Are you constantly on the go? Has your lifestyle become too frantic and frenzied? Does your latest deadline have you chained to the computer?

Now you can at least take the stress out of meal-planning by serving your family a nutrious and delicious cheeseburger in a can. Umm Umm good. Heat the can in boiling water, pop the top, and voila! Sounds yummy, doesn't it?

Clive Owen Wednesday

Very powerful scenes from the movie Bent set to the song "Iris" by the GooGoo Dolls.

SPOILER ALERT. This video contains spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the film and plans to.

Otherwise click and enjoy.

My Favorite Martian

So I'm doing an interview with Dark Scribe Magazine, and I was asked about my affinity for conspiracy theories, specifically which ones keep me awake at night. I'm not one to lose sleep over much of anything, but I have to admit, I'm a true believer in the UFO cover-up conspiracy. I definitely think the government is hiding something.

Take the recent sightings in Stephenville, Texas. Many credible people saw this huge, strange object being chased (or escorted) by fighter jets. An Air Force spokesman at Fort Worth's Joint Reserve Base said there were no military planes at all in the area on that Tuesday. Now we're being told that, oops, they made a mistake. Turns out, there were no less than ten F-16 fighter jets in the Stephenville area on the night dozens of residents reported seeing a UFO. They just want to set the record straight, you see, "in the interest of public awareness."

Right.

Next thing you know, NASA will be telling us that the mysterious human-like creature in the above Mars photograph is not a Martian bigfoot but a feature of the red planet's atmosphere. Oh, wait...

The Devil's Footprints Theme

My friend, Axel (front man for Breathe) has written a theme for The Devil's Footprints. It's amazing to me how he's able to capture so perfectly the tone and atmosphere of the book. He's also written a deliciously dark and haunting tune called "Amanda's Darkest Moments." How cool is it to have your own theme song?

News

Finished the manucript for Marked by Evil, the online prequel to The Devil's Footprints and turned it on Friday. Now it's back to work on The Whispering Room, my next thriller, which will be out March, 2009, from MIRA.

One of my MySpace friends, Stormy, posted a blog this week called True Paranormal Anomalies and The Devil's Footprints. She has a great write-up on her site, along with the video promo. The blog was so popular, it reached the number three spot on the MySpace Dreams and the Paranormal blog list. Thanks, Stormy!

I've redesigned my site on CrimeSpace to highlight the new book.

Woohoo!

Bond geek that I am, I'm ecstatic about the EON press conference this morning where the title of the new James Bond movie was officially announced. Quantum of Solace comes from an Ian Fleming short-story published in the collection For Your Eyes Only first released in 1960.

When quizzed about the title, Daniel Craig said, "We could have gone for a snappier title but that's not part of the deal...It ties into the plot, it's not some random title."
(source: MI6)

He also said the film will be "more of a classical Bond movie. There's a touch of Ken Adam (the Bond production designer famed for giant villain lairs) and '60s spy movie". He also added that Bond will be "misbehaving more this time."

Color me giddy with anticipation!

Here's a little video sneak peek hot off of Youtube.

Nowheremen

If you like a good mystery (and who doesn't/dunnit?), I just heard via Pop Candy about a new social reality game called Nowheremen.

Here's the set up from their site:

"Derek Border went missing on June 7th, 2002 -- hours after graduating with honors from a prestigious east coast university. Lacking solid leads or even evidence of foul play, the case has long since been abandoned by the police.

Even those closest to Derek have given up hope in the intervening years, moving on with their lives as best they can.

But Derek Border isn't dead.

Cut to 2007, Derek's voice is heard again.

Through coded messages found all over the internet, Derek has been asking for help in escaping. But from where? And from whom? His cryptic messages leave much to the imagination. It is only slowly, piece by piece, that we come to know more about Derek: Why did he disappear? Where is he now? How can we help him?

The little we do know, however, only seems to raise more questions. Is it actually Derek that's talking to us? It seems certain that he's alive. Why does he only release information in small pieces, at certain times and as puzzles that must be solved? Is it to cover his tracks because he's being watched? Are we putting ourselves in danger by searching for him?

Through talent, hard work and cooperation, the community here at nowheremen.net has made great strides in solving the mystery of Derek's disappearance -- ignoring the dangers that come from the ominous unknown. Each day brings us closer to knowing the truth."

Wow, that sounds like fun!

The site has message boards where players can inneract with one another. If you start the game from the beginning, you can try to solve all the clues on the site and click the "spoil" button if you get stuck. Go to the main page, and you can watch this week's first webisode featuring Derek. Look for a new clue each Tuesday at 2:22 ET.

Spoofed

Check out this Funny or Die short with Jerry O'Connell spoofing the infamous Tom Cruise Scientology video.

Clive Owen Wednesday

Some photos have surfaced from the shooting of Clive's new movie, The International, with Naomi Watts. He plays an obsessive Interpol agent working on a case involving banking corruption and arms-dealing. Judging by this picture, I'd say the action-thriller gets pretty intense.

Sadly, I have no Clive video this week, but in case you missed the world premiere of The Devil's Footprints promo, just click.

Sid

For anyone who has been keeping up with my little kitten's trials and tribulations, I may finally have some good news. He's whipped the ringworm, but for the last three months, his chronic diarrhea has been kicking both our asses. Four doctors and countless tests later, my vet and I think we may have found the answer. Tritrichomonas Foetus is an emerging parasite in the feline world. It is rarely tested for and may be responsible for many of the cases of chronic diarrhea (e.g. IBD) in cats. More information can be found here.

The X-Files Movie

I'm not sure how I feel about the leaked details of the new X-Files movie. According to USA Today, the alien mythology has been dumped for a stand-alone story. It seems a lot of viewers were turned off by the complexity and ambiguity of the alien conspiracy, but I wasn't one of them. I loved that whole arc, especially Cancer Man and the abduction of Mulder's sister. But I also really dug the monster-of-the-week stories and I can't say I'll be disappointed with something along the lines of "Post-Modern Prometheus" or "D.P.O.", which guess-starred the most excellent Giovanni Ribisi and Jack Black.

And on a side note, both Mulder and Scully are looking mighty fine, I must say.

News

I now have in my possession the trailer for The Devil's Footprints. Very exciting! I'll have it up on the website shortly, but in the meantime, I'm posting the YouTube video here. MSH out of Austin created it and I love how sinister and scary it is. Exactly what I wanted.

Work continues on Marked by Evil, the online sequel to The Devil's Footprints. I'll be turning it in next week, so be sure and watch for it here on March 4.

Don't forget to clip the dollar-off coupon in the back of my January Intrigue, Texas Ransom.

Okay, without further ado...

Once Upon a Time...

I haven't seen Enchanted yet (I plan to because I love Amy Adams!), but I did find this:

The Fairy Tale Generator

Here's part of mine:

The fairy placed a single seed in my palm which I immediately planted and tended to for months. For days, I watered the seed, showered it with words of encouragement as it grew into a young sprout, and gave it proper space and care as it blossomed fully into a magnificent red rose that granted any wish that I whispered lovingly into its soft petals.

Hey, not bad.

Hillary's Inner Tracy Flick

"Don't you just hate when some upstart comes along and threatens your best-laid plans?"

Someone clever over at Slate noticed that Hillary Clinton has been channeling Tracy Flick lately. For anyone who hasn't seen Election, OMG! You must!

Amanda Stevens is a Slacker

Jeez, who told Clive about me?



Click here if video doesn't play.

Clive Owen Wednesday

His name is Clive Owen and pay strict attention to what he has to say:

I've never been interested in playing good guys. I'm always attracted to dangerous characters. (Me, too! Especially when the dangerous character is played by Clive Owen.)

The sexiest part of the body is the eyes. Corny, but that's what I believe. (And you've got some mighty fine peepers, Mr. Owen.)

Parenthood and family come first for me, and when I'm not working I'm cool with the Teletubbies. (And I'm cool that you're cool with Teletubbies.)

When I was 10 or 11, I played the Artful Dodger in a school production of Oliver. From that point forward, I said I wanted to be an actor. Nobody in my family took it seriously, but I saw no other path. I was a cocky little kid. This one teacher said: 'You're a working-class kid from Coventry. What do you know?' (Last laugh to Mr. Owen.)

My gardening skills are awful. (Trust me, no one cares, Clive.)

Just Plain Cool

One of my MySpace friends brought this video to my attention, and I think it falls under the category of Just Plain Cool. It's an ASL (sign language) interpretation of Marilyn Manson's "This Is The New S#*t". Thanks Stormy!

To check out more of this artist's work, click here.

Top Ten Tuesday

Where would action movies be without an arsenal of great weapons? Here's my top ten list of ultra-cool movie weapons. Feel free to add your own.

The Phaser from Star Trek. No top ten list would be complete without it.

The Light Saber from Star Wars. Gotta put it on the list because it's iconic.

The Rail Gun from Eraser. Are those things real?

The City Destroyer weapon from Independence Day. Terrifying!

Ash's Chainsaw from Army of Darkness. A chainsaw fitted to your arm? Now that's badass.

Predator's Flying Disc from Predator 2. It slices and dices it's way through sides of beef to Gary Busey.

Excalibur from the movie by the same name. Cool legend, cool movie, cool sword.

Proton Pack from Ghostbusters. Very effective against a giant marshmallow man.

Stormbringer from the Michael Moorcock books. Okay, this is probably cheating because the movie isn't out yet (I don't think). But this sword can eat souls, y'all.

Sentinel Sphere from Phantasm. If you see this thing coming, don't bother ducking. It's all over. Talk about slicing and dicing.

Drones

I don't know what to make of these 'drone' sightings, do you? Supposedly the authencity of some of the photographs that have appeared on the Coast to Coast website, as well as other places, have been called into question, but there's still plenty of eye witness testimony that has yet to be debunked. And now comes this video of a drone in flight over Brazil. Let me just say, if this thing is real, it is a friggin' badass-looking craft. And we are in big trouble. Watch the video all the way to the end for a closer (and scarier)look. Then imagine the sky filled with these things.

News

So I've seen the final cut of The Devil's Footprints trailer and it's awesome! The company I used (out of Austin, Texas) did a fabulous job. It's creepy and scary and very different from any other book trailer I've seen, which is exactly what I wanted. I'll be putting it up here on my blog shortly so stay tuned.

I'm gearing myself up for some Devil's Footprints PR. Next week I plan to visit area bookstores and get some autographings lined up, and I'd also like to do a few signings in Arkansas since a good portion of the book is set there. Plus, I could visit with my sisters.

I'm also interested in running a contest on my website. If anyone has any ideas for a killer contest, let me know! I've also updated my website, so please take a look around when you get a chance.

I've been approached about being the introductory luncheon speaker for HeartLA's Readers Luncheon in September. These folks were so gracious when I drove over for the luncheon last October that I eagerly jumped at the chance. It's a great event and I'll be talking more about it in the coming months.

Texas Ransom, my current Intrigue, is getting some great reader response. I was worried about this book because the protagonist is a little different from the larger-than-life Intrigue hero. He's more of an Everyman who is thrust into extraordinary circumstances and has to dig deep to find his heroic nature. But so far, so good.

And speaking of Intrigue, I'll be blogging at the Intrigue Authors Blog on January 23, February 13, and February 27 (all Wednesdays). Please stop by if you get a chance.

More to come...

Heil Kitler

Check out CatsThatLookLikeHitler. Name says it all.

Meet the New Bond Girl

According to the producers, Olga Kurylenko will play the "dangerously alluring Camille, who challenges Bond and helps him come to terms with the emotional consequences of Vesper's betrayal."

Since I'm such a James Bond geek these days, I'm keeping up with all the latest hoopla surrounding the next movie, which is filming even as we speak. For anyone who hasn't yet seen Casino Royale, you can read my review here. Bond 22 will be out in November of this year.

Clive the Puppet Master

Okay, I would make a comment here about Clive pulling my strings, but that's just too easy.

Speed Painting of Clive Owen

Cool video.

The Making of a Book Trailer

Some stills from the location shoot of The Devil's Footprints trailer.

The crew arrives at an abandoned house near Austin, Texas.










Bells are hung from a tree.










The director studies the shot.




















Cloven footprints are applied to the porch...










the walls...










and the steps.










A close-up is shot of the bloody footprints...










and then another wide shot of the house.










The light fades and shooting wraps.

Mr. Brooks

“Why do you fight it so hard, Earl?”

I’ve never been a fan of Kevin Costner’s movies (with the exception of A Perfect World), but I was looking for something to rent at Blockbuster a few weeks ago and Mr. Brooks caught my eye. I’d seen the trailer, which I thought intriguing, and knew something of the premise, but I’d resisted seeing it because I just didn’t think Costner could pull off a seriously menacing persona. Boy, was I seriously mistaken. His portrayal of the complicated Mr. Brooks—a businessman, philanthropist and loving father who also happens to be the notorious Thumbprint Killer—is understated, intelligent and almost disturbingly sympathetic. His gentle everyman demeanor, which is mirrored by the slow, deliberate pacing of the story, is what instills an almost surrealist sense of unease that deepens and grows as the plot unfolds.

His relationship with his alter ego, Marshall (played by the strange and fabulous William Hurt) is deliciously twisted and for me, their interaction is the highlight of the movie. Marshall's smooth delivery and glib cruelty are a fine counterpoint to Mr. Brooks’s brooding regrets.

If there was a weak link in the movie, it was the tough, tenacious police detective played by Demi Moore. Too much time was spent on developing a character that just never came to life. I would have preferred they cast an unknown and make it a somewhat throw-away role.

At any rate, Mr. Brooks is a top-notch(and unusual) thriller that I highly recommend.

I'm Clive Owen, that's MENTAL!

Only the best for my Clivey.