identify certain themes in the book. That is for the reader to discover and decide on their own, however! 

W: And I’m sure they’ll enjoy the read. Was one of your characters more challenging to write than another?


A: I would say the most challenging character to write was the ruler of the Sovereign Regime, named Davio. He is so palpably evil that I had a tough time getting him to the degree of “wicked” I wanted to portray to readers. A lot of times evil dictators can come off looking corny or cartoonish almost, and it’s a real skill to have the bad guy appear believable and seem really real, so to speak. Not sure if I accomplished this, hoping I did! LOL.

W: I can honestly say you did without going overboard. I’m a bit more gruesome in my books so have to worry about adding too much, but your balance was good. Readers will love Goro and the main characters and love to hate Davio and his subordinates. Switching gears a little bit, what is the most interesting thing you have physically done for book-related research purposes?

A: I had one of my personal Krav Maga trainers help me choreograph one of the final fight scenes during one of our training sessions! It was amazing. Krav Maga is a large part of my life, so naturally this style of combat plays a huge part in the novel.


W: I’m impressed. I think I got my green belt in Tae Kwon Do when I was a kid, but that’s about as far as I went. It didn’t help that my instructor took off with the money our parents paid ahead of time and ran, so I’m not so sure how accurate his teaching was… or his credentials. I think the police probably still have warrants out for his arrest in Texas twenty-five years after the fact. So, did you find anything really interesting while researching Sovereignty?

A: I found all the research I completed surrounding Navy Seals and SWAT really fascinating! I had the opportunity to speak with LAPD officers, as well as SWAT officers, in researching the tactical scenes in the novel. The Navy Seals research I conducted had me practicing knife drills and handgun disarmament as well. I also consulted my Krav instructors on a regular basis.

W: Oh man! I’d hate to be the stalker who stumbles upon you one day, not that I want you to be stalked at all. (Insert foot in mouth.) I just don’t see good things in anyone’s future who stumbles across your path with less than honorable intentions. Look out readers, don’t mess with Anjenique Hughes! 🙂 It’s been great having you here, Anjenique. Where can readers find you on the web?

A: They can find me at www.sovereigntyseries.com. My Twitter, Facebook, Blog, and Snapchat info is all there on the home page…


W: I look forward to reading the sequel when it’s finished. Have a great one!

And now for reviews. As I mentioned, I just finished this novel myself… but before I tell you what I thought, I found a Kirkus review of Sovereignty, which is a great place for very critical reviews in order to find new books. Check it out here.

And without further ado, here are my thoughts on Anjenique Hughes’ first novel, Sovereignty!

Goro never realized how far his teenage rebellious streak would take him in standing up against the totalitarian reign of the 23rd century’s world government, the Sovereign Regime (SR). And in Anjenique Hughes’s break-out novel Sovereignty, Goro is put up against a multitude of hurdles and road blocks. It’s a little slow at first, and like many first novels could benefit with some tightening for sentence structure and flow, but that doesn’t stop the enjoyment. The novel picks up speed quickly when Goro ventures to his father’s work during one of his deliveries, becoming a fast-paced thrill ride with revenge for personal and societal wrongs as a driving force. Reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, The Giver, and Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, Sovereignty is a page turner that fans of YA dystopian fiction will love. What’s more, there’s clearly a sequel on the way! Four stars across the board.



Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

For my second television review, I picked the new Netflix series Stranger Things. Haven’t seen it yet? IMDB describes it as:

“When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his friends must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back.”

I was impressed with the show. However, surprisingly the one actress whose name drew me to watch it in the first place, Winona Ryder, turned out to be me least favorite character. This isn’t to say she didn’t do a good job. She did, but her characters often seem to be quirky and this one is no different.

The first season of the show was great, the perfect amount of mystery combined with sci-fi thrills and suspense. Think Hitchcock meets Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or if you’re a reader, this would certainly fall into Stephen King’s realm. In fact, Stephen King and others tweeted about the series, giving it two thumbs up, as reported on IndieWire. Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t necessarily a space series. It’s a different type of science fiction. (I don’t want to say too much and give things away.) However, the pacing, development, and effects are subtle and well done without going overboard, much like the skills Hitchcock and Spielberg built careers on. Matt and Ross Duffer did a great job, and I will be keeping an eye on their future work.

My only complaint was about a couple of the unrealistic D&D scenes, but I feel that can be excused. As a gamer myself, role-playing is a lot of fun, but it’s not very cinematic or exciting for viewers. However, adjusting the game play for the series could have been done better.

Overall, I highly recommend Stranger Things for fans of the paranormal, small town horror stories, and science fiction.

Stranger Things: 5 Stars

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

While I don’t take requests for book reviews due to time constraints, I do listen to audio books a lot and review them on Goodreads and Amazon. So, I guess it’s time I started opening those up on here for fellow readers.

For the last couple months I’ve been enjoying a new author I discovered, Brent Weeks. I started with his Lightbringer series, but now that I’ve caught up to him, I will most certainly check out his other works and the spin-off book Gunner’s Apprentice. Having just finished book 3 in the Lightbringer series, I’ve included my review below. However, first I should include my review of book 1, so here it is:

Book 1: The Black Prism 
After discovering Brent Weeks’s books on Hoopla, I couldn’t help but read/listen to them. The description was intriguing. I didn’t quite know what the colors involved, nor the Prism, but I’m glad I chose the series. It’s wonderful. The characters have depth, the world is wide and intriguing, and the cultures make the entire thing so realistic, as much as fantasy can be. It is very reminiscent of Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

I must say that there was one thing that grated on me throughout the novel though. As a writer and editor, the overuse of passive voice was just too much. That was the only reason for the 4 star rating instead of 5.  I highly recommend Brent Weeks’s Lightbringer series to anyone who loves fantasy.

Books 2 and 3: The Blinding Knife & The Broken Eye

I must say, Brent Weeks didn’t skimp on books 2 or 3. They were great, and I certainly didn’t see the twist ending in book 3 coming. Man! And I certainly appreciate the correction of the passive voice that was so evident in book 1. If you are a fan of magical fantasy worlds like Robin Hobb’s work or George R.R. Martin, take a look at Brent Weeks’s Lightbringer series. It’s well worth it. Five stars across the board!

So what are you waiting for? Grab a copy of book 1 in Brent Weeks’s Lightbringer series ASAP. It’s well worth the read. It’s available on Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and most other book retailers.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

For my first show review, I figured I should comment on the show I’ve been revisiting of late. If you’ve never watched MythBusters, IMDB describes it as:

“A weekly documentary in which two Hollywood special effects experts attempt to debunk urban legends by directly testing them.”

MythBusters began in 2003 and is still running. Over the years, I enjoyed watching seasons of MythBusters with Adam Savage and the Hyneman as they blew up everything from vans and semi trucks to buildings, all to test common myths.

I recently checked out the series again on Hulu and discovered that there were many more seasons to enjoy. So, with my summer full on, I’m enjoying what I see, even just randomly picking up with season 11. For those who may have missed it or just haven’t watched it in a while, there’s tons more to enjoy! While I’ll be reviewing a variety of different show types, I’ll stick with the simplified 5 star review process.

MythBusters: 5 Stars

Side note: For those who are wondering about my writing, it’s still coming along. I’m currently working on book 3 of A Life of Death, and it is again progressing well. More information will be forthcoming. If you haven’t read my A Life of Death series, I highly recommend it, as do many others. Feel free to follow the link below to get your copy.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

Well, for those of you who haven’t heard, I recently received an acceptance email for my first academic publication! The article on inspiring reluctant readers using book clubs will be published in the Ohio Journal of English Language Arts this summer. It is about the book club I teach at Akron Digital Academy and the very positive results we’ve seen over the last two years.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

For quite some time I’ve wanted to talk about more than just books.

Books… mmmmm, yummy books. I delve into them on a daily basis. I read them. I listen to them. I write them. I edit them. I even teach children how to read and write and develop a love of literature.

However, that isn’t all there is to me, so starting today I will be branching out on this blog to include something else I enjoy immensely: movies and television shows. I will periodically review shows and movies I come across on Hulu, Netflix, in theaters, friend’s recommendations, trashcans, professional development meetings, and anywhere else this world takes me.

I have been compiling a list of shows I’d like to talk about, and here’s what I have so far, but many more still need to be added:

Shows
              Steampunk’d               
Stranger Things
Inked
Mythbusters
Marco Polo
Fixer Upper
The X Files
Jessica Jones
The Walking Dead
Person of Interest
Last Man Standing
Sense8
Continuum
Haven
White Collar
Myth Hunters
Helix
Dark Skies
Limitless
Agents of Shield
Game of Thrones
The Flash
Fringe
House Hunters
Mystery Files
Hell’s Kitchen
Great Food Truck Competition
The Flash
Fringe
House Hunters
The Ranch
That 70s Show
The 4400
Star Trek Voyager
Star Trek Next Generation
Deep Space 9
Arrow
Star Trek Enterprise
Once Upon a Time
Chuck
Breaking Bad
House of Cards
Hemlock Grove
Eureka
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
 and many more…
Movies
The Box Trolls    Terminator Generations   Back to the Future Trilogy
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder Ghostbusters (2016) and too many more to name…

Sorry, noticed that I was going on and on with the lists… As you can see, I’m not limiting myself to the greatest new thing, simply whatever show or movie catches my fancy at the moment. So, I’ll get to these and a lot more in the future.

If you have any recommendations, I am open to them. As you can see, my tastes are pretty eclectic.

For this haunted holiday, grab yourself a great short story collection. Strange Circumstances is free on Amazon until Halloween. And if you love action-packed science fiction, the first book in my Priors series, To Kill a Priest, is also available free, but get them now. Halloween will be here before you know it.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

I mentioned a couple weeks back that one of my short stories was picked up for publication. The other day I was given an eta for the FIFTY SHADES OF SLAY publication. The anthology should be released just in time for Halloween through Alucard Press, so if you like scary stories and are interested in reading my latest release–along with stories by many other great wordsmiths–keep an eye out for FIFTY SHADES OF SLAY. My story is titled Have Faith.

Happy reading!

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances

I am happy to announce the release of a book trailer for A Life of Death. Have a look.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances