Movie Review: Ian's Realm (Short film)

Ian's Realm
Director: Chris Love

Writer: Dianne Gardner (screenwriter)
15 minute short (Proof of Concept)

Based on the Ian's Realm Saga books by D.L. Gardner
Cast: Robert Miano, Jeff Stillwell, John Henry Whitaker, Bruce Weech, Manny Colin, Kandace Caine, Luke Carlson, Timothy Morgan, and Maddy McNelis.

Genres: Short | Adventure | Fantasy | History
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When an unsuspecting teenager from Seattle and his father discover that they tapped into a portal to another world on their computer, the two venture in. A pristine countryside lures them further away from the portal but calamity strikes while exploring an eerie mountain. Their horses are stolen, and Ian's father vanishes. At the same time, Ian is attacked, taken to a small village by the sea, and made a slave by dragon worshipers. His desire to escape the cult escalates when he realizes his father is lost in the dragon's lair. But a young boy wielding a magic dagger, and a fiery dragon prohibit him from fleeing.

Best Adapted Screenplay. Los Angeles International Film festival Indie Short Fest.

Dianne Gardner is the author of the award-winning Ian's Realm Saga. There are currently 6 volumes in the series. The short film is based on the first three. I haven't read the young adult series, but it has dragons!

I got a chance to watch the short film based on the first three Ian's Realm books. The creators have entered 58 film festivals. You can check their website (and sign up for the newsletter) for screening dates and places.

Ian's Realm is a short concept film consisting of a series of scenes from the book. The core of the story is about the relationship between a teenage boy and his father. There are dragons in the book but none in the short film. I'm guessing they couldn't strike a deal with a dragon--they can be such divas--and a CGI dragon would have blown their whole budget.

I was impressed with the quality of the production. Especially the visuals. Based on what I saw, this would make a fun action and adventure movie.

If there are any film festivals coming to your area, check to see if Ian's Realm is playing.

It's hard to give a rating to a concept film. But this is a movie I would like to see made!

SharonS

About the Writer:

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Ian's Realm Saga is adapted from the novel, the first three books in a young adult fantasy series by D.L. Gardner. Diane has written the feature film. She won a trophy for her pilot Cassandra's Castle, won Best Screenplay at the European Cinematography Awards and L.A. Edge Film Festival and came in as a finalist in New York Cinematography Awards for her screenplay Dylan. She also won Best Adapted Screenplay for Ian's Realm Saga Concept film at the Los Angeles International Film Festival Indie Short Fest.

Book Review: Hired Gun (Culvert City Crime Files, #1) by James R. Tuck

Hired Gun (Culvert City Crime Files, #1)
by James R. Tuck
Mass Market Paperback, 72 pages
Published August 26th 2013 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing

FROM THE AUTHOR WHO BROUGHT YOU THE PULSE-POUNDING DEACON CHALK SERIES!!!!

Culvert City, a place where bad people do bad things to each other. A hard place, a tough place, it's Killtown USA, Fist City, Murderville America, whatever you want to call it. Culvert City doesn't have a "bad side" of town, every square inch of the place is strychnine nasty and terminal as cancer.

Crime bosses, crooked cops, hitmen, ladies of the night, thugs, petty thieves, junkies, dirty politicians, gun thugs . . . every bad seed of every rotten apple lives here.

Good people who live here too.

They're called victims.

This is Crime fiction done right. Hard as concrete and twice as cold. Eight hard-boiled yarns of wrong-doin

Hired Gun is a short novella delivering a compilation of very short snippets of flash fiction written by James R. Tuck. Each story is presented with a forward from the author that shares a bit of his journey that inspired the story, as well as where and if it was previously published or shared. The stories are fun reads with the most memorable for me being the "No Name Hitman" and I would certainly love to see more about him with perhaps a full novel of his adventures, which would certainly have my fingers itching to get hold of it and find out just what he was up to next and just what occurred that resulted in his life choices.

The snippets are well written and it was intriguing getting to read a bit of the author's journey and prior fans of the author's work would definitely find these tidbits of insight into his thought processes a fun ride. On a final note, it must be said that Hired Gun left me with one major life change; I will never again be able to go through a fast food drive-through and see it with the same eyes. I received this book with a request for my honest review without any compensation whatsoever, other than the joy of reading a new book.

3.5 sheep

DeniseZ

About the Author/Editor:

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James R. Tuck lives outside Atlanta with his lovely wife and awesome kids. He has been a professional tattoo artist for 18 years and is a talented photographer. He is the author of the DEACON CHALK series (Kensington Books), the author of the CHAMPIONS OF HOLLOW EARTH series (Pro Se Press forthcoming 2014), the editor of the double anthology THUNDER ON THE BATTLEFIELD Volumes 1 and 2 (Seventh Star Press), and his short fiction has appeared and will appear in several anthologies such as: ONE BUCK ZOMBIES (One Buck Horror), THE BIG BAD (Dark Oak Press), HOOKERPUNK (Dark Oak Press forthcoming), ROBOTS UNLEASHED! (Mechanoid Press forthcoming), KAIJU RISING 2 (Ragnarok Press forthcoming), MONSTER EARTH 2 (Mechanoid Press forthcoming), and BADLANDS:TROUBLE IN THE HEARTLAND (Zelmer Pulp forthcoming).