There are many reasons I love Twitter.  The personality of people, the breaking news updates in the publishing world, book promotions, and not to mention the fact that sometimes you can catch an author looking for a book reviewer. The ladder is how I snagged a copy of Troy Blackford’s short story collection entitled, “For Those With Eye’s To See.”  

When he asked if there was anyone who wanted to review a short story collection, I asked, “What sort of short stories?”  To which Troy replied, “Mostly horror, but all completely weird.”  Yes, this was our twitter conversation.  Mr. Blackford, you had me at weird.  I’d also like to mention that in his introduction, Troy states:

“The short story isn't the most respected or read form of writing right now, but I don’t see why that should be the case. If tawdry romance can make a literary comeback, then I think the short story’s time is due.”

I couldn't agree more.  I love short stories, reading them, writing them, drooling over them – and they are the perfect thing for someone to read who has a busy day.  Catch a story in between tasks at work, at lunch, or on the bus ride home.  So, for anyone reading this who hasn't given the short story a chance, I would suggest doing so, and if you’re into the weird, the macabre, and the twisted – like me – I would definitely suggest picking up Troy Blackford’s “For Those With Eye’s To See.”

These stories are fiendishly twisted, beautifully described, and never fail in sucking the reader right into the thick of things.  Each story is vastly different from the next.  His scenes are subtle, and he knows when he needs to show or to tell, and how to blend everything in between.  Blackford’s imagination is fun, original, and will no doubt in a few instances have the reader going:  “Seriously, dude, what the hell goes on in that head of yours?”

It is excellent and refreshingly original, not to mention it’s something you can read on the go.  I foresee many good things coming from one Mr. Troy Blackford.  Be careful though, wildly creative talent and addictive fans often lead to stalkers – which may only fuel more of the authors imagination.

"For Those With Eyes To See," by Troy Blackford gets FOUR ½ out of FIVE stars from me for being engaging, not having the same repetitious crap in one book, and I’ve only shed the half star because in the story “All In Your Head,” Mike knew the name of all the surgical equipment after doing crazy research, but Victor in “Promising Candidate” - a veteran trucker well versed in the lingo - never once referred to a refrigerated truck as a reefer unit.   However, that’s just my own little peeve because my daddy was a trucker in his younger days.  Don’t let that little tidbit deter you at all.  Trust me this is well worth the read if you enjoy the dark side of literature.

 1/2

About The Author:

Troy Blackford is a 29 year-old writer living in the Twin Cities with his

wife, two cats, and a son on the way.

His stories have appeared in places like Bewildering Stories, Roadside

Fiction, Roar & Thunder, the Glass Coin, Rose Red Review, and

Inkspill Magazine.

He has three other publications available on Kindle and in Paperback.

You can find out more about him on his website:

http://www.troyblackford.com

or follow him on Twitter: @TBlackford3

Image by Cool Text

Generally, I go through the Play Store (Yup, that’s right, I said play store, I’m an Android girl – sorry to all you iPhone users.) and look through the free games – I’m on a budget people – download several – try them out – uninstall half of what I downloaded – and then zero in on my favorite one. 

Just like any form of advertising, if the name of the app, the picture, or the description doesn’t draw me in – I’m not gonna download it.  That’s the facts, kids.  Grumpy Bear’s description is quite long – and to be honest it’s rare, if ever that I click on that more button to show the rest of the description.  That first blurb for the app has got to draw my attention.  Luckily, for Grumpy Bear’s, they did.

Grumpy Bear Description (Via the Play Store)

There be some grumpy teddy bears in the woods, and they be wantin' your honey!


Fight off the teddy bears and put up your best defenses to keep those grumpy teddies at bay.


Huge, family fun with tons of fur and explosions.


Now you must defend your barrels of honey at all cost. Luckily you have a wide variety of weapons and defense systems to do just that. Being a honey delivery truck has never been so dangerous and SO FUN!


Things you can throw at them grumpy teddy bears include:✩ Sticks o' Dynamite✩ Skully McGee's UberBombs✩ Bear Seeking Grenades✩ Dad's Pile o' Wrenches✩ Trusty Hay Bales✩ Molotov Cocktails✩ Your Pet Rock (not recommended)✮ The Nuke✮ The Hammer of Thunder✮ The Flaming Hay Bale✮ Lumberjack✮ Panda
Also be sure to check out these crazy tools of destruction:✮ The Electric FenceTeddy Bears you can unlock include:✮ Ninja...and many, many more!


Good luck and have fun!

I downloaded.

I tried.

I can’t get enough of throwing hay bales and blowing up angry looking stuffed Teddy Bears riding motorcycles and trying to steal the honey off the back of my truck.  They’ve even got personality!  If you miss, many times they stand up on their bike, shake their ass at you, and say, “Nanananana.”  It’s hilarious!  There are no bugs that I've found (so far), and it's very simple and lots of fun. Here’s the break down, this game is fun, there’s a variety of weapon options, hilarious antics, and it’s perfect for winding down after a long day at work.  Beware: Once you pick it up – you’ll loathe to put it down.

Grumpy Bears is brought to you by Fluik Entertainment, makers of wicked-fun mobile games such as Office Jerk, Office Zombie and Plumber Crack.

You can download the app HERE.

You can also visit their Facebook page HERE.

Iron Man 3 - Trailer

To be honest, Iron Man isn’t my favorite franchise of Superhero movies.  I’d much prefer to watch Thor with his red cape, hammer, and long flowing hair, or Captain America, (seriously they need to come out with a Hawkeye movie) as opposed to Tony Stark.  The character is great, but I’ve always been able to easily predict where the movie was going, what was going to happen, and my favorite part of the Iron Man franchise has always been the witty dialogue of the characters.  That alone makes it worth watching.  So, if you have not seen Iron Man 3 and do not wish to be spoiled, stop reading now.

THE REVIEW BEGINS HERE!

The thing I particularly loved about this Iron Man movie was the progress of Tony Stark’s character.  Tony has always been a playboy philanthropist with his own desires at the top of his to-do list.   He’s finally devoted to Pepper, and we see that he is – in fact – mortal like the rest of us.  Panic attacks are taking their toll on him, and each time, all Tony wants to do is jump in his suit.  It’s become his crutch.  He doesn’t sleep, barely eats, and spends every waking moment of his free time building new suits with new toys, and fresh concepts.  His hobby has become an obsession – and quite possibly the only thing that’s keeping him sane.

In the meantime The Mandarin – a terrorist that has caused several bombings against the US is stirring up trouble.  A man named Killian has returned from Tony’s past in hopes of getting funding for a new project – which Pepper deems is too dangerous and can be used for biological warfare.  Happy – our favorite goofy body guard – is now head of security and doesn’t quite trust Killian’s shady partner waiting in the living.  He follows him, gets blown up, but manages to get a clue to Tony.

Perhaps – in an act to prove that he’s still got it – Tony calls out The Mandarin and even gives his home address on live TV.  This of course, causes retaliation and we see Stark’s beautiful mountain side, ocean vista destroyed.  (There was a moment of thinking we lost Jarvas – not cool!) All of his suits are blown up, at least the ones we can see, his basement work shop is left in rubble – but what I loved about this scene was that when the first missile hit – Tony threw the suit (one which is not fully functional yet) on Pepper to protect her from getting hurt. 

After an almost watery grave – Tony escapes and finds himself in Tennessee – the clue that Happy left for Stark lead him there – though he wasn’t planning on going right away.  The suit is broken, Jarvis needs to sleep, and Tony finds himself walking through the snow, while dressed for sunny California, dragging the suit along behind him.  After getting a message to Pepper, he steals a poncho from a wooden statue and finds a shed where a new friend – a little boy named Harley – helps Tony in more ways than he realizes.  The interaction between these two is great, and Tony has to learn how to help the people of the nation without using the suit.  He can’t rely on it – the suit can no longer be his crutch.

That is my favorite part of Iron Man 3.  Tony has to realize how to be Iron Man with – or without the suit.  Now, I don’t want to give too much more away.  I don’t like to give away the ending, but the climax of the story arc was predictable and easy to call.  What happened after that though – well even I was surprised, so I won’t give it away.  I will say that Tony truly evolved as a person, and learned that with or without the suit – he is Iron Man.