Resident Evil Zero

 

Resident Evil Zero is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom. It is the fifth major installment in the Resident Evil series and was originally released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. It is a prequel to Resident Evil (2002), covering the ordeals experienced in the Arklay Mountains by the special police force, S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team. The story follows officer Rebecca Chambers and convicted criminal Billy Coen as they explore an abandoned training facility for employees of the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. The gameplay is similar to early Resident Evil games, but includes a unique "partner zapping" system. The player controls both Rebecca and Billy, switching control between them to solve puzzles and use their unique abilities.
Plot

On July 23, 1998, a train owned by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella, the Ecliptic Express, comes under attack from a swarm of leeches. As the passengers and crew are attacked, a mysterious young man watches over the resulting chaos from a hillside. Two hours later, Bravo Team of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) police force is sent to investigate a series of cannibalistic murders in the Arklay Mountains outside of Raccoon City. On the way to the scene, its helicopter has an engine failure and crash-lands in a forest. While searching the immediate area, Officer Rebecca Chambers of Bravo Team comes across the Express, now motionless, and explores it, only to find the passengers and crew transformed into zombies, unaware their transformation was a result of exposure to Umbrella's t-Virus contained within the leeches. As she explores the train for answers, she teams up with Billy Coen - a former Marine Force Reconnaissance officer, who was to be executed for killing 23 people, until the military police van transporting him crashed within the region.

The pair soon notices the same mysterious young man, moments before the train suddenly begins moving again. Unbeknown to the pair, two soldiers from Umbrella, on the orders of Albert Wesker and William Birkin, attempt to take control of the train and destroy it, but are killed by leeches before they can complete their mission. As the train speeds out of control, Rebecca and Billy apply the brakes and avert its course towards an abandoned building. Upon exploring the area, they discover it to be a disused training facility for future executives of Umbrella. Both Rebecca and Billy find out that the former director of the facility and the corporation's co-founder, Dr. James Marcus, was responsible for discovering the so-called Progenitor virus in the 1960s, and decided to examine its potential as a biological weapon. He combined it with leech DNA to develop the t-Virus that causes rapid mutations in living organisms and thus transforms humans and animals into zombies and monsters.

As the pair continue to explore the facility, Wesker decides to leave Umbrella and join its rival company, and makes plans for further research on the t-Virus, while Birkin refuses his offer to join him, instead opting to complete his research on the G-virus. Later, Rebecca becomes separated from Billy. On her own, she encounters Captain Enrico Marini who tells her that the rest of the Bravo team will meet up at an old mansion they found but allows her to stay behind to find Billy. Just after Enrico leaves, Rebecca is attacked by the Tyrant. After temporarily defeating the Tyrant, Rebecca meets up with Billy again and together they defeat it and continue on towards a water plant.

Eventually, Rebecca and Billy catch up with the leech-controlling man who transpires to be Marcus' final experiment, Queen Leech. Ten years ago, Marcus was assassinated on the orders of Umbrella's other co-founder, Oswell E. Spencer, who sought his research. After his corpse was dumped, Queen Leech entered his body and reanimated it, gaining his memories and the ability to shapeshift, whereupon it believed itself to be Marcus and orchestrated the t-Virus outbreak in the facility and on the train as a means of revenge against Umbrella. After temporarily defeating it, Billy and Rebecca attempt to escape to the surface via a lift, tripping the facility's self-destruct mechanism. Pursued by Queen Leech, the pair eventually kills it and escape before the facility is destroyed. Following their escape, Rebecca notices the mansion that Marini mentioned and prepares to head for it. Before she does, she assures Billy her police report will list him as another casualty of the incident. Thanking her for his freedom, Billy departs as Rebecca heads towards the mansion to seek out the whereabouts of her fellow Bravo Team members.

Resident Evil – Code: Veronica

 

Resident Evil – Code: Veronica is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom and released for the Dreamcast in 2000. It is the fourth major installment in the Resident Evil series and the first to debut on a separate platform from the PlayStation. The story takes place three months after the events of Resident Evil 2 (1998) and the concurrent destruction of Raccoon City as seen in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999). It follows Claire Redfield and her brother Chris Redfield in their efforts to survive a viral outbreak at both a remote prison island in the Southern Ocean and a research facility in Antarctica. The game retains the traditional survival horror controls and gameplay seen in previous series installments; however, unlike the pre-rendered backgrounds of previous games, Code: Veronica utilizes real-time 3D environments and dynamic camera movement.

Plot

Three months after escaping from Raccoon City, prior to its eventual destruction, Claire Redfield raids an Umbrella Corporation facility in Paris in search of her brother Chris. Discovered by Umbrella's security forces and eventually captured, Claire is imprisoned on Rockfort Island – a prison complex owned by the corporation, situated in the Southern Ocean. Sometime after her imprisonment, Claire finds herself released by one of the prison staff and discovers that an outbreak of the T-Virus has occurred. In the resulting chaos, she finds herself teaming up with Steve Burnside, another inmate seeking to escape.

In their efforts to explore the island and find the means to leave, the pair finds themselves confronting the island's commander, Alfred Ashford. Both Claire and Steve find him to be mentally unstable as a result of him switching between two personalities - his own, and that of his twin sister Alexia.
Eventually, the pair manages to find a seaplane and use it to escape, only for Alfred to pursue them and switch their plane to autopilot, directing it towards another Umbrella facility in Antarctica. Upon their arrival, the pair finds the facility had suffered an outbreak, and fight their way through the zombies and monsters within to seek a means of escape, battling with Alfred and fatally wounding him. Before he dies, Alfred frees his sister Alexia, who had been in cryogenic sleep within the facility after injecting herself with the T-Veronica virus - an experimental virus the Ashford family had developed 15 years ago. Awakened, Alexia manages to recapture Claire and Steve as they attempt to escape.

Meanwhile, Chris Redfield arrives on Rockfort Island in search of Claire, after receiving a message from her via Leon S. Kennedy. Upon learning she had left, Chris focuses on determining where and begins searching the island. In the process of doing so, he comes across Albert Wesker, an independent agent since the Spencer mansion incident, who is seeking to retrieve a sample of the T-Veronica virus. After Chris learns of his sister's whereabouts, and Wesker discovers that Alexia is alive and carries what he needs, the two separately find their way to Antarctica. Once there, Chris frees his sister and helps her to search for Steve, only for them to find that he had been experimented with and injected with the T-Veronica virus. After mutating, Steve attempts to kill Claire but fails, regaining control of himself to turn on Alexia, who then inflicts a mortal wound on him. Before Steve dies, he confesses his love for Claire. Meanwhile, Chris and Wesker confront Alexia. In the resulting conflict, Wesker escapes and manages to retrieve Steve's corpse for further experimentation, while Chris manages to defeat Alexia and escape with his sister before the Antarctic facility self-destructs.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

 

Plot

On September 28, 1998, 24 hours prior to the events of Resident Evil 2, former Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) member Jill Valentine attempts to escape from Raccoon City. Most of the population has been transformed into zombies by an outbreak of the T-virus, a new type of biological weapon secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. On her way to the Raccoon City Police Department, Jill runs into fellow team member Brad Vickers, who is killed by a new enemy. This creature, Nemesis, is a bio-organic weapon programmed to target surviving S.T.A.R.S. members, witnesses of Umbrella's experiments. As she evades Nemesis, Jill encounters three surviving members of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (U.B.C.S.): Carlos Oliveira, Mikhail Victor and Nikolai Zinoviev. Nikolai explains to Jill and Carlos that a rescue helicopter can be contacted if they manage to reach the city's Clock Tower and ring the bell.

As they make their way to the tower, Nikolai disappears and is presumed dead, while Nemesis corners the remaining members of the group on the cable car headed to the tower. Mikhail sacrifices himself with a grenade, causing the car to crash into the tower's main courtyard and separating Jill and Carlos briefly. At the Clock Tower, Jill summons the helicopter by ringing the Clock Tower's bell before being confronted by Nemesis, which destroys the helicopter and infects Jill with the T-virus. Jill manages to temporarily defeat Nemesis but falls unconscious due to the T-Virus. Carlos finds Jill and takes her to safety within the Clock Tower. Three days later, he manages to find a cure for Jill's T-Virus infection in the Raccoon City General Hospital. He returns to Jill and injects her with a vaccine, saving her.

After she regains consciousness, Jill proceeds towards the Raccoon Park and enters the park caretaker's cabin. There, she runs into Nikolai, who is alive. Nikolai is revealed to be one of the "supervisors" sent into Raccoon City to gather combat data of Umbrella's bio-weapons. Nikolai retreats, and Jill is confronted by a massive worm-like creature. Jill defeats the creature and escapes to an abandoned factory at the rear of the park. Inside the factory, Jill meets up with Carlos, who tells her that the US government is planning to launch a nuclear missile into Raccoon City to eradicate the T-Virus infestation. After confronting Nemesis and grabbing a keycard needed to escape, Jill learns from the factory's control tower that the missile attack on Raccoon City has begun, with only a short time left before the city is destroyed.

Depending on the path taken by the player, Jill's final encounter with Nikolai will differ. In one version of the events, Nikolai will attempt to start a gunfight with Jill, only to be taken by surprise by Nemesis. In another event, Nikolai will hijack Jill's intended escape chopper, and the player must choose to either reason with Nikolai or destroy the helicopter. If Jill negotiates with Nikolai, he reveals that he has killed the other supervisors and boasts about collecting the bounty placed on Jill by Umbrella before escaping. Regardless of Nikolai's fate, Jill makes her way to the rear yard and confronts Nemesis one last time. After an intense battle, Jill defeats Nemesis with the help of a prototype railgun before meeting up with Carlos and escaping the city via a helicopter. If the previous escape chopper was stolen by Nikolai, Jill and Carlos will instead meet up with S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team's weapons specialist Barry Burton, who helps them escape in his helicopter. The nuclear missile vaporizes Raccoon City.

Resident Evil 2

Plot

On September 29, 1998, two months after the events of the first Resident Evil, most citizens of the Midwestern American mountain community Raccoon City have been transformed into zombies by the T-virus, a biological weapon secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. Leon S. Kennedy, a police officer on his first day of duty, and Claire Redfield, a college student looking for her brother Chris, make their way to the Raccoon Police Department. They discover that most of the police force have been killed, and that Chris has left town to investigate Umbrella's headquarters in Europe. They split up to look for survivors and find a way out of the city.  While searching for an escape route, Claire meets a little girl, Sherry Birkin, who is on the run from an unknown creature, and Leon encounters Ada Wong, who claims to be looking for her boyfriend John, an Umbrella researcher.

Raccoon City police chief Brian Irons had been bribed by Umbrella to hide evidence of the company's experiments in the outskirts of the city. He also concealed their development of the new G-virus, an agent capable of mutating a human into the ultimate bioweapon. Leon has multiple encounters with a Tyrant monster air-dropped into the Raccoon Police Department by Umbrella to seek the G-virus. Irons tries to murder Claire but is killed by a G-virus mutant in the police department. Thereupon, Claire and Sherry escape through the sewers and become separated. After splitting up with Leon, Ada comes upon Sherry and picks up a golden pendant the girl loses while running away. Further into the sewers, Ada reluctantly teams up with Leon again, after he insists on his duty to protect her. They encounter a middle-aged woman who fires at Ada, but Leon dives between them and takes a bullet himself. Ada ignores the unconscious Leon and follows the woman, who reveals herself to be Sherry's mother Annette and the wife of William Birkin, the Umbrella scientist who created the G-virus. In an attempt to protect his life's work from special agents sent by the Umbrella headquarters, he injected himself with the virus, which turned him into the malformed creature, "G" and is now chasing Sherry. Annette recognizes her daughter's pendant and attempts to take it from Ada. A fight ensues, during which Annette is thrown over a railing. Ada learns that the golden locket contains a sample of the G-virus, and later – taken over by her emotions – returns to Leon, tending to his bullet wound.

Meanwhile, Claire is reunited with Sherry and discovers that "G" has implanted his daughter with an embryo to produce offspring. Leon, Ada, Claire and Sherry advance through an abandoned factory connected to Umbrella's secret underground research facility. An attack by "G" leaves Ada heavily wounded, and Leon explores the laboratory to find something to treat her wounds. He is interrupted by a psychotic Annette, who explains to him that Ada's relationship with John was only a means of getting information about Umbrella: Ada is a spy sent to steal the G-virus for an unknown organization. Just as Annette is about to shoot Leon, the Tyrant appears, and she is forced to retreat. Ada returns to save Leon and battles the Tyrant – which falls into a pit of molten metal – seemingly at the cost of her own life. She confesses her love to Leon, who leaves behind her motionless body. Meanwhile, Annette tries to escape with another sample of the G-virus but is fatally wounded by her mutated husband. However, before she dies, she tells Claire how to create a vaccine that will stop the mutations caused by the embryo within Sherry. After preparing the cure, Leon and Claire reunite at an emergency escape train and inject Sherry with the vaccine, which saves her life. En route, Leon is assisted in terminating the now-mutated Tyrant by a woman in shadow and escapes with the G-virus in the pendant."G"— now mutated into an agglomeration of flesh and teeth — follows Leon and Claire, but is destroyed when the train self-destructs. After escaping from the city with Sherry, Leon intends to take down Umbrella, while Claire continues to search for Chris. HUNK, one of the special agents sent by Umbrella, completes his G-virus retrieval mission.

Resident Evil (1996 Video Game)

 

Resident Evil is a survival horror video game developed and released by Capcom originally for the PlayStation in 1996, and is the first game in the Resident Evil series. The game's plot follows Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, members of an elite task force known as S.T.A.R.S., as they investigate the outskirts of Raccoon City following the disappearance of their team members. They soon become trapped in a mansion infested with zombies and other monsters. The player, having selected to play as Chris or Jill at the start of the game, must explore the mansion to uncover its secrets.

Synopsis

A series of bizarre murders have occurred on the outskirts of Raccoon City, with signs of cannibalism on the victims' remains. The Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) are assigned to investigate the murders. S.T.A.R.S. is divided into two teams: Alpha and Bravo. Bravo Team is sent first, but after contact with them is lost, Alpha Team is sent to investigate their disappearance.

Characters

Players can choose between the two Alpha Team members Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, each with their own unique differential abilities. Jill has more firepower and possesses a lock-pick that enables her to access areas and items easily, as well as an inventory large enough to hold up to eight items, while Chris has limited firepower but is more durable in terms of taking damage from enemies, and a smaller inventory that can hold only six items.

The game's supporting characters include Barry Burton, Alpha team's weapons expert who provides Jill with additional firepower; Rebecca Chambers, a surviving member of Bravo team who supports Chris with her medical expertise; Albert Wesker, the captain of S.T.A.R.S. and leader of Alpha team; and Brad Vickers, the helicopter pilot who sends transmissions to them as he tries to find them in the helicopter.

The other members of S.T.A.R.S. include Joseph Frost, the sixth member of Alpha team whose sudden death sets the story into motion, Enrico Marini, the leader of Bravo team who gives the player the game's most critical plot twist, Richard Aiken, who gives the player a radio used to receive Brad's transmissions, Kenneth J. Sullivan, a member of Bravo team killed just after Alpha team arrives, and Forest Speyer, whose corpse is found on the balcony by the player.

Story

On July 24, 1998, when a series of bizarre murders occur on the outskirts of the fictional Midwestern town of Raccoon City, the Raccoon City Police Department's S.T.A.R.S. team are assigned to investigate. After contact with Bravo Team is lost, Alpha Team is sent to investigate their disappearance. Alpha Team locates Bravo Team's crashed helicopter and land at the site, where they are suddenly attacked by a pack of monstrous dogs, killing team member Joseph Frost. After Alpha Team's helicopter pilot, Brad Vickers, panics and takes off alone, the remaining members of the team (Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker and Barry Burton) are forced to seek refuge in a nearby abandoned mansion.

Depending on which character the player assumes control of, either Chris or Barry are separated from the rest of the team during the chase and do not make it to the mansion. At this point, the team decides to split up to investigate. Over the course of the game, the player character may encounter several members of Bravo Team, including Enrico Marini, the captain of the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, who reveals that one of Alpha Team's members is a traitor before being shot and killed by an unseen assailant. The player character eventually learns that a series of illegal experiments were being undertaken by a clandestine research team under the authority and supervision of biomedical company Umbrella Corporation. The creatures roaming the mansion and its surrounding areas are the results of these experiments, which have exposed the mansion's personnel and various animals and insects to a highly contagious and mutagenic biological agent known as the T-virus.

Eventually, the player character discovers a secret underground laboratory containing Umbrella's experiments. In the lab, the player encounters Wesker, who reveals that he is a double agent working for Umbrella, and plans to use the Tyrant, a giant humanoid supersoldier, to kill the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members. However, in the ensuing confrontation, Wesker is supposedly killed and the player character defeats the Tyrant. After activating the lab's self-destruct system, the player character reaches the heliport and manages to contact Brad for extraction, at which point the player may be confronted by Tyrant one last time. The game features multiple endings depending on the player's actions at key points over the course of the game. In the best ending, the surviving team members escape by helicopter as the mansion self-destructs. In contrast, in the worst possible ending, the mansion remains intact and the player character is the sole survivor.

Endings

Each character has four endings, with the outcome being determined on whether they rescued the other two S.T.A.R.S. survivors or not. The character who is not chosen by the player will be imprisoned in a solitary cell in the mansion's underground lab. In order to access the cell, the player must collect a set of MO Discs distributed within the mansion and use them in different decoding devices to unlock the door. To get the best ending, the player must rescue the other protagonist in addition to their assigned partner.

The best ending has Chris and Jill escaping the mansion alongside a third S.T.A.R.S. member (Rebecca or Barry, depending on who is the player character) after defeating the Tyrant and destroying the mansion.

The second best ending has the player character (Chris or Jill) escaping with his or her partner (Rebecca or Barry) after defeating the Tyrant and destroying the mansion.

The second worst ending has Jill and Chris escaping as the two only survivors, with the mansion still intact and the Tyrant set loose on the forest.

The worst ending has the player character as the sole survivor, with the mansion still intact and the Tyrant set loose on the forest.

Weekly Book Reads (Oct 28)

Weekly Book Reads

Weekly Book Reads is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews:

Post the books read last week and books you plan on finishing this week.

Read Last Week:

1.  Immortal Born - Lynsay Sands
2.  The Warning - James Patterson

Weekly Book Reading:

1.  Murder in a Corn Maze - G.A. McKevett
2.  Be Our Ghost - Kate Kingsbury

Library Haul 2019 (Oct 27 - Nov 2)

Library Haul

Here's the list of books/manga/manhwa/yaoi manga I picked up this week at the library:

Hardcover:

1.  The Deception - Kat Martin
2.  A Merry Murder - Kate Kingsbury

Bunny Express Saturday 2019 (Oct 26)

Bunny Express Saturday is hosted every Saturday at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

I received these in the mail this week.         

If the Women's Murder Club can't be together this Christmas, a killer is to blame.

As the holidays approach, Detective Lindsay Boxer and her friends in the Women's Murder Club have much to celebrate. Crime is down. The medical examiner's office is quiet. Even the courts are showing some Christmas spirit. And the news cycle is so slow that journalist Cindy Thomas is on assignment to tell a story about the true meaning of the season for San Francisco.

Then a fearsome criminal known only as "Loman" seizes control of the headlines. He is planning a deadly surprise for Christmas morning. And he has commissioned dozens of criminal colleagues to take actions that will mask his plans. All that Lindsay and the SFPD can figure out is that Loman's greed -- for riches, for bloodshed, for attention -- is limitless.

Solving crimes never happens on schedule, but as this criminal mastermind unleashes credible threats by the hour, the month of December is upended for the Women's Murder Club. Avoiding tragedy is the only holiday miracle they seek.

Amateur sleuth Sloan Krause delves into the murderous political world in another delightful mystery from popular cozy writer Ellie Alexander.

It’s the dead season in Leavenworth, Washington. The throngs of Oktoberfest crowds have headed home, and the charming Bavarian streets are quiet and calm ― momentarily. Villagers use the reprieve to drink in the crisp fall mountain air and prepare for the upcoming winter light festival. Soon the German-inspired shops and restaurants will be aglow with thousands of twinkling lights. Visitors will return to the northern Cascades to drink warm mulled cider and peruse the holiday markets. Brewer, Sloan Krause and her partner in crime Garrett Strong are using the slowdown to stock up on a new line of their signature craft beers at Nitro. They’re experimenting with a hoppy holiday pine and a chocolate hazelnut stout. The small brewery is alive with delicious scents and bubbling batches of brew.

Sloan is in her element. She loves the creativity and lowkey atmosphere at Nitro. Only that is soon threatened by the incumbent city councilmember Kristopher Cooper. Kristopher is running for re-election on a platform of making Leavenworth dry. Everyone in beertopia is fuming. Leavenworth’s economy relies on keeping the kegs flowing. Kristopher wants to banish beer, a policy that might just bankrupt the entire village. However, Kristopher turns up dead days before election night. Sloan quickly realizes that his murder isn’t the work of a stranger. Friends, family, and every other business owner had a motive to kill him, including none other than April Ablin, Leavenworth’s self-described ambassador of all things German. Sloan finds herself defending April and trying to sleuth out a killer amongst a group of familiar faces.

 

 

Are you ready to be strong? Inspired by the badass ladies of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this is the ultimate guide for living your most killer life.

Buffy turned tired, sexist tropes on their head when it debuted in the '90s and introduced a truly empowered heroine (and a kickass roster of female supporting roles). So who better than Buffy and her fellow babes -- Willow, Cordelia, Faith, Anya, Tara, and others -- to teach us how to slay our own personal demons? The ladies have much to offer in terms of savvy insights, observations, and life lessons.

Slay Like a Girl examines the groundbreaking female paradigms presented in Buffy and offers digestible, entertaining lessons for slaying at work, in love, and beyond. Also featuring photos from the show, memorable quotes, and fresh input from modern ladies who slay, Slay Like a Girl is an indispensable handbook for fans, feminists, and all other fierce folk.

Leonard Bassed's The Witch Port Videogame Blog Tour with a Spotlight and Excerpt

 

I am so excited to have Leonard Bassed at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Spotlight and Excerpt.

Thanks Leonard and Pump Up Your Book Promotions for allowing me to join The Witch Port Videogame Blog Tour!

Please take it away, Leonard! 

About the Author

Writer-actor-singer Leonard Bassed was born in the town of Middleburg, Mpumalanga and raised in Johannesburg. He started taking vocal lessons at age eight and studied drama throughout his high school years. A mentor encouraged him to pursue an acting career. Leonard went on to complete acting classes in both South Africa and later Los Angeles. Currently, when not writing or singing, Leonard continues to study acting techniques with the renowned Margie Haber Studio in Hollywood. In his free time, he enjoys travel, reading and movie going. His latest book is The Witch Port Video Game.

WEBSITE and SOCIAL LINKS

Website: https://leonardbassed.com/

Facebook page for author: https://www.facebook.com/leobassed/

Twitter page for author: https://twitter.com/LeonardBassed



 

 

About the Book

Title: THE WITCH PORT VIDEO GAME
Author: Leonard Bassed
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 108
Genre: YA

BOOK BLURB

Leonard Bassed had no plan to write a novel titled THE WITCH PORT VIDEO GAME when he set out to create a movie script with a similar name. “I had written the pilot script first and I kept the same ending for the novel…everything from the script I wrote found its way into the finished book version of ‘The Witch Port Video Game,’ said writer-singer-actor Leonard Bassed. “I was able to spend more time developing the characters and their world…the whole thing was just such an organic experience and extremely enjoyable, creative for me.”

THE WITCH PORT VIDEO GAME tells the story through the lives of three ordinary teens who live in the fictional town of Cradle Creek, USA – a small town they hope to one day escape, attracted by the bright lights and promise of the Big City. All three are students at a prestigious performing art school with hopes of one day making names for themselves in the entertainment world.

Mr. Bassed continued about his story, “A chance encounter the three have with a girl named Bianca Morris threatens to derail their plans. Bianca introduces them to an enticing video game, ‘The Witch Port Video Game’. This encounter, coupled with the arrival of the MacQuoid brothers sets in motion a series of bizarre events that spins their lives into chaos and disarray as the three head into a world of sorcery with an ultimate fight for survival.”

As a young boy growing up in South Africa, Leonard dreamed one day of working in the arts. He wanted to write, to act, to sing. While drawn to acting and song writing, he was also a good story teller. “The auditions I would go out for as an actor were never reflective of the kinds of roles I was after to play. It was this realization that led me to writing the pilot script which I planned to pitch to TV and movie producers. But, once I finished the script I’d grown too attached to the characters and the wonders of their world that ultimately led the script into the shape of a full novel,” he went on to say.

PRAISE

“While the book’s final moments leave us with a rather sudden, enigmatic ending, an end note does indicate a sequel Witch Port Igniting the Coven on the horizon. For those who enjoy the entertaining literary chemistry that results from inquisitive teens and their foray into the mysterious world of sorcery, Bassed’s venture should prove an intriguing reveal.”

--Pacific Book Review

“Filled with cheeky references to famous pop-culture stories of sorcery and mixed with some classic teenage angst, this book is a fast-paced, suspenseful story. The novel’s premise that some teenagers gain special powers through a video game is an updated, modern take on magic and suits the story quite well for a 21st-century setting. The author sets up the story mechanisms so that everything that happens through the students’ video game play also happens in real life. The author states that this novel was originally a screenplay, and those elements shine through, from the descriptive settings to the fast pace in which the action occurs on the page. It will be interesting to see how the protagonists grow with their powers in the sequel.”

--The U.S. Review of Books

Book can be purchased at the author’s web site at www.leonardbassed.com

Book Excerpt

“I begin to hear an eerie chant being recited in unison as the first three naked women make it to the dark summit. Holding long, makeshift brooms, in their right hands, they chant: “Drink the flight broth, wood in hand. Burn the root ...” An elderly woman with lanky hair picks up the goblet, takes a sip of its contents, and inhales the smoke of an already burning smudge stick. The chanting continues: “Then dive from the cliff...” This is perhaps the most startling scene I’ve ever witnessed. The woman runs off the edge of the cliff, seemingly to plummet to her death, but I hear “Not by wind nor by wings, airborne sisters thou shall soar.” Suddenly, the woman who vanished off the cliff reappears, hovering in mid-air on a broom. She begins cackling, and the louder her cackles, the higher she floats. Soon a host of other women mimic her actions, cackling into the night air.” – By Leonard Bassed

  This is one of my favorite excerpts from my novel, ‘The Witch Port Video Game’ because of the imagery it conjures.

 My novel begins with Martin’s recollection of a vision he once had. In the vision women are seen diving of a cliff and flying on their brooms, true to the stereotypical portrayal of witches in the media and western folklore.

The women are depicted inhaling something resembling a smudge stick this leaves the reader unsure whether they’re indeed flying or having some sort of hallucinogenic experience brought on by the smoke.

Please follow the rest of the tour here, thanks:

http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2019/07/30/%f0%9f%93%9a-pump-up-your-book-presents-the-witch-port-video-game-virtual-book-publicity-blog-tour-ya

 

Bunny Express Saturday 2019 (Oct 19)

Bunny Express Saturday is hosted every Saturday at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

I received this in the mail this week.        

It’s Christmastime and everyone is heading to Torte, the most cheerful bakery in town. There’s no place like home for the homicide.

Ashland, Oregon, looks as pretty as a postcard this holiday season. The halls are decked, stockings hung, and eyes are all aglow ― mostly thanks to the buttered rum. Jules Capshaw and her staff at Torte are busier than ever still, even the town’s most in-demand bakers need to take a break. So Jules invites everyone to celebrate at the local Winchester Inn’s Dickens Feast, a six-course extravaganza with Yorkshire Pudding, Christmas goose, and all the trimmings. But as the weather outside becomes frightful, things inside turn less delightful when one of the guests ends up as dead as Scrooge’s doornail. Now it’s up to Jules and her helpers to make a list of suspects ― and check it twice ― to try to find out who’s naughty, who’s nice, and who’s guilty of murder.