Stranger Things Review

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:

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

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

After watching a great talk by Levar Burton, it was wonderful getting to meet him, although very brief. Fans of Star Trek and Reading Rainbow will understand my enthusiasm. I did point him toward Cleveland ConCoction with a card. Would be great to see him there some day. Talk about a cool, down to earth guy.

Well I finally took the next step in my writing career. The Horror Writers Association (HWA) just accepted my application and proof of publishing credentials, granting me membership.

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