BOOK BLITZ: Stars on Fire by Sky Gold #PNR #ScienceFiction @XpressoTours

Stars on Fire
Sky Gold
(The Sable Riders, #1)
Publication date: February 26th 2023
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction

The thing is, Selene, I don’t do forever. It’s not what this is.’ – Kainan Sable.

He’s lethal, wraith-like, a warrior who lives in the twilight, the hidden inferno amongst the stars.

She’s driven, ambitious, and unrelenting, with an allure that forces him from the shadows.

He needs to control the intensity of his reaction to her.

She fights the temptation glinting in his sapphire wildfire eyes.

He wants revenge.

She wants forever.

But he can’t give her ‘forever’.

Or can he?

War is stirring in the skies and stars above Eden II. Between empires in ascension and realms in decline. Kainan and Selene find themselves caught up in the maelstrom. Together they’ll light the stars on fire, even as darkness beyond their control seeks to turn their destiny – and their forever – to ashes.

__________________________

If you’re in the mood for:

  • A strong, smart heroine AND a sexy, badass anti-hero
  • Unrequited love and a personal growth saga that spans a universe
  • Steamy, hot epic jolts!
  • Paranormal action
  • All the feels AND heartfelt escapism

Then take to the Skies Above Eden II. A whole new world awaits you.

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

The four men looked up and studied her coolly.

Kainan’s voice rumbled behind her. ‘Selene Munene, meet the Sable Riders, also known in our official capacity as The Sable Group.’

She stepped closer to the table and gazed at her new acquaintances as calmly as she could manage.

The one closest to her was just as significant in size as Kainan, a hulking figure with a mass of short jet-black hair with blue streaks, a bushy black beard and silver grey eyes, with a stubborn jaw and a swathe of jagged scars down one side of his face. His massive feet were slung up and crossed on top of the table.

The man beside him was also tall, with angular, dark features, a roughly shaven jaw, a beard and penetrating eyes with hazel irises ringed with glowing sapphire flecks. He leaned back in his oversized chair to study her unhurriedly.

Kainan pointed to the scar-faced man. ‘This is Kage, call name Shadow. He’s our ship designer, tech head and all-around maestro. He also runs our mini armada. Next to him is Xion, call name Phoenix – head of internal security on Eden II, privately overseeing law and order on the rock.’

Two other men glanced at her from the other side of the room.

One sported a magnificent sheathe of dead straight white and silver hair that fell to his back in a long, smooth sheet with a braid to one side. His skin was pale, and so were his white irised eyes that he seemed a ghoul, albeit a very handsome one. He wore a close-fitted black jumpsuit with the same crest on his shoulder as Kainan. She assumed this was The Sable Group’s insignia.

He jerked his chin to her, his pale eyes keenly raking her face.

Next to him was a lean, long, striking, powerfully built man in a beautifully cut suit with dark thick hair, a neat moustache and a beard with piercing blue eyes. His elegant presence contrasted sharply with his more casually dressed companions. He nodded to her cordially.

‘At the far back is Riv, call name Wraith. He runs our armouries. He occasionally moonlights as the head of our private surveillance ops and militia, and on his off days, he dallies as a bounty hunter. With him is Zane, call name Phantom. Our business and financial controller. He runs our sales, logistics, private equity and finance division.’

Selene nodded her head formally in acknowledgement, momentarily unable to speak. As it were, her breath had been snatched from her lungs by the presence of these five devastatingly powerful creatures. She saw sleek blasters strapped to their powerful thighs and hips and imagined the various other weapons tucked in places unseen. These were no boy scouts she was dealing with.

‘You remember Mirage,’ Kainan added drily, gesturing toward the gyrfalcon with silver wings and feet.

Selene’s eyebrow rose. ‘Really?’

‘It is indeed, Selene,’ said the gyrfalcon in the AI’s harmonious tone. ‘As a nano-engineered AI, I can take various forms, but this is the one I tend to prefer when I’m off Kainan’s ship. But, of course, I’m also still on the ship due to my split consciousness and various remote capabilities.’

‘Mirage is our eyes and ears across the rock, and she oversees all AI on all our ships and holdings,’ Kainan explained.

‘I’m also taking an encrypted recording of these proceedings,’ Mirage piped up. ‘Which will be shared to all your comm tabs after the meeting and only accessible with your bio authentication.’

Kainan inclined his head. ‘As you can see, she’s a very valued member of The Sable Riders.’

‘Wow,’ Selene said, genuinely astonished. ‘Incredible.’

The gyrfalcon bent her sleek silver head in a bow.

‘Sit,’ Kainan ordered Selene, pulling out a plush chair.

‘What’s your call name?’ she managed to ask him softly as she sat down.

He paused for a moment.

‘Chimera,’ he said quietly.

Fitting, she thought, given the strange ability he had to switch her feelings, from hot to cold, in seconds.

Author Bio:

Sky Gold is a best selling author, writer and lover of all things delicious, fun and courageously life affirming. She imagines herself a warrior for the people she loves and values she stands for! She looks to her gorgeous husband, her whimsical kids, her loyal friends, her sweet Russian Blue Cat, and the stars themselves for her heavenly inspiration.


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BOOK TOUR & INTERVIEW: Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard #ScienceFiction @be_the_book @pumpupyourbook

 

1,000 years after Earth has been decimated by an alien invasion, a young hero rises from the ashes and rallies the last survivors in an all-out rebellion for freedom that explodes across the continents of Earth to the cosmic sprawl of the Psychlo empire…

Title: Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000

Author: L. Ron Hubbard

Publisher: Galaxy Press

Pages: 1092

Genre: Science Fiction, sub-genre: Alien Invasion, Classic Science Fiction, Space Opera, Military Sci-Fi, Adventure Sci-FI

If you liked Dune, Atlantis Gene, Foundation, Enders Game, and Starship Troopers, you’ll love Battlefield Earth.

Sadistic Aliens…

…Man is an endangered species.

Is it the end of the world or the rebirth of a new one?

In the year A.D. 3000, Earth is a dystopian wasteland. The great cities stand crumbling as a brutal reminder of what we once were. When the Psychlos invaded, all the world’s armies mustered little resistance against the advanced alien weapons.

A young hero rises from the ashes and rallies the last survivors in an all-out rebellion for freedom that explodes across the continents of Earth to the cosmic sprawl of the Psychlo empire.

The fate of the Galaxy lies on the Battlefield of Earth.

You’ll love Battlefield Earth because of the characters you’ll love and hate and the unexpected twists that keep the pages flying.

“Over 1,000 pages of thrills, spills, vicious aliens and noble humans. I found Battlefield Earth un-put-downable.” —Neil Gaiman

“Battlefield Earth is a terrific story! The carefully underplayed comedy I found it delicious. A masterpiece.” —Robert A. Heinlein 

“Pulse-pounding mile-a-minute sci-fi action adventure that does not stop. It is a masterpiece of popular adventure science fiction.” —Brandon Sanderson

“Space opera that hits the right notes. It’s provocative, exhilarating and genuinely enjoyable.” —SCIFI.COM

“Like the Harry Potter series, its got concepts like good vs. evil, the noble
savage and the hero’s journey—and people go crazy over it!”
—Dr. David Powers, Educator

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B41I4NI/ 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/battlefield-earth-l-ron-hubbard/1100824883?ean=9781592129577 

BooksaMillion: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Battlefield-Earth/L-Ron-Hubbard/9781592129577?id=8748446917116

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/battlefield-earth-a-saga-of-the-year-3000-enlarged-expanded-l-ron-hubbard/15283828?ean=9781619865099

Interview with L. Ron Hubbard

Q: What made you return to science fiction writing after all these years?

A: There are some activities that are simply so much fun that one can’t give them up. Writing is that for me. I love every opportunity to write.

Many young writers are told to write in order to learn how to write. That is good advice. I used to find any excuse to write because I loved to do it. If I didn’t have a typewriter, I wrote in longhand.

So when my 50th anniversary as a professional writer came around, I decided to celebrate it by doing it. It was like a present to myself, so to speak.

I chose science fiction because there is great versatility in this genre. (A writer must pick his medium as carefully as a painter must pick his brush and colors.) Besides, science fiction is no longer the stepchild of literature. Star Wars created an entirely new following.…

Plus, look at the bestseller lists and you will see the pattern repeating. Science fiction and space travel is dominant.

Q: What direction do you see science fiction going now? Is the trend toward epics and battle stories such as Star Wars?

A: You must remember that science fiction is simply a method or a means of telling the story. Regardless of the genre (science fiction, western, spy, romance), you will find that people like a story that is both real and has a purpose. It has to say something or achieve something.

There is always an element that promotes your value­less or no-hope society, but compare their success with stories like Star Wars or E.T.…

Science fiction points a direction because it does advo­cate a future. It is about Man and his Future.

Q: What role did science fiction writers and their readers have in the development of space technology and travel—and public acceptance of it and its funding—in the 1950s and 1960s? What role does it play today in future commitment to space exploration, colonization, exploitation?

A: If you will go back through those old, gaudy pulp magazines that were being ridiculed and confiscated by irate teachers, you will find a lot of articles on space technology scattered amongst the fiction. That was be­cause there was no other outlet for such vision.

Some who wrote for the pulps were called “just science fiction writers.” But history has proven that they were the ones who brought about the future—not the naysayers.

We knew then that Man would travel to the stars and we know it still.

There are still those who cannot create a vision for the future and they, as before, still click their tongues to make a living and they will, again, be forgotten simply because they cannot create—they can only criticize.

Q: How would you assess the broader audience science fiction has today? Years ago, science fiction was consid­ered as something for children which was not “serious” literature. Its popularity today knows no age boundaries. Is this indicative of an escapist attitude by readers? Or a look to the future and what we could be?

A: The future is the only frontier without limit and the frontier that we will all enter and cross no matter what we do.

Science fiction is and always has been the literature about the frontier. Science fiction appeals to every age group because it is about the future and the human potential.

Q: How do you draw from your past track in creating character and plot? Is this the place from which science fiction comes in general, whether the writers know it or not?

A: Experience helps any writer or anyone who wants to write.

I traveled through the Far East and sailed the high seas and did a few loops in some bi-winged planes and gliders in my day and drew upon these for stories. I also did a lot of research for other stories.

But what is more important is the ability to see what is in front of you. Plus you have to have the ability to assume the viewpoint of your reader.

For example, in Battlefield Earth, the reader looks through the eyes of the hero and through the eyes of the alien. This is done by describing how each person would describe the scene and objects. It gives the reader a feeling of what it would be like to assume that viewpoint. The reader at first does not recognize the object either but should be able to do so as the description continues. But, in the process, the reader can experience the same mystery as the character in the story.

That is the ability to see what is in front of you and the ability to assume another viewpoint.

It is a good exercise for writers.

So experience is helpful but you need much more.

Q: What does science fiction writing do for L. Ron Hubbard personally?

A: I can answer that better if you don’t restrict it to just one genre.

Writing offers creation, expression and the ultimate ability to communicate, whether you write poetry or a novel.

Science fiction is just one means or method of doing that.

With writing, you must take an idea and turn it into little black marks on a sheet of white paper so that someone will look at it and lift those little black marks off the page and form the idea of the author.

In short, it boils down to communication.

Q: How would L. Ron Hubbard describe himself as a writer?

A: I don’t know if I can take it any further than that.

I’ve always had the ability to put an idea down on the page. I don’t really outline. I just write.

I think if I wanted to be characterized in a certain way as a writer, I would ask that it be that I am a writer who loves to write.

That is not as axiomatic as it may sound. There are a lot of writers who don’t like to write and some who even hate it but are still called “writers” because they make a living at it—the 9 to 5 type, so to speak.

But it has never been that way with me. I don’t watch the clock when I write. In fact, I’ve gone days without sleep just because I was enjoying myself so much I just plain forgot.

How could one forget to sleep?

Well, just imagine doing something that is more exciting than anything you have ever done and see if you worry or think about a “coffee break” or what time, it is.

That’s what I mean by my being a writer who loves to write.

There’s really no other way to say it.

Q: How do you work? Do you dictate or pound your fiction out on your old typewriter? Do you keep any set schedule when doing a book? Do you work from detailed character sketches and plot outlines or do you wing it? Have your working methods changed over the years?

A: My goodness, but that covers a lot!

What I write determines how I do it. Sometimes I type, sometimes I write longhand and sometimes I dictate.

Battlefield Earth was typed on a manual. The length was about 3,000 pages.

Each day before I went to bed I would sketch out the plot that I would cover the next day. Plus I would list out anything else that I wanted to accomplish.

I do set and follow a schedule when I want to get certain things done in a day—like exercise, if only a walk.

So I generally lay out what I want to accomplish for the day, the week, the month and then I do it. I would say this is perhaps my primary development since those early days in getting organized. It has allowed me to get more accomplished to lay out a schedule and then do it.

Q: What do you think about writers who take years to write a single book?

A: I really don’t think many do. They might research something for years, but I can’t figure out how somebody could keep a plot in his head that long.

Some people try to equate quality with slowness. If an athlete did that he would lose every game.

Q: What advice do you have for budding writers?

A: Write and write and write and write. And then when you finish, write some more.

It may not be original advice, but it is still quite true. You learn to write by writing.

Don’t try to learn how to write in order to write. I’ve seen a lot of great writers killed off when they decided they wanted to learn how to write.

Just take an idea and go with it. You may find a story that pulls you along. The story takes off on its own. It sounds silly but it happens. You have this character walking down the street and you are all ready for him to get into a taxi but he walks right on and turns into a movie theatre. Whoa! What is this? Well, follow him and see what happens.

The main thing is to write and learn the business of writing—that tough market you have to live with.

Book Excerpt  

To get Battlefield Earth, Chapters 1-13 delivered to your inbox, click here!

More…
About the Author

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most enduring and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and ’40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard.

Website: https://battlefieldearth.com/battlefield-earth/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/be_the_book

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BattlefieldEarth

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/be_the_book

13 chapter download (eBook): https://dl.bookfunnel.com/y2zuqaj7yi

1 hour download (audio): https://dl.bookfunnel.com/243bnk6m09

Discussion Guide: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/y84enq7cje

Bloghttps://battlefieldearth.com/blog

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GalaxyPress/playlists

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29532708-battlefield-earth

Other books by L. Ron Hubbard: https://galaxypress.com/l-ron-hubbard-books/

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/JRbxWRwMI5w

Making of the Audiobook video: https://youtu.be/wABlKjhRDkQ

Brandon Sanderson’s Review video: https://youtu.be/S-80Tx1olgc

Short trailer: https://youtu.be/sU_V3O5Gemk

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RELEASE BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: Escaping the Dashia by Rebecca Inch-Partridge #YoungAdult #SciFi #Fantasy @RABTBookTours

Y.A. Science Fantasy

Date Published: March 18, 2023

Publisher: Black Rose Writing


photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png

 

Discovering who you are can be dangerous – even deadly.

Twyla’s been living in hiding on Earth, hoping to leave her past behind.
But when her mother, Madam Cassiopeia DeConnett finds her and kidnaps her
back to the Paraxous Star Cluster, she expects her daughter to take her
rightful place within the family business. The DeConnetts are Dashia- a
group of genetically- engineered telepaths who use their powers to control
some and ruin others. Their criminal organization is rich, powerful, and
spans The Cluster.

When escape seems impossible, Twyla considers suicide. Then she meets
Dovain, another prisoner, and their friendship blossoms into something more.
Together, can they figure out how to free themselves? Can she trust herself
enough to risk loving him? If she does, will that love save her, or lead to
her destruction?

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RABT Book Tours & PR

BOOK BLITZ: The End of Never by Tamara Grantham #SciFi #postapocalyptic @XpressoTours @TamaraGrantham

The End of Never
Tamara Grantham
(Chronicles of Ithical, #1)
Publication date: March 7th 2023
Genres: Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction

The riveting sequel to Rone-award winning The 7th Lie.

When her worst fears come true, Sabine Harper must fight to save the only world she calls home.

Six months after Agent Harper stopped a deadly solar flare from destroying Earth, she’s sent back to the world of Ithical, where a mysterious civilization lives hidden under a dome. She’s tasked with finding the person responsible for stealing cerecite—a rare ore with near-magical capabilities. While cerecite can heal and provide energy, Sabine suspects the one stealing it may be using it for more sinister purposes.

After one of the world’s shield generators is destroyed, Sabine travels with Prince Morven to search for the perpetrator. They’re accompanied by the palace gardener, Cade MacDougall, and the princess, Vevina. When they locate the destroyed generator, they make a shocking discovery. The one who demolished the generator has plans to ruin the next three, which would not only devastate their civilization, but completely erase it.

But not all is as it seems. Sabine suspects her employer, Vortech, may not have the best intentions. Worse, the culprit may be closer than she realizes—close enough to kill if she gets too near to the truth. If Sabine and her companions can’t find the culprit in time, they could not only lose their world, but lose everyone they hold dear—including one another.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

EXCERPT:

The metal cable burned my palms as I dangled from the two-hundred-foot drop. Long strands of dark hair stuck to my sweat-dampened face, but I refused to loosen my hold on the cord.

“Sabine.” Cade’s voice cut through the static of my headset. “Fifty feet to go.”

“Understood.” I slid down an inch, then another. The lights on my helmet didn’t illuminate the cave’s floor. I could’ve been descending into the abyss of Hades for all I knew. There was a reason thieves had picked this place to mine cerecite—it was nearly impossible to access, which made me wonder how they planned to get their stolen ore topside.

“Almost there,” Cade said. “What do you see?”

“Rocks,” I answered.

I couldn’t find it in my heart to be polite to Cade MacDougall, who’d nearly killed me six months earlier. Though it turned out he’d had his reasons, I found it hard to trust him. And I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to that point.

My light shone on the granite stones enclosing me in their tomb. I breathed through the panic of claustrophobia tightening in my chest. My hands slipped on the cord, and I dropped a foot. My stomach bottomed out, and I cursed as I caught myself. The harness tightened around my ribs.

“You okay?” Cade asked.

I ground my teeth. “Fine. Lost my grip. Next time we do this, remind me to wear gloves.”

“Next time? This is the last time I’m doing anything like this. Sorry, but I’ve got better things to do than chase criminals.”

“Like plant flowers?” I asked.

“Exactly.” His voice held a hint of humor. “You know me too well.”

Author Bio:

Tamara Grantham is the award-winning author of more than a dozen books and novellas, including the Olive Kennedy: Fairy World MD series, the Shine novellas, and the Twisted Ever After trilogy. Dreamthief, the first book of her Fairy World MD series, won first place for fantasy in INDIEFAB’S Book of the Year Awards, a RONE award for best New Adult Romance, and is a #1 bestseller on Amazon with over 200 five-star reviews.

Tamara holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Lamar University. She has been a featured speaker at multiple writing conferences, and she has been a panelist at Comic Con Wizard World speaking on the topic of female leads. For her first published project, she collaborated with New York-Times bestselling author, William Bernhardt, in writing the Shine series.

Born and raised in Texas, Tamara now lives with her husband and five children in Wichita, Kansas. She rarely has any free time, but when the stars align and she gets a moment to relax, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, taking nature walks–which fuel her inspiration for creating fantastical worlds–and watching every Star Wars or Star Trek movie ever made. You can find her online at http://www.TamaraGrantham.com.

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BOOK TOUR: The Divine Oblivion by Clare Archer #scififantasy #fantasybooks #giveaway @RRBookTours1 @Clare_Archer_

TheDivineOblivion copy

Welcome to the tour for Clare Archer’s upcoming new novel, The Divine Oblivion. Read on for more details and visit one of our bookstagrammers to enter a fantastic giveaway – A hardcover edition, 3 character prints, bookmark, and stickers!

Clare Archer - The Divine Oblivion - eBook

The Divine Oblivion (The Secrets of the Sun #1)

Expected Publication Date: March 7, 2023

Genre: Romantic Fantasy/ Sci-Fi Fantasy

In the wake of certain death is when one feels the most alive, and will do anything to remain so…

Being kidnapped to a galaxy one hundred million lightyears away from Earth is not how Cyra pictured her twenty-first birthday.

And her abductor is a sarcastic, drunken wretch that tells her that her life on Earth was ploy to keep her safe for sixteen years until it was time to bring her home.

Cyra is skeptical when she learns she is a part of a long foretold prophecy that she along with a king will save Eredet galaxy from mass extinction.

As she navigates the secrets of her birth planet, Solis, she uncovers an invincible enemy and devastating curses that steal the energetic life force from her people, sending them to a painful, early grave.

But when Cyra’s eye wanders to a man who she is not destined to be with, she must come to terms that love might not be in the cards for her if she has any hope of fulfilling her divine fate. And that is not something to be taken lightly.

Because The Creator of the universe has died, and there is no one to hear their cries for help.

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Preorder at these fine Retailers!

THE DIVINE OBLIVION is the gripping first installment of The Secrets of the Sun series. Those looking for an out-of-this-world adventure with fated mates, found family and heart-wrenching drama will devour this book!

About the Author

28A80315-5CBA-4B97-B788-DF88BD77EEEF

Clare’s goal in life is to make you laugh, cry, scream and squirm (hopefully leaving you begging for more). She enjoys writing about fantastical journeys with characters you love, or love to hate, with a plethora of spice mixed in. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with her husband, daughter and floofy cats.

Clare Archer | Instagram | TikTok

Book Tour Schedule

February 27th

R&R Book Tours (Kick-Off) http://rrbooktours.com

@belle.bookcorner (Review) https://www.instagram.com/belle.bookcorner/

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Rambling Mads (Review) http://ramblingmads.com

@bookishlyrieka (Review) https://www.instagram.com/bookishlyrieka/

@_toris.thoughts_ (Review) https://www.instagram.com/_toris.thoughts_/

February 28th

@book_lover_danny (Review) https://www.instagram.com/book_lover_danny/

@libertylanecreative (Review) https://www.instagram.com/libertylanecreative/

@fathomsamidstthelines (Review) https://www.instagram.com/fathomsamidstthelines/

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Bunny’s Reviews (Review) https://bookwormbunnyreviews.blogspot.com/

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Breakeven Books (Spotlight) https://breakevenbooks.com

I Smell Sheep (Spotlight) http://www.ismellsheep.com/

@abookworld___ (Spotlight) https://www.instagram.com/abookworld___/

March 1st

@afantaseaofbooks (Review) https://www.instagram.com/afantaseaofbooks/

Cheryl’s Book Nook (Review) https://cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com/

Read Write Run (Review) http://readwriterun.ca/

@read_write_run_ – https://www.instagram.com/read_write_run_/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

@books.and.salt (Review) https://www.instagram.com/books.and.salt/

@betweenhogwartsandvelaris (Review) https://www.instagram.com/betweenhogwartsandvelaris/

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March 2nd

@alliesrecentreads (Review) https://www.instagram.com/alliesrecentreads/

@atrailofpages (Review) https://www.instagram.com/atrailofpages/

@ hazelwriteswords_ (Review) https://www.instagram.com/hazelwriteswords_/

@heathercreeden (Review) https://www.instagram.com/heathercreeden/

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Not a Bunny Blog (Review) https://notanybunny.wordpress.com/blog

@booksreadbytracy (Review) https://www.instagram.com/booksreadbytracy/?hl=en

I Love Books & Stuff (Spotlight) https://ilovebooksandstuffblog.wordpress.com

Book Reviews by Taylor (Spotlight) https://www.bookreviewsbytaylor.com/

March 3rd

@ashe_and_ink (Review) https://www.instagram.com/ashe_and_ink/

@balancing_books_and_beauties (Review) https://www.instagram.com/balancing_books_and_beauties/

@thelibrocubicularista (Review) https://www.instagram.com/thelibrocubicularista/

@ grace_e_l (Review) https://www.instagram.com/grace_e_l/

@bookwitch.blackcoffee (Review) https://www.instagram.com/bookwitch.blackcoffee/

@mitinylibrary (Spotlight) https://www.instagram.com/mitinylibrary/

@leighs_little_library (Review) https://www.instagram.com/leighs_little_library/

@lillian_reads_and_writes (Review) https://www.instagram.com/lillian_reads_and_writes/

@mandioyster (Review) https://www.instagram.com/mandioyster/

@obsessive_bibliomaniac (Review) https://www.instagram.com/obsessive_bibliomaniac/

@readwritefantasy (Review) https://www.instagram.com/readwritefantasy/

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BOOK TOUR: Hell Holes Book IV – A Slave’s Revenge by Donald Firesmith #SciFi #Horror

A Slaves Revenge

Hell Holes Book 4

by Donald Firesmith

Genre: SciFi, Paranormal Horror

An epic story of love, loss, friendship, and survival under the most hellish of conditions, Hell Holes: A Slave’s Revenge is the award-winning prequel to the Hell Holes series of alien invasion novels.

After killing his father, alien demons teleport a fifteen-year-old boy, his mother, and his sister to Hell, a desert world in the Demonic Empire. With survival far from certain, they have just two choices: to live as useful slaves or die as demon food. As the boy becomes a man, he must decide just how much he must collaborate with his demon masters to survive. But can he live long enough to take his revenge and regain his freedom without losing his humanity and his very soul?

Winter 2022 Pinnacle Achievement Awards – Winner – Science Fiction Category
2021 Top Shelf Magazine Book Awards – Runner-up – Fiction/Fantasy Subcategory
July 2022 BooksShelf.com Book Awards – Finalist – Fiction Category
2021 The Wishing Shelf Book Awards – Finalist – Adult Category
ReadFree.ly – 50 Best Indie Books of 2021

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EXCERPT

Prologue

My name is Paul Chapman. When I was just fifteen years old, a band of demonic aliens murdered my father and captured my mother, sister, and me. These vicious creatures — the source of humanity’s myths of devils, imps, and hellhounds — took us through a hidden portal to Hell, the nearest planet to Earth in their vast empire. I spent the next twenty-three years there as their slave.

I was rescued during the Armageddon War and became the only captive human to ever escape from Hell. Over the following months, members of the US military and various specialists spent countless hours interviewing and debriefing me to learn everything I knew about Hell and the demons. They provided a therapist to help me recover from my horrendous experiences and adjust to my new life back on Earth. She recommended I document my life as a slave. This book is my story: the autobiography of my life as a slave on Hell.

1 – The Hunt

My parents, Robert and Mary Chapman, met while first-year students at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He studied wildlife biology while she studied anthropology, concentrating her studies on the history and culture of the native Inuit. Although they had grown up in the Lower 48, they fell in love with Alaska and decided to remain after graduating.

Dad had hoped to obtain a job as a wildlife biologist, but such jobs were rare and paid little. Mom had an even harder time finding suitable work. So, when my maternal grandfather died two years later, my parents decided to use her modest inheritance to buy a dry cabin and live a subsistence lifestyle. They would hunt caribou and moose, trap small game for furs and food, and fish for salmon during spawning season.

Mom and Dad eventually bought a cabin on the north shore of the Kobuk River. Only seven miles upstream of the tiny town of Kobuk, the house was close enough to make buying provisions easy. The town’s simple landing strip also made visiting relatives practical and would enable evacuation in case of a medical emergency.

Miles from their nearest neighbors, the cabin was also isolated enough to offer all the seclusion a family could ever want. Nestled between the nearby river and the Brooks Range a few miles to the north, my parents had found the home of their dreams.

My twin sister, Sarah, and I were born a few years later, and we grew up in some of the most beautiful land imaginable. The chores were many, the work was hard, but the rewards of freedom and the wilder-ness’s majesty made the hardships well worthwhile. I loved the life and couldn’t imagine ever leaving it.

This story begins when Sarah and I were fifteen. It was early August, and the Chinook salmon were running up the river to spawn. After breakfast, Mom and Sarah were going fishing. Dad and I had built a fish wheel, an ingenious tool that automatically catches the salmon. An underwater fence forces some of the fish towards the wheel that the river’s current turns. Baskets attached to the wheel’s rim scoop up the fish and dump them into a box. Mom and Sarah were going to carry the salmon back to the cabin, clean them, and hang them up over a fire in our smokehouse. Their work would ensure we would have plenty of smoked salmon to eat during the long Alaskan winter.

While they were fishing, Dad and I would hunt moose and check our traps for small game. We took our rifles and headed upriver away from town. We left our dog, Sergeant, behind so her barking would warn Mom and Sarah of any bear that might be attracted by the smell of our fish.

We started by checking our traps, but they were empty. Not a single one had been tripped. And we didn’t spot any small game even though we didn’t talk, and we walked carefully to avoid making any unnecessary noise.

When it was nearing lunchtime, we turned around and headed back to our cabin. This time, instead of following the river trail, we hiked up towards the nearby mountains forming the southern edge of the Brooks Range. As before, the area seemed completely devoid of animal life, which was pretty unusual. We’d typically see something, even if it was too far away or on the far side of the river.

About halfway home, we spotted the remains of a bull moose that had been recently killed. Because the bears were busy with the salmon, we initially thought it had been brought down by wolves. But it wasn’t. Enormous chunks of flesh had been removed in single bites, and the bites’ edges were too clean to have been made by wolves or bears.

It was strange that we couldn’t identify the tracks in the soft ground around the carcass. There were many large and small hoof prints, but they were shorter and rounder than moose and elk tracks.

Stranger still were the giant paw prints from the carnivore that had brought down the moose. Easily twice the length of wolf prints, they had only three toes, and the separate claw marks were much longer than wolf or even bear claws. Dad, the biologist, was stumped. The prints didn’t seem to belong to any Alaskan wild animal or to any animal for that matter. The only tracks he could think of that were even somewhat similar were those of ostriches, emus, and cassowaries. But the claw marks were too short for ostrich and emu tracks, and the cassowary only has one claw that long, not three.

“Dad, how about a really big dog?” I asked. “Maybe a Newfoundland had lost a toe.”

Dad shook his head. “Can’t be. See how the toes are arranged symmetrically? And besides, why would a dog have the same toe removed on each paw?”

“What about a dinosaur?” I suggested jokingly.

Dad actually considered it for a second before answering, “You know, it does look a little like a theropod footprint. It might have been a reasonable hypothesis if it weren’t for the little fact they’re all extinct except for the birds. No, this has to be a hoax. Someone’s trying to start a rumor about a strange beast roaming the Alaskan wilderness. Probably wants to draw tourists hoping to catch sight of the mythological creature.”

“But Dad, what about the bite marks?”

“My guess is that they used a curved knife to make them. Still, whoever did it did a good job. They had me going for a bit. Come on, let’s head home and tell the girls about our mysterious find.”

So, we hiked back to the cabin and had lunch with Mom and Sarah. They told us about the baskets of fish they had caught and cleaned. We told them about the moose kill we’d stumbled on, the strange tracks, and the huge bite marks. Mom agreed with Dad that it would probably turn out to be a hoax, but Sarah wasn’t sure what to think.

After lunch, Dad and I headed out again to see if we’d have any better luck hunting. We didn’t. The animals, both big and small, were still missing, and we were once more forced to come back empty-handed. I did, however, carry my camera with me and took some pictures of our find. For a laugh, I figured I would upload them onto Facebook the next time I was back in town where I could get internet service.

2 – Demons in the Dark

Sergeant, our three-year-old German Shepherd, woke me from a pleasant dream by barking her head off and scratching at the cabin door. I glanced at my alarm clock. It was just after three in the morning, and much too early for her to need to be let out to do her business. She was also far too excited for that to be the problem.

“What is it, girl?” Dad called. “Are the raccoons back again?”

Sergeant ignored him and continued barking.

I thought I heard a deep growl coming from outside my window. “I think it’s a bear, Dad.” I groggily dragged myself out of bed, stepped into my slippers, and headed downstairs.

Dad was already there, taking his hunting rifle down from its home over the fireplace. He checked it to ensure it was loaded while I pulled Sergeant back from the door.

Grizzlies occasionally break into empty cabins looking for an easy meal. Still, I’d never known one to bust into one that was occupied, and a dog could usually be counted on to keep them at bay. Besides, it was late summer when their food was plentiful.

“What is it, Robert?” Mom asked. She was halfway down the stairs with Sarah just behind her.

“Probably just a bear,” Dad answered.

We had a thick solid door with a strong lock, so I wasn’t too concerned. I just hoped that it wouldn’t break a window because I’d be the one Dad would send into town to buy the glass to replace it.

Boom! The door rattled as something massive struck it. Sergeant growled, jerked her collar out of my hands, and bounded to the door. She pawed at it, barking like mad.

I was just about to run forward and grab her when there was a deafening bang. Ripped right off its heavy hinges, the door flew across the room, knocking Sergeant sideways and narrowly missing me before crashing into the dinner table.

Dad raised his rifle and fired just as a huge, wolf-like creature charged into the room. The bullet struck it squarely in the middle of the chest, dropping the monster to the floor.

We all gawked at the nightmarish beast lying at Dad’s feet. We’d never seen or even imagined such an animal. Easily four times the size of a timber wolf, the beast had neither fur nor anything you could call skin. Its massive brick-red muscles and yellowish bones and tendons were clearly visible as were the finger-long fangs and large, triangular teeth in its gaping mouth. Its yellow eyes with horizontal pupils stared blankly up at us while it bled blood the color of crude oil.

“What the hell is that?” Dad exclaimed as a second such beast burst into the house and bounded over the body of the one he had shot. Before he could react, it sank its teeth into Dad’s neck and shook him like an orca shaking a seal.

Several things happened almost simultaneously. Mom and Sarah screamed. The gun flew out of Dad’s hands and slid past me into the kitchen. Sergeant whined and bolted out the door as I sprinted to retrieve Dad’s rifle.

Grabbing his gun, I started to turn back to face the monsters when someone yanked the rifle right out of my hands. No, not someone. Some thing!

A grotesque, little, ape-like monster no more than three-feet-tall stood in front of me holding Dad’s rifle in one hand and a sword to my neck with the other. The imp had short little horns and stared at me with yellow, goat-like eyes. Like the hellhound, it was totally naked and seemed to have no skin covering his heavily muscled body.

Perhaps those huge muscles were what made me feel certain he was male despite his lack of any obvious indicator of his sex. The imp grinned, flashed an impossibly wide mouth full of shark-like teeth, and shook his head. His intent was unmistakable.

Wresting my gaze away from the imp’s hideous face, I looked up to see a second, sword-carrying imp motioning for Mom and Sarah to come down from the stairs. They, however, were transfixed by the sight of the hellhound feasting on Dad’s body. The one he’d shot had staggered to its feet, the wound in its chest miraculously healing before our eyes. The hellhounds snarled and growled at each other as they bit off softball-sized chunks of flesh and swallowed them whole.

I was having a nightmare! The worst nightmare of my life. I was asleep. I had to be.

The imp in front of me poked my stomach with the tip of his sword. It hurt! What? It shouldn’t hurt. You don’t feel pain in dreams. I glanced down and saw a little circle of blood staining my pajamas.

I wasn’t dreaming! Two wolf-like monsters were eating my dad, and two diminutive demons with swords had taken over the house. I couldn’t imagine how things could get any worse, but they did.

The devil, who was completely naked like the imps, walked in through the open doorway. There he stood with his long swept-back horns, his cloven hooves, and his red naked body. The only things missing were a pitchfork and tail. Tall and far more muscular than any Olympic athlete, he looked around the room with yellow, goat-like eyes, just like those of the imps and hellhounds.

The devil pointed at my mother and sister and barked out a series of incomprehensible sounds. They had to be words in the demonic language of Hell. Several of the syllables were so weird and spoken so rapidly that they were difficult to grasp and impossible for any human to repeat.

The imp standing at the base of the stairs motioned with his sword for Mom and Sarah to come down. Then the devil said something else, and the imp in front of me motioned for me to join them. Mom and Sarah were crying, their shoulders shaking uncontrollably as they watched the hellhounds feasting on Dad’s body. We hugged, and I did my best to make them turn their backs on the horrific scene. But there was no way we could ignore the horrible sounds the hellhounds made as we waited to learn our fate.

To Hell and Back

Hell Holes Book 3

The beautiful young photojournalist, Aileen O’Shannon, is not who she seems. For centuries, she has been a demon hunter, a sorceress who has tracked and killed small bands of demons that occasionally crossed into our world. But that changed when she joined Dr. Jack Oswald’s expedition to study one of hundreds of huge holes that mysteriously appeared overnight in the frozen tundra north of the Arctic Circle. Instead of small sporadic incursions, hordes of demons now pour from these hell holes like water from a sieve. With bombing little more than a losing game of whack-a-mole, Earth’s armies are unable to destroy the portals. When Jack suggests a desperate plan, he is drafted to join Aileen and a team of other sorcerers and Army Rangers to travel to the demon homeworld. Once there, they will unleash a plague virus and set off a nuclear bomb to destroy the portal complex. It’s a suicide mission. But Aileen has given Jack’s wife her word to bring him back safely, and the demons have already killed three men under her protection. Just how far will Aileen go to avoid losing another?

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Demons on the Dalton

Hell Holes Book 2

When hundreds of huge holes mysteriously appeared overnight in the frozen tundra north of the Arctic Circle, geologist Jack Oswald picked Angele Menendez, his climatologist wife, to determine if the record temperatures due to climate change was the cause. But the holes were not natural. They were unnatural portals for an invading army of demons. Together with Aileen O’Shannon, a 1,700-year-old sorceress demon-hunter, the three survivors of the research team sent to study the holes had only one chance: to flee down the dangerous Dalton Highway towards the relative safety of Fairbanks. However, the advancing horde of devils, imps, hellhounds, and gargoyles will stop at nothing to prevent their prey from escaping. It is a 350-mile race with simple rules. Win and live; lose and die…

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What Lurks Below

Hell Holes Book 1

It’s August in Alaska, and geology professor Jack Oswald prepares for the new school year. But when hundreds of huge holes mysteriously appear overnight in the frozen tundra north of the Arctic Circle, Jack receives an unexpected phone call. An oil company exec hires Jack to investigate, and he picks his climatologist wife and two of their graduate students as his team. Uncharacteristically, Jack also lets Aileen O’Shannon, a bewitchingly beautiful young photojournalist, talk him into coming along as their photographer. When they arrive in the remote oil town of Deadhorse, the exec and a biologist to protect them from wild animals join the team. Their task: to assess the risk of more holes opening under the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the wells and pipelines that feed it. But they discover a far worse danger lurks below. When it emerges, it threatens to shatter Jack’s unshakable faith in science. And destroy us all…

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Donald Firesmith is a multi-award-winning author of speculative fiction including science fiction (alien invasion), fantasy (magical wands), horror, and modern urban paranormal novels and anthologies of short stories.

Prior to retiring to devote himself full-time to his novels, Donald Firesmith earned an international reputation as a distinguished engineer, authoring seven system/software engineering books based on his 40+ years spent developing large, complex software intensive systems.

He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife Becky, his daughter Sera, and varying numbers of dogs and cats.

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BOOK BLAST: Last Chance by Darren E. Watling #sciencefiction #humor #postapocalytic @GoddessFish @darrenwatling2

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Darren E. Watling will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The earth’s epilogue was a forgone conclusion.

Our World selects seven of the best human beings that man, woman, and other could put their faith in, to ensure human existence, each displaying traits of a master in his/hers/its field.

However, not all traits are in the best interest of humankind.

Out of this World places seven hospital patients on a Plan B shuttle. Life was difficult on Earth. A new planet presents new problems. The ex-Fruit and Nut Friendly Psychiatric Hospital patients are up for the challenge.

Into the Other World—The Twist. Not only a mid-1900s dance, it is also associated with a lemon, a warped shape, a frame of mind, a warped frame of mind, a face you pull from sucking lemons and an end of story, unexpected finish, not to be given away, glancing at the back cover.

Read an Excerpt

“The court versus Jarred Pork,” the bailiff announced.

“Another serious offence. Jaywalking again. Unbelievable. What have you got to say for yourself, hmm? Well? Speak up, speak up,” the judge said, his thick and fearsome eyebrows alternating up and down.

“If the court pleases, Your Honour . . .” Sid, the defence lawyer, started.

“I’m not too pleased so far but ‘carry on, Sid’.”

“I’m the accused’s attorney. I will speak for Jarred as the accused is mute.”

The judge gave a heavy sigh and adjusted his black gown. “Very well, continue.”

“Jarred went out looking for his husband, as he hadn’t returned with an asthma puffer for their great-grandson., Wheelchair-bound, Jarred left the child with a trusting neighbour. As Jarred left their tiny unit, the red-bearded, dreadlocked kiddies friend, Molly Lester sang a kiddie song, and everyone assumed the child was safe, sport. (It is said Molly was heard on the phone: Hey, Dad! Bring Bill over. I’ve got another one. Presumably, another child to nurture, teach and explain what fine examples of human beings they are).

“I’ve heard enough from that man’s/woman’s/its mouth. Guilty! Throw away the key, like a rapper!” “Next, and this better be good, Johnny,” Clint said, as Sid swapped out and Johnny became the new defence lawyer.

“You sure are a weird lawyer Johnny, but I like you.”

“The court versus Harlett Sexton Action. The Honourable Judge Clint Eros presiding,” the bailiff stated.

“Oh, you poor thing. What have they got you in here for?” the judge showing compassion to the DD’s.

Harlette continued chewing gum as she spoke, “Well, Clinty, I’m pretty sure it’s a case of mistaken identity. I was on my way to make another porn movie, and the next thing I remember was a police officer saying I hit something or something.”

“You have a very strong defence Miss Action,” the unbiased judge claimed. “Let the prosecution begin.”

From chapter ‘Clint’ part three – Into the Other World

About the Author:

Born Darren Edward Watling, Subiaco, Western Australia, 1966. Darren excelled in English, maintaining ‘A’s, throughout his schooling and wrote a play, ‘Laughing Gas’, for his school at the age of 10. Credited with one small, published article, Darren found inspiration and reward, arriving at his latest piece, ‘Last Chance’.

He completed an apprenticeship, as a fitter, at Princess Margaret Hospital, while continuing his passion for short story writing.

Traveling Australia for three years on a private bus gave Darren a beginning to the experiences and continued, humorous outlook he has on life.

Darren approached his mother Jill Stubbs Mills and asked for her blessing to take her short story, ‘Deception’, and rewrite it into a novel. (The feedback from her publisher about her story was exceptional). Jill agreed to her son’s request. Sadly, Jill now suffers with dementia, but, keeps her sense of humour.

Various forms of employment, including a movie extra, a welder on a crocodile farm, a drummer for a touring band and currently a roof plumber, gave Darren considerable ‘fuel’, for a fired up, comedic novel.

Darren has had several passions over the past 56 years while walking this Earth. Drums, Karate, tennis and continuing today- comedic writing.

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BOOK TOUR: A Kinder City by Peter Taylor-Gooby #SciFi #Dystopian @RRBookTours1

Welcome to the book tour for A Kinder City by Peter Taylor-Gooby. Read on for details and grab yourself a copy today! Outlook-r4mxwfty A Kinder City Publication Date: April 28, 2023 Genre: Eco Sci-Fi/ Sci-fi/ Dystopian What place for love in a city ruled by greed? Sarah, spirited and caring, is on her first trip outside her village. The city is dominated by the grim law of the market – the only relations permitted are between buyer and seller. Her gift of a wagonload of food to those who need it is a crime. David, a serious-minded police cadet who naively trusts in the law, arrests her and finds himself falling in love. Franklin, the richest man in Market World, puts a price on everything. His giant factories spew forth road beasts – the huge machines that devastate the lands beyond the City in pursuit of yet more wealth. How can David prove his love to Sarah? And how can they save her village and build a kinder city? A gripping and thought-provoking eco-sci-fi novel, set in a world a little bit like ours. Add to Goodreads

Excerpt

In an overheated semi-basement, seven storeys beneath the Council Chamber, David awaits Sarah’s Audit Hearing. The windows are horizontal slits high up the walls and the overhead strip-lights are still on, although it’s before 11.00 am and bright sunshine outside. The room is barely wide enough to hold the dais with the wooden table for the Assessor, her Recorder and the clerk, with the chair for the witness to the right and the dock for the defaulter to the left. He feels stifled and wonders if he suffers from asthma. He has found a seat at the back of the courtroom on an upright chair that grates when he moves. He shouldn’t be here. He crept in with the public through the main door, and was squeezed against a young man with inky fingers, a notebook, and furtive eyes. As soon as he sees the uniform the young man introduces himself as a TV reporter, but doesn’t give a channel. He slips his cuff back to show his wristband. ‘We pay for your stories. Do you think Franklin has the answer to lawlessness in the Old Town?’ David touches the insignia on his sleeve: ‘No comment.’ A group of young women and men in blue uniforms without badges fill the benches at the front of the room. David guesses they are cadets from the Academy. Not so long ago I was one of you, he thinks. A cadet whose hair seems unruly despite the regulation cut looks back at him and says something to the young woman next to him. She glances round and giggles. The Assessor enters at the door behind the bench, a spare black woman in a navy blue trouser suit with the badge of office – the Golden Balance – on her breast pocket. Her clerk follows her. Everyone rises with a scraping of chairs and David is forced back against the main door. The Assessor surveys the room through metal-rimmed spectacles, sighs, and sits down. ‘What have you got for us today?’ The clerk bows his head. He’s short, plump-faced and his hair needs combing. He reminds David of a pocket spaniel. ‘Long list, Madam. First case, Major Breach of the One Law. Conveying a cargo without contract. Intent to supply said cargo without payment.’ ‘Bring the defaulter to scrutiny.’ David is forced to stand as the main door opens and the Court-Serjeant enters, a square-shouldered older man in a gold-braided uniform who scowls at the Bench, the Assessor and the audience. He leads Sarah into the courtroom. She glances round the room, as if noting the details for when she tells her friends the story. The Serjeant grasps her arm and the clerk slaps his hand on the desk: ‘Proceed.’ She nods to him, picks the officer’s fingers from her arm with her other hand and strolls forward. ‘Take her to the dock.’ ‘Please. I’ll find my own way.’ The clerk snorts. ‘Silence.’ She takes her position to the left of the bench, the Serjeant behind her, and looks round. David feels she is searching him out. The journalist licks his biro and scribbles at his pad. The Assessor leans towards her. ‘You are Ms S.Cordell, known as Sarah. You are called to scrutiny for a serious Audit transgression. I have reviewed the evidence and am minded to order full compensation with costs. Have you anything to say?’ Sarah frowns, and for an instant David feels dizzy, as if everything is back to front. She is the judge and he stands accused in the dock. Then her face lights up. ‘Not really. I was taking some fruit and other produce from Coneystone in the wagon with Juno. We wanted to share it with our cousins and friends in the Old Town. First time I’ve done the trip, we had a great crop this year. These people,’ she waves a hand towards David, ‘him and his mates, jumped out on me, all dressed up like comedy policemen. Pity it was muddy, they kept falling over. He’ll do it now if you’re lucky.’ Someone sniggers and the Assessor fixes her gaze on the cadets. Sarah keeps talking. ‘It’s not funny. They scared Juno.’ ‘That’s of no importance. The question is: have you a valid contract?’ The Assessor pauses a moment, then raises her voice. ‘You have no contract, it’s idle to deny it. Answer a simple question: who pays you for the apples?’ ‘But it’s a good act, you really should see it. Then they frightened Juno and upset the applecart.’ Her face darkens. ‘So to speak. Then they took me here and kept me in and I’m worried about Juno. The apples will spoil. So will the blackberries.’ She turns to the court: ‘You haven’t seen where they’ve put Juno have you? Lovely beast, heavy horse, red ribbons in her mane. You wouldn’t miss her.’ The Assessor thrusts her face towards Sarah. ‘You will address the question. The longer you waste the court’s time, the more it will cost you.’ Sarah smooths her forehead with her hand. ‘Oh no, I’m sorry, didn’t I say? The apples and everything, they’re all presents. Brilliant harvest this year. You can have some.’ She looks round at all of them, smiling at her good fortune. The Assessor straightens her back. She glances at the clerk, who nods. ‘Thank you. Transfer of commodity at zero price: major breach.’ ‘I’m sorry? Would you like some apples? Don’t you want witnesses? Look, one of them’s over there.’ David colours and hunches down in his chair, but he can’t stop himself gazing at her. He feels as if everyone in the court is craning round to look at him. The clerk slaps the desk again. ‘Silence!’ Sarah raises an eyebrow but says nothing. The Assessor sighs. ‘Breach of the One Law. Full confession. Witnesses are unnecessary.’ David feels the tension flow out of his shoulders. Sarah shakes her head, her face comical. Her eyelid flutters. David can’t tell if she just winked at him. ‘I’m sorry?’ ‘The One Law directs that all transactions must be between willing buyer and willing seller at an agreed price. Law of the Market. You do not give people things that you could sell to them. There are no exceptions.’ ‘But….’ Sarah stops, her mouth open. ‘Be quiet. You have incurred substantial expenses.’ She gestures to the clerk, who reads out staccato from a thin strip of paper: ‘Deployment twelve Enforcers, 1 captain, 1 sergeant, 1 half-sergeant for 4 hours: 300 credits; Item: deduction for value of training exercise: minus 110 credits. Uniform cleaning: 10 credits. Accommodation, item: basic cell by one night: 200 credits; item: stabling and incidentals: 4 credits Security during accommodation: 50 credits Incidentals: toothpaste, soap, towel etc: 5 credits. Courtroom, third grade, by one hour, staffing and incidentals: 100 credits. Compensation: inconvenience of arrest to the detainee, standard rate 2 credits an hour by 18 hours: minus 36 credits. Item: proceeds, sale of 1 horse: minus 17 credits. Item: proceeds sale of cart and contents: minus 32 credits.’ David keeps his eyes on Sarah. She raises her eyebrows again and shrugs her shoulders. ‘Total 474 credits.’ ‘Thank you. Ms Cordell, your breach cost Market World 669 credits minus 110 credits value of training provided, 36 credits citizen compensation and 49 credits sale of confiscated items. Your civic recompense is set at 474 credits. Next case.’ Sarah stares at her. ‘You must be joking! What is a credit anyway?’ The Assessor blinks. ‘Next case.’ ‘But what about Juno?’ The clerk remarks to no-one ‘Additional court time may be purchased at 1.4 credits a minute.’ The Court-Serjeant seizes Sarah by the arm and hustles her towards the door. David rises and pulls his chair out of the way. She catches his eye as she passes and looks back at him and grimaces. It strikes him to the heart. He grips the door and stops it from shutting. The next case, a market trader accused of short weight, in a shabby suit with the jacket too tight under his shoulders, is brought in. A buzz of conversation rises from the cadets. The young man who stared back at David tilts his head towards the young woman next to him and whispers something that is terribly important to them both. He takes the young woman’s hand, ignoring the others. The Assessor glowers at them ‘Silence! Or I shall clear the court.’ The journalist flips to the next page, sucks at his pen and writes. David slips round the door and pulls it shut behind him. He leans against it for a full half-minute, his eyes closed. He knows that the staircase in front of him leads up to the main hall where fines are paid. He turns left and strides down the corridor towards the barracks block. Voices sound from the guard room and he dodges left again into a narrower corridor with raw concrete walls lit by unshaded light-bulbs, then up an iron spiral stair. He listens for foot-steps, then creeps across a metal landing as softly as if he were on a close surveillance exercise and it was Adam assessing him. He listens again, and passes through a side-door into the Process Room. He blinks in the daylight that streams in from tall windows overlooking City Square. His heart feels tight in his chest. He has never in his life done anything like this. He doesn’t know why he is doing it now. He is a fool. The duty Enforcer sits at the metal desk with the band-reader on it and the empty metal chair opposite, examining her finger nails. She slips something into her mouth. David clenches his fist, relaxes it and lets the door slam shut. The sound echoes across the room. She jerks upright and glances towards him, and pulls her jacket straight. He knows her, they did their basic training together. Six weeks of square-bashing with Curtis shouting at you. ‘Hi Jan. Your lucky day. I’m to take over.’ He didn’t plan that. Where did it come from? Jan frowns. ‘Who says? I’m here ‘til 18.00 hours.’ She chews at something. ‘Curtis. Extra duty – for yesterday.’ ‘I heard. Curtis doesn’t like you, does he?’ ‘Yeah, well. It’s a long story, I think he was a bit scared of the horse. Guess he likes you.’ ‘Sure he does.’ She studies his face. ‘Are you alright?’ ‘Yeah, well. I’ll be OK.’ ‘That bad, is it? You’ve got friends you know.’ ‘Sure… Thanks.’ She touches his hand. ‘All yours. I’m off.’ The side-door clicks to. David expels the air from his lungs and breathes in slowly to calm the throbbing in his head. He touches the band-reader in front of him. He’s used it a thousand times. You key in the amount, touch your wristband against the screen and it deducts or adds on the credits. No citizen in Market World is ever without a wristband. It’s fastened to your wrist at the citizenship ceremony when you pass eighteen and goes with you to the grave. You get lessons on it in “Lifeskills” at school. It only works if the buyer assents to the deal and that is infallible. Willing seller, willing buyer. As the signs in the street say: ‘You’re not dressed without it’, ‘No pay, no get’ and ‘You are your account’. He swallows and pushes the hair back off his forehead. The door is thrown open and the Serjeant enters, still gripping Sarah by the arm. He marches her up to the desk and releases her. He reminds David of an elderly bullfrog. ‘All yours. Watch her. She tried to chat up my deputy in the Guard Room.’ ‘I did not. I just said he had nice eyes for a comedian.’ She stares at David. ‘Nice to meet you again.’ She holds out her hand. David reaches out, then lays his hand palm-down on the desk. ‘The defaulter will maintain discipline,’ barks the Serjeant. ‘Sit.’ Sarah looks round her, pulls out the chair, sits and crosses her legs. David squares his shoulders. ‘Alright. I’ll take over from here.’ ‘The court placed Ms Cordell in my charge.’ The Serjeant keeps his hand on Sarah’s shoulder. ‘Until her debt is discharged. Which is now.’ He looks the Serjeant in the eye. After a pause the officer drops his hand and pulls on a leather glove. ‘Very well.’ The door slams behind him. David licks his lips and looks at Sarah and tries to smile. He has the script by heart, he learned it last night. ‘You understand that you must pay civic recompense as decided by the court. 474 credits. Touch your wristband to the reader.’ ‘Where’s Juno? I don’t care about the cart, but she’s not used to being away from me.’ ‘Your possessions will be auctioned to defray expenses. Just touch your wristband here. See that number? That’s your account: “Debit 474”. But you must have a wristband. It’s always issued at the citizenship ceremony when you leave school. You could buy that cartload ten times over with that many credits. Twenty times.’ He taps the reader. She grins at him. ‘We don’t bother with those things in the villages, waste of time.’ She starts to get up. ‘Let’s go and find Juno. I need to get on my way.’ ‘She’s OK, I sorted it. She’s being looked after.’ ‘Are you sure? What do you know about horses?’ ‘She’s OK.’ ‘Tell me about Juno.’ She rests her chin on her fingertips and fixes her eyes on him. He places his hands together on the table. ‘She’s a black Percheron. 18 hands.’ She nods and her cheeks dimple. ‘She’s being fed OK?’ ‘All the hay she wants – and crushed oats. And apples, but not too many. I tell you, she’s OK. Trust me. Now touch your wristband to the reader.’ She’s puzzled. Her brow furrows in tiny creases. ‘What wristband? I told you we don’t go in for them. My sister’ll plait you one out of wool. She’s only nine.’ ‘You really don’t understand do you? You are in Market World. You pay for everything, you have to. You’ve taken up the time of the court and the resources of the Enforcers. No-one is going to lock you up for free.’ She giggles and the tiny dints dimple her cheeks. She places her hand over her mouth. ‘Sorry, but you just said…’ ‘I know. Everything is for sale here, you get nothing without paying for it. The One Law – law of the market. It’s what give s us a well-ordered society, why we’re so much better off than you are in the villages.’ ‘Sort of “All for One and One for All?” Free for All?’ ‘Sort of – but it works. Don’t you see it?’ He craves for her to understand, to see how his world is better, to want to be part of it. That’s why he’s here. For her. He will be her guide, her mentor, her friend and she will trust him. She shakes her head. ‘You really shouldn’t take these things so seriously. It doesn’t make you happy, does it?’ There’s a sharpness in her glance, as if it’s in her mind to say something else, but she continues: ‘Anyway, I don’t have a wristband.’ He shows her the numbers on the screen set into the black band on his left wrist. ‘There. See – all my credits: eight thousand seven hundred and fifty two, until I get paid. It’s all connected up to central computing – they keep the records. It’s how we do things.’ He feels a flush of pleasure at teaching her. She’s so confident and, at the same time, so wrong, so much in need of help and he can give it. His left leg trembles against the desk. He wills it to be calm. She folds her arms. ‘Yeah, I heard stories about that. But I told you, we don’t bother with that kind of stuff – it’s no fun.’ ‘Listen. In the past was the Great Hunger. Didn’t they tell you about it in school? Everything was terrible, people fought for food, children starved and warlords ruled the land. So many died they could no longer bury the dead.’ She shivers. ‘Sounds nasty.’ He finds it hard to concentrate. ‘Look out of that window.’ He points over City Square. ‘Can’t you see? Everyone going about their business. The shops, full of food and clothes and everything you need. The residence blocks where everybody lives.’ The words come more easily as he remembers the lesson. She mutters something to herself. ‘What’s that?’ ‘Don’t look as if they’re having much fun.’ ‘Clinics where you can buy medicine, schools and training colleges where you can pay for a degree, markets where citizens buy and sell at a fair price. Above them, the towers of the Entrepreneurs. And everywhere the Enforcers watching over us all, trusted by everyone, making sure we follow the rules.’ She peers out through the window. ‘They’re not happy. No-one’s smiling, nobody stops for a chat. Why aren’t there children playing? Or animals? And their clothes are so drab. Don’t you like to see trees?’ She spreads out her arms. ‘They’re so lovely this time of year.’ ‘Everyone’s busy, they’re going about their business. That’s what you do in Market World. Children are in school or training or working. No time to waste. We keep the beasts in their sheds and the trees in the park. What’s the profit in bright clothes?’ He watches her as if, at that moment, she matters more than anything to him. The thought comes to him: I am an Enforcer. She will understand, without the Enforcers there is no market, no Market World. I am worthy of respect. She needs to see Market World as it is, but he can’t let her go out there. She’ll be as lost as he would be in the forest. How desolate it would be, to be alone on those streets with no wristband and the night coming on. ‘When did you last eat?’ He has her full attention. ‘I don’t know.’ She pauses and tiny creases appear between her eyebrows. Her face clears. ‘I had some dried fish on the way. They wouldn’t give me breakfast back there, they kept saying didn’t I know “No pay, no get”. They didn’t like it when I asked if that was the chorus and could I sing along? I keep telling you, you people have no sense of humour.’ David stands and at the same time flips his left hand forward onto the reader without looking down, hears the click as it makes contact and checks the screen. “Account cleared”. She doesn’t notice. He’s in command for once like he’s in a novel. ‘Come on. We’ll find a café. You need someone to show you what Market World’s really like. And I’ll tell you my dream – why I’m an Enforcer.’ Her eyes light up and she rubs her hands together. ‘And I’ll tell you about how we live in the villages. And we’ll find Juno, won’t we?’ ‘Of course.’ She trusts him. He knows that she trusts him. He leads the way, through the lobby and the double doors, and down the flight of steps from the Halls of Justice into City Square. Happiness bubbles within him. She laughs, mouth open, the dimples in her cheeks each side of it. He remembers he’s on extra duty. He’ll deal with that later.

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About the Author

PTG2
My novels deal with issues that matter – love, money, power and environmental disaster. I’ve worked on adventure playgrounds, in a social security office and as a teacher. I love walking, cycling, writing and talking to my children. In my day job I’m an academic but I believe that you can only truly understand the issues that matter to people through your feelings, your imagination and your compassion. That’s why I write novels. My first novel, “The Baby Auction” 2017, is a love story set in a fantasy world where the only rule is the law of the market. That someone should help another because they care for them simply doesn’t make sense to the citizens of Market World, any more that auctioning babies might to us. My second, “Ardent Justice” 2018, is a crime story set in the world of high finance and city fat-cats, where money rules, but greed can trip even the most successful. My third, “Blood Ties” 2020, is about the ties of love in a troubled family, and the bonds of debt that chain illegal immigrants to people-traffickers, and how they can be broken through self-sacrifice. My fourth, “A Kinder City” 2022, returns to Market World where the relentless pursuit of profit leads to environmental devastation. I hope you enjoy them. Peter Taylor-Gooby
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The Seers: The Awakening by James Hai #SciFi #Fantasy #EpicFantasy @RABTBookTours

The Awakening, Book One

Sci-fi Fantasy – Epic

Date Published: December 20, 2022

 

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Shedding light unto the darkness overpowering the globe and all its
elements, the Seers face a losing battle against the Corrupts, who crave
nothing but wealth, world-domination and a bleak universe of despair under
their control. Kyle Wynn, who dives deep into the distorted life of a new
Seer, learns as much as he can from the last remaining Elders as well as
fellow-Seers, even if it means leaving behind everything he once believed
in. While embarking on a crucial mission to keep the Corrupts at bay, the
Seers try to strengthen their numbers before they come face-to-face with the
Corrupts. Fearing the massive inevitable coming battle may be their very
last, this immortal war threatens not only the pillars of Earth but
existence in its entirety. It’s a race against time across the globe
as the Seers search of the last ancient remnants left behind by the Original
Seers, that is key to humanity’s survival, as they fend-off the
Corrupts lest they fall into the wrong hangs.

About the Author

James Hai is a new author who has written a number of fictional suspense
and scifi thrillers. With hopes of bringing them to life as he debut.

James has dabbled in the arts of various kind as a youngling; from drawing,
painting, writing lyrics and songs during grade school years to singing
horribly and loudly to the tunes of many oldies – like Whitney
Houston, Elvis, Madonna, Roxette, Bette Midler, Cindy Lauper, Tina Turner
and even earlier songs like Patsy Cline and Ben E. King, only because the
songs had meaning in the words. And thus began James’ passion with
words . . . writing.

Before he could even write his first piece of lyrics or stories, he had
made up short stories and orally told them to family and friends through out
the years. It was in telling these stories that he saw how alluring and
intrigued people got when they listened to or heard a GOOD story. The better
the story was the more intent they focused and the longer they gave
attention to it.

Through the years working in the corporate world in recruiting, sales and
business in general, he had learned how important story telling was. Key to
his success in all those fields was his ability to tell a good story (of the
company, of the people, of the product, and of the services he worked for)
that allured and intrigued the customers enough to give it an ear to learn
more.

That gift has always been a part of him, from his earlier years as his
family fled as refugees with the eventual opportunity to live an American
Dream. He continues to hone this skill, from his secondary school years
living away from home and being raised by the SVDs (Society of Divine Word),
a religious and dedicated organization of men & women who trained people
to be religious and spiritual in their own unique way, until his graduation
earning a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy and finally moving back to secular
life.

After orally telling short random stories for so long, family and friends
suggested he share those stories to a broader group, the general public. He
now concentrate on sharing newly created stories with the inspiration of
giving inspiration, shedding light in times of darkness, and giving hope
when it seems hopeless. As he would state: Life can be Good, if you know how
to appreciate it!

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RABT Book Tours & PR

BOOK BLITZ: Observer by Robert Lanza & Nancy Kress #Giveaway #ScienceFiction @RABTBookTours

Science Fiction

Date Published: 01-10-2023

Publisher: Story Plant

 

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If we can alter the structure of reality, should we?

Caro Soames-Watkins, a talented neurosurgeon whose career has been upended
by controversy, is jobless, broke, and the sole supporter of her sister, a
single mother with a severely disabled child.

When she receives a strange job offer from Nobel Prize-winning scientist
Sam Watkins, a great uncle she barely knows, desperation forces her to take
it in spite of serious suspicions.

Watkins has built a mysterious medical facility in the Caribbean to conduct
research into the nature of consciousness, reality, and life after death.
Helped in his mission by his old friend, eminent physicist George Weigert,
and young tech entrepreneur Julian Dey, Sam has gone far beyond curing the
body to develop a technology that could solve the riddle of mortality.

Two obstacles stand in their way: someone on the inside is leaking intel
and Watkins’ failing body must last long enough for the technology to be
ready.

As danger mounts, Caro finds more than she bargained for, including murder,
love, and a deeper understanding into the nature of reality.

A mind-expanding journey to the very edges of science, Observer will thrill
you, inspire you, and lead you to think about life and the power of the
imagination in startling new ways.

 

Editorial Reviews

“Nancy Kress is one of the greatest living science fiction writers,
and her particular talent for telling stories about people on the cutting
edge of science tipping into something new and marvelous is perfectly suited
to the ideas that have come to Robert Lanza in the course of his
groundbreaking scientific research.  Together they’ve written a
startling, fascinating novel.”

―Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times bestselling author

“Robert Lanza has taken the gigantic step of incorporating his ideas
into a science fiction novel with Nancy Kress. This brilliant book will take
you deep into quantum physics, where these often-complex concepts are
illuminated through a riveting and moving story.”

―Rhonda Byrne, #1 New York Times bestselling author, The Secret

“Real science and limitless imagination combine in a thrilling story
you won’t soon forget.”

―Robin Cook, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Nancy Kress is a master storyteller, and her trademark empathy is on
every page. Even as we venture into the heady territory of quantum physics
and the nature of reality that Robert Lanza is known for, we never lose
track of Caro, the brilliant surgeon who’ll do anything to save the people
she loves. Observer is the best of science and fiction—an intellectual
adventure with real heart.”

―Daryl Gregory, award-winning author of Spoonbenders

“Observer is an impressive story! … Lanza and Kress give us
characters with science and spirit”

―David Brin, New York Times bestselling author, The Postman

 

About the Authors

Robert Lanza, M.D.

 

Named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People,”
Robert Lanza is a renowned scientist and author whose groundbreaking
research spans many fields, from biology to theoretical physics. He has
worked with some of the greatest minds of our time, including Jonas Salk and
B.F. Skinner. A U.S. News and World Report cover story called him “the
living embodiment of the character played by Matt Damon in Good Will
Hunting” and described him as a “genius,” a “renegade
thinker,” and likened him to Einstein. He is the father of Biocentrism,
the basis of Observer, his first novel. He has been pondering the larger
existential questions since he was a young boy, when for play he took
excursions deep into the forests of eastern Massachusetts observing nature
(like Emerson and Thoreau, who grew up just a few miles from him).
This fascination with the nature of life infused his entire career, leading
him to the very frontiers of biology and science.

Nancy Kress

Hailed by bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson as “one of the
greatest science fiction writers working today,” Nancy Kress has won
six Nebula and two Hugo Awards for her fiction. She often writes about
developments in science, particularly genetic engineering, as in her
bestselling novel, Beggars in Spain. Her work has been translated into over
a dozen languages, including Klingon. She teaches writing and was
“Fiction” columnist for Writer’s Digest magazine for sixteen
years. Nancy lives in Seattle with her husband, author Jack
Skillingstead.

 

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