THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE BURNS BRIGHTLY

Suzanne Collins' series, THE HUNGER GAMES, was groundbreaking in many ways. It ripped teen readers away from endless stories about vampires and werewolves and set off a kind of dystopian revolution. Soon young readers were really thinking about the future and pondering some deep questions about the way power corrupts, the growing influence of mass media, and the resilience of a young, courageous female hero committed to do the right thing given the choice to kill or be killed.

I found the movie adaptation of THE HUNGER GAMES Part 1 disappointing and lacking the excitement of the novel. This is definitely not true about CATCHING FIRE, a dark, simmering follow up that finds Katniss completely traumatized by her experience in the Hunger Games. Victory hasn't been sweet and though she has a nice house in The Victor's Village and plenty of food for Mom and Prim, she's haunted by the memory of what she had to do to get there. The action starts up again with a visit from the menacing President Snow ( a wonderfully creepy Donald Sutherland) who says he's onto Katniss's whole charade about being in love with Peeta and he has no intention of letting her become a figurehead for a revolution in the Districts. What follows is Katniss and Peeta's struggle to stay ahead of Snow's game and survive a Victory Tour and another round of the Hunger Games.

CATCHING FIRE is far more gritty and realistic than its predecessor and Jennifer Lawrence is both beautiful and tortured in the role. Even the superficial Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) is given an opportunity to show more depth and the new allies in the games - the gorgeous Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin), the ballsy Johana Mason (Jena Malone), the weird genius Beetee (Jeffrey Wright) and the mad genius Wiress (Amanda Plummer) are all fully realized characters adding interest and variety to the action. Similarly, Haymitch (a terrific Woody Harrelson)and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) have more complex stories this time around and there's some real on-screen chemistry between Katniss and Peeta as their relationship develops.

With this movie THE HUNGER GAMES movies has become more than a comic book series. The story poses real, significant questions about human nature and our hunger for the sensational whether it relates to love, hatred or violence - a hunger that has been and will continue to be exploited by the media. On the positive side the story does show that there will always be brave people who put their lives on the line to do the right thing and love will win out in the end.

FOREVER ONES UPDATE!!
The newly designed novel will be available on a Kindle Countdown Deal starting SUNDAY DECEMBER 1ST. Get your copy now!

New Cover Reveal:THE FOREVER ONES

I'm really excited to reveal the new cover for THE FOREVER ONES designed by the amazingly talented Jeanine Henning. She's taken the original cover and given it new life and colour. I'm so pleased to offer you the new version on Kindle and in paperback. Check it out. The Forever Ones is still consistently in the Amazon Top 100 YA/Children's Dystopias. The new cover will be available within the next 48 hours on Amazon.

Hope you like it!

Life in the Iduna Compound

The main rule in the Iduna Compound is to enjoy yourself to the max, be what you want to be and when you get tired of it, be something else! You have forever to enjoy yourself. Or do you? 

Paige has a great time at The Beachside Club with Chale and his friends. Check out the pink bikini, Chale's choice!

 





UPDATE ON THE FOREVER ONES! Check out the latest great review on Goodreads and Amazon:

Big Success for Paige!!Amazon bestseller!

When you're an indie author, part of your daily ritual involves checking your book sales. Amazon also ranks you in various categories according to how well your book is doing. I didn't pay much attention to this at first since I was getting rankings like 225,000th in the Kindle store and 1,000, 569 in all books.
But I can truly say that persistence pays off. With the help of enthusiastic reader reviews, connecting with really supportive people in the indie author world and some Facebooking, Tweeting, blogging etc. I was blown away when I glanced at my ranking today to see that THE FOREVER ONES is ranked at #19 in the Kindle store for Teen/children's Sci-fi Dystopian novels.
Now this ranking changes hourly and when you click on the above link my ranking may have changed but I just want to savour this moment of glory for the duration of this blog!!!
What does this ranking mean? It means that Amazon puts more effort into promoting you. After all, if you're successful, they are too.
So it seems that the character of Paige, the plucky daydreamer with a burning sense of curiosity, has resonated with readers. I'm working on the second volume now. So I'll keep you posted on expected date of publication.

IDUNA PROJECT:FANTASY OR REALITY?

Could this ever happen?

Since writing THE FOREVER ONES, I'm always watching out for the latest developments in the science of aging, life expectancy and age reversal. I like to keep an eye on things because this type of discovery will be so significant and have such an impact on our society, I'd like to know in advance!

Here are a few things I've discovered:

- Dr Carol Greider won the Nobel Prize in 2009 for her discovery of telomerase, the key to the aging process. Check this video to hear her talk about the exciting discovery. All the latest research is centring on this. What is a telomere? A quick check of Wikipedia defines it like this: "A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA at the end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration."

But listen to Dr. Greider to find out more.

Looks like someone's already trying to market it!

- Scientists have already reversed aging in mice. Check out this video!

- Nanotechnology will revolutionize medicine and contribute to extended life expectancy. According to Dr. Grossman "Just forty years from now, medical research will have further

developments such as microscopic devices, called nanobots, that can be

injected into your blood stream to keep you healthy at the cellular level."

-  Corporations are already springing up to keep abreast of new scientific findings and technologies. Check this one out!

So you see - there may be an IdunaCorp one day! And it may be sooner than you think!

FOREVER ONES UPDATE!

- Check out the latest review of THE FOREVER ONES from +Deborah McKnight . You'll find it on her terrific Of Dreams and Shadows blog

- Also a newly revised version of the novel is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback. My apologies to readers for some errors in the previous version.

What would you do if you were 19 FOREVER?

Just imagine if you could be 19 FOREVER. What would you do? Here's a few ideas for starters:

• hang out with Justin Bieber and Dakota Fanning for a year then ditch them. They'd be too old.
  
• shop until you drop AND PARTY endlessly 
  
• read THE HOBBIT and LORD OF THE RINGS as many times as you've read THE GREAT GATSBY
• 
  
  
• endless dating, necking, snogging(UK readers know this), fooling around, etc. etc.
  
• travel everywhere
  
• try every ultimate sport
  

HOLD ON! 

What about money? You'd have to work at McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, WalMart, Taco Belle, the carwash, Wendy's, dishwashing, FOREVER!!!

If you lived in the US you'd have to have fake ID's FOREVER

And teen angst FOREVER

Maybe it's not such a good idea!

Another Great Review for THE FOREVER ONES!

"This book did the incredibly rare thing of surprising me, not once but twice as well." (Laura Greenwood)

I'm really happy to share another great review for THE FOREVER ONES from +Laura Greenwood at her terrific blog Trips Down Imagination Road.   Click here to read the full review.

Las Vegas 2077?

All reviews have been so positive it's made the task of writing Part 2 of The Iduna Project much easier. I recently spent time in Las Vegas which is actually the setting for a large part of Book 2.  Only it's not the Las Vegas of today - it's Las Vegas 2078! Unlike anything you can imagine! And just as in Book 1 there'll be many surprises, some questions from Book 1 will be answered but new questions will come up.    All I can tell you is that Paige will be up to her usual exploits, checking out every lead and risking her life to find the truth.
I'll keep you posted.

FOREVER ONES FREE on Aug 17th only!

Just wanted to let you know about a promotion!  THE FOREVER ONES WILL BE AVAILABLE FREE! On AUG 17TH ONLY!  Download it, review it and tell your friends about it! Go to my author page at Amazon!

More Praise for Paige!

'I liked Paige, because in a world which screamed 'stick with the status quo' she always asks questions and can see past the matrix-esq front (no it's not a computer thing so don't worry), where others are blissfully ignorant of their situation.' (Zili Robins)

Getting a positive review for your stories really spurs you to keep on writing.

The latest review for THE FOREVER ONES comes from  +Zili Robins  at her great Zili in the Sky blog based in the UK.  Check it out here at http://ziliinthesky.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/review-forever-ones-by-majorie-deluca.html.  More reviews to come soon.  Now I'll really have to buckle down and try to finish Volume 2 of The Iduna Project, which will be entitled THE PARASITES. 
 So if you haven't picked up your copy of the book (available in paperback or Kindle on Amazon), now's the time to do it!

FOREVERTHINK!

Here's how a few people feel about FOREVER:

From the reckless:

Dream as if you'll live FOREVER. Live as if you'll die today.

                                                                     James Dean

To the poetic: 

A thing of beauty is a joy FOREVER: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.

                                                                       John Keats  

To the charitable:

The only wealth which you will keep FOREVER is the wealth you have given away.

                                                                        Marcus Aurelius

To the ambitious:

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is FOREVER.

                                                                        Napoleon Bonaparte

To the meditative:

FOREVER is composed of nows.

                                                                               Emily Dickinson

To the cynical:

The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on FOREVER.

                                                                                   Herb Caen

To the witty:

I intend to live FOREVER, or die trying.

                                                                                                          Groucho Marx

To the esoteric:

Nothing cannot exist FOREVER.

                                                                                                     Stephen Hawking

FOREVER ONES UPDATE!

THE FOREVER ONES is now available on Kindle at the bargain price of $2.99.  Don't miss your chance to read this debut novel, the first volume of  THE IDUNA PROJECT trilogy. It's getting great reviews!