BOOK BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: Reclamation by Kristen Zimmer

Reclamation
Kristen Zimmer
(Dark Horse Series, #1)
Publication date: December 9th 2025
Genres: Adult, Dystopian, New Adult, Science Fiction

Kristen Zimmer, author of The Gravity Between Us, When Sparks Fly, and Forbidden Girl takes readers on an adrenaline-fueled dystopian journey into the future where a scrappy band of rebels rise up to bring down an unequal and unrelenting government.

This is your future.

The United States of America has been gone for over a century.

In its place, The Unified American Territories—a nation divided, the impoverished and the wealthy are separated by a looming steel wall. In the Northern Territories—The Vault, as it is known by its inhabitants—the government rules with an iron fist: All citizens are tested for intelligence and aptitude, thrust into compulsory higher education and saddled with insurmountable debt. All student loans are granted and controlled by a branch of the regime called The Federal Bureau of Education. Failure to repay their debt consigns borrowers to the Knowledge Reclamation Process, a mysterious government-sanctioned brainwashing program that strips them of their education with dire mental and physical side effects.

Fletcher Daniels is a recent college graduate struggling to stay ahead of her arrears. After a visit from Reclamation Agents, she knows her life is about to change for the worse. Enter Youth Opposed to Reclamation, a scrappy band of rebels who try in their own small way to bring some relief to the people of The Vault by smuggling as many potential Reclaimees to safety as possible. When Fletcher meets and falls for fellow female YOR member, Sparrow, her world is twisted away from the one she once knew even more radically. The group offers Fletcher a chance to escape her fate, but through them, she sees the promise of bringing real change to The Vault. History has taught her that even the smallest rebellions can trigger revolutions. It’s time for history to repeat itself.

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EXCERPT:

FLETCHER HAD BEEN ENJOYING the luxury of her sole day off work, reading The Scarlet Letter. Happily. Quietly. Until some unknowable thing, a strange tug in her chest, made her look up. She shut down her antiquated digireader with a tap of the cracked screen and watched from her bedroom window as a sleek, silver sedan pulled to a stop at the curb outside of her dilapidated row house. Agents.

She couldn’t see them through the car’s blacked-out windows, but it was obvious. The simple fact that the vehicle had the shine of something new was enough to give the Agents away. Being from The Vault, or The Northern Territories, as Fletcher’s part of the country was known officially, she rarely saw any cars on the road at all; cars in such impeccable condition were all but complete anomalies. Why do they even bother plastering the Department of Reclamation’s seal on the doors? She wondered.

That hideous seal. Words failed to capture how much Fletcher both loathed and feared it. The great red and black per bend crest, showcasing a scroll of parchment in one half and a tasseled mortarboard in the other, had always been reviled by citizens of The Vault. It meant that someone hadn’t paid their dues, and The Department of Reclamation had come to collect.

The Department of Reclamation employed the Agents who did the strong-arming for The Federal Bureau of Education. While the BOE housed the bookkeepers, The Department of Reclamation’s Agents handled the unseemlier work… and their work was generally quite unseemly. The Governing Council of The Unified American Territories had long ago authorized Reclamation Agents to use brute force “in the event of necessity.” More often than not, visits from Agents did end in violence—if not on their first visit, when a potential Reclaimee received their Notification of Violation, then most definitely on their second visit, when the Agents returned to take the Reclaimee into custody. Reclaimees seldom initiated said violence, of course; Fletcher had heard that most cried or begged for just a few more moments with their loved ones. They would be flogged once or twice and give up or otherwise be knocked out with narcotics. Occasionally, a Reclaimee would try to escape. Those individuals had it much worse. Fletcher closed her eyes and, although it pained her to do it, allowed herself to envision the brutality Agents inflicted upon braver people: Arms twisted so violently that shoulders snapped out their sockets, fingers bent backward with such force that the metacarpals fractured, skulls cracked against living room floors. She shuddered as if her skin had been kissed by an icy wind.

Reclamation Agents were no strangers to The Vault, considering it was the part of the country reserved for the impoverished, the destitute and the disillusioned—those who needed “excessive assistance” from the Government. Those like Fletcher. She would need at least ten more fingers to be able to count the number of times she had seen Agents in her neighborhood in the last week alone. Watching these two men march toward her home, she couldn’t help but wonder if they had come for her this time.

“Fletcher,” her father’s voice boomed through the dimness of her room. “Can you come out here, please?”

“I’ll be right there.”

She peered into the tarnished mirror atop her bedside table. Using the remnants of daylight to aid her vision, she pulled her long blonde hair up into a ponytail. “Alright,” she sighed to herself, her sharp jawline clenching and her hazel eyes burning with angst. “If they are here for you, you’ll find out soon enough.”

Author Bio:

Kristen Zimmer is the author of The Gravity Between Us, which spent 12 weeks as the number one best-seller in both the Lesbian Fiction and Lesbian Romance genres on Amazon. It was listed as one of USA Today’s “10 Best books to read for Pride 2018” and in December 2021 was named one of Reader’s Digest ’50 Best Romance Novels of All Time’

That same year, her follow-up novel, When Sparks Fly, debuted as the best-seller in Lesbian Fiction and Lesbian romance, and clung to the spot for four weeks.

Her latest novel, Forbidden Girl, a dark mafia sapphic romance, is available now.

Kristen lives in Salem, Massachusetts— yes, where the witches were.

Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / Amazon


GIVEAWAY!

Reclamation Blitz


SERIES TOUR: The Variant Conspiracy Trilogy by Christine Hart

THE VARIANT CONSPIRACY TRILOGY

Christine Hart

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE:  SciFi romance

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BLURBS:

Series

What if the men destroying our world were doing it on purpose? The Variant Conspiracy trilogy follows 19-year-old Irina Proffer as she connects the dots between her cryptic employer’s work and an international plot to transform Earth. All while she navigates love and grief, both for the first time.

As Irina comes of age within a subculture of human mutation, she and her friends hunt a group of corporate eco-saboteurs. They discover a singular ancient evil that wants nothing more than to wipe out all life and remake our planet. As Irina pieces together visions of the future, she must figure out a way to change an outcome that seems ‌inevitable

Book 1: In Irina’s Cards

Irina Proffer leaves mundane small-town life behind when she experiences visions inspired by a strange deck of tarot cards. To get answers, she travels from her northern British Columbia home to the province’s coastal capital. She quickly discovers a world of fringe genetic science and supernatural mystery.

Working for Innoviro Industries, Irina is drawn in by a powerful first love and compelling, yet dangerous questions about the nature of the company’s business. Meeting other ‘variants’ brings Irina closer and closer to the dark truth about her origins. She finds herself at the heart of two overlapping love triangles as she scrambles to escape her employer’s grip.

Before she leaves the city, Irina realizes she has merely scratched the surface of a frightening conspiracy on a global scale.

Book 2: The Compendium

Irina and her renegade variant friends are scrambling to pick up the trail of their former employer, Ivan, and his globally catastrophic scheme. After strategically sharing their story with the media, the group heads south from Vancouver to Seattle hoping to recruit more experienced – and lethal – variants to their cause.

Their attention develops a laser focus on an engineered disaster mere days ahead of them. Ivan is using what staff and resources remain of Innoviro Industries to set off a violent earthquake in San Francisco. While they fight to stop the earthquake, Irina pushes the love of her life Jonah as far away as she can, trying to keep his unstable genetic degradation in check.

Irina’s friends think they’ve seen the worst that Innoviro could bring forth by the time they reach a secret facility in the Mojave Desert. As they near the property, the group uncovers a horror none of them had ever imagined.

Book 3: Terra Nova

The end of humanity and an unrecognizable future Earth are now days away. After their first glimpse of the Terra Nova virus, Irina and her variant friends know their former employer’s plans are almost at hand. Their failed attempt to publicize Ivan and Innoviro Industries’ horrific activities has left them utterly reliant on their own wits and weapons.

After surviving a catastrophic earthquake in San Francisco and destroying a secret viral testing facility, Irina’s crew has traveled by a variant portal to London. On the other side of the world, they begin tracking when and where Terra Nova will be unleashed on the world. They know stopping Terra Nova is only the beginning of unraveling Ivan’s plans to reinvent the planet, but if they can’t stop this virus, there will be no one left to save.

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Excerpt  from In Irina’s Cards:

We walked a bit farther in silence. I had assumed Jonah would find something, at least a mention of the drug, within the files at Innoviro. How could something either guarded or fresh out of the lab, be a trustworthy substance I should let them inject into my veins? Even if Ivan showed me charts and research findings, what insight could I gain from them?

Jonah and I rounded a corner. The path diverged around a ring of shrubs and a large arbutus tree. On the one side, the path jutted out to a viewpoint looking over to the Inner Harbour. On the other, a bench sat tucked into a semicircle of overgrown juniper bushes. The sun had nearly dropped behind the hills in Esquimalt, casting vivid yellow-orange light onto downtown. Bright pink clouds floated like cotton candy in the sky. If we kept going the Harbour would greet us in its gown of twinkling lights. My sunroom balcony had that view at every sunset. I turned towards the bench. I suddenly felt like I needed a break.

Jonah sat down next to me. He touched the side of my mouth and I jumped.

“Sorry; you had some ice cream …” he said sheepishly.

I wished I was the kind of girl who carried a mirror in my purse, but I knew better than to bother searching. I looked out at the ocean and the pink pieces of light floating on the water.

“You look tense.”

His arm slipped behind my back as I kept staring ahead. I turned to answer and found myself nose-to-nose with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST:

The Variant Conspiracy books take place in a world almost identical to ours. With one exception. Variants, or mutants, are a reality. And they exist within a sub-culture, blending with mainstream society or staying hidden as needed. When I created the setting and characters, I visualized our world, but pondered the possibility of amazing people among us, just beyond our common knowledge.

I’ve always loved the idea of hidden worlds and alternative communities. Cultures that function outside our well-travelled cities and towns are fascinating to me because their very existence shines a light on how hollow the trappings of contemporary suburban life can be.

When I imagine hidden worlds, I’m trying to create a space for readers to discover treasures. Like that moment at a vintage market or antique mall when you find something truly magical that hits right in the heart. I love the idea of writing a beautiful idea into a tapestry of an imagined world.

But I also love science fiction. I want to understand the biology of fantastic creatures. I need to explain the mechanics of any magic I create. Which is why I love genre-bending. To me, it’s delightful to take elements from science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, and romance, and blend them together for something unique.

When a new reader asks me about the world of my trilogy, I tell them to picture this one, but add hidden catacombs, corporate conspiracies, and human mutations (some extreme) that include abilities and appendages from our wildest dreams.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Christine Hart is a writer of speculative fiction for youth and adults. She also runs an online metalsmithing shop, Hart Fabrications. 

Christine’s backlist includes YA, NA, and MG titles. Her first collection of adult fiction, Weird Stories of Strange Women, is coming in 2026.

When not writing, she creates wearable art from recycled metals, vintage glass, and unusual gemstones. She shares her eclectic home with her husband and two children.

Learn more about Christine and her work at hart-fabrications.com and christine-hart.ca.

Bluesky

https://bsky.app/profile/christine-hart.bsky.social

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/hart_fabrications

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@hartfabrications

Amazon

https://www.amazon.ca/stores/author/B01BSDU214

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Christine Hart will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

Enter to win a $20 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

RELEASE BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: The Timeslot Paradox by Jeff Womack

Title: The Timeslot Paradox

Author: Jeff Womack

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 05/13/2025

Heat Level: 2 – Fade to Black Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 100500

Genre: Science Fiction, time travel, time portal, time jump, time slot, rescue, revenge, romance, lesbian romance, friends to lovers, paradox, disabilities, found family, interracial/intercultural, university, computers, hacker, temporal engineer

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Description

Empowering time travelers to communicate across decades, an eager and gifted temporal engineer develops a secret mail drop, hidden in plain sight on a university campus. Codename: the Timeslot.
A charismatic physicist and a focused, revenge-driven hacker go to daring lengths to escape the man who murdered their best friend and fiancé—his boss.

A grieving musician in search of closure uncovers her late father’s notebook, written before she was born but, impossibly, dated twenty-five years in the future.

Generations later, another engineer, brilliant but disorganized, struggles to repair the abandoned Timeslot equipment after years of disuse. Her unexpected discovery draws this disparate group of men and women into a cascade of events which echo across a century of recent-past and near-future history.

Journals from five intertwining lives, Black, White, Asian, queer, straight, disabled, and not, blend time travel with mystery, revenge, found family, vintage music, sci-fi references, and even a little romance.

Excerpt

The Timeslot Paradox
Jeff Womack © 2025
All Rights Reserved

1

Crystal

August 1993

I spent weeks cleaning out the house before I discovered the secret compartment.

Unexpectedly, the lowest dresser drawer was crammed full of socks, far more colorful than I would ever wear. I slid the whole thing out to tilt them into the donation box. Shaking the drawer to free the last pair, I felt something shift, just before a false bottom hinged open, and a book fell out among the clothes.

The unmarked tan cover had no title, no call number, nothing.

Three months before, Mom had…faded to silence like the final song on an album. After the funeral, when the flow of her friends bringing food over eventually slowed and stopped, I slipped into a deep funk. No desire to move on, I’d just spun in place, the crackle of static at the center of a record repeating over and over.

My counselor suggested that the grief process could be helped by changing how I thought about the house. Even though I lived there alone, it still felt like Mom’s. So, I cleaned and sorted absolutely everything. Like learning to play an instrument, the only way to improve was practice. So, I practiced. I practiced being a self-sufficient adult, one shelf, one box, one drawer at a time.

Sorting and cleaning became the therapy that finally lifted my needle out of that endless groove.

Slowly, I’d worked my way through the entire basement, most of the garage, the kitchen, nearly everything except Mom’s bedroom. I knew I needed to build up to it, so I left her room to last. That morning, I’d stood in her doorway, debating between the dresser and the closet. It didn’t matter much. Since I was several inches taller, most of her clothes would be donated anyway.

Gently lifting the book out of the box, I opened it to the first page, where handwritten text began. “James was my best friend, and now he’s dead.” The date didn’t make any sense though: July 2018.

An unpublished novel set in the future? As a librarian, Mom lived her entire life around books. So maybe? Except this wasn’t her familiar handwriting. It was far too messy. Why go to such trouble to hide it?

Sitting on the floor, the socks forgotten, a story unfolded, page by page: time travelers, friendship, loss, escape, revenge, and even a little romance.

I read until my legs fell asleep. Standing unsteadily, a folded bundle of paper covered with undecipherable math calculations slipped out from between the pages onto the floor. Tucked inside, I found two white rectangles. I used the smaller, a worn piece of unlabeled plastic to mark my place in the book. The larger showed writing in one corner that I recognized was Mom’s. “Charles and me, 1968.” I flipped it over to see an old black-and-white photo of a smiling couple posing on a stair landing. An Asian man in shirt and tie had his arm around the waist of a White woman in a floral dress. She had straight dark hair parted in the middle.

Mom only had a few photos of my dad. Her favorite hung in the hall, the rest stayed in an album. I’d seen them all many times, but never this one. Dad looked the same as in all his other photos, but Mom was so young, her hair longer than I remembered and years before any gray crept in.

On the wall behind them, the bottom corner of an antique picture frame showed. I leaned close and noticed a dog in the painting. Gasping, I sat up straight. I knew that painting! I knew exactly where they stood.

I headed out the door so fast I barely remembered to lock up. Parking always sucked near the student union, so I paid for the parking garage. Through hallways, past meeting rooms, the main lobby, and then halfway up the atrium stairs brought me to a landing with a painting of the first dean of the university…and his dog.

I stepped back and held out the photo. It lined up perfectly: the corner of the painting with the brass plaque underneath, the curving handrail to the stairs, all of it. The only things missing were my parents.

The only things missing were my parents.

That hit me hard. My counselor said grief was a road that winds back on itself. On a stair landing, empty except for me and a century-old dog, I didn’t even realize I was crying until an older woman passed by and asked if I was okay. I wiped my cheeks, told her I was fine, and walked away, back toward my car, my house, and the book my dad had left behind.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

Jeff is an architect, archer, author, costumer, hiker, home-brewer, re-enactor, woodworker, etc. etc. etc. He lives in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado, with his family.

Instagram | Bluesky

Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a $50.00 NineStar Press Gift Code!

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BOOK BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: Poseidon’s Daughters – Reckoning by Reign Reeves Pearson

Poseidon’s Daughters: Reckoning
Reign Reeves Pearson
(Poseidon’s Daughters, #1)
Publication date: March 21st 2025
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction, Thriller

They trained her to be a weapon. Now, she’s turning the blade on them.Eirianwen was Poseidon’s crowning achievement—until she walked away from everything. She’s evaded them for years, carving out a life in the shadows, leaving behind the bloodstained world they forced her into. Now, the past she’s been running from has finally caught up. A storm-wracked night. A breach in her sanctuary. Someone is watching. Someone is waiting. And this time, they don’t just want her dead—they want her to doubt herself. They want the world to believe she’s lost her mind.

They’ve been watching her. Manipulating her. Preparing for her downfall.

Now, the elite organization that built her is coming to collect. Not to kill—to control. They don’t need to break her. They just need to make sure no one believes her when she starts screaming.They want her to understand that her escape, her freedom, was all an illusion.

Erased. Discredited. Untouchable.

But Eirianwen has spent her whole life surviving. And when the walls start closing in, she doesn’t run. She hunts.

Poseidon wants her desperate. Unraveling. Helpless.

They’re about to learn just how dangerous she can be.

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

Eirianwen ripped out the earpiece and slammed it onto the desk. Panic swirled at the edges of her mind, but she forced it down. Now wasn’t the time. She grabbed a larger bag from under the desk, slung it over her shoulder, and stormed out. In the closet, she set the bag aside, pressing a hidden panel on the side of her bed. A drawer slid open, revealing her arsenal. Her hands shook as she armed herself, snapping a knife into its sheath and loading a handgun with quick, practiced movements. Now, to find them. Moving swiftly, she ran through the house, slipping out the back door and straight into the storm-charged air. Sullivan’s workshop. If she was going to do this right, she’d need a shovel. She yanked open the heavy wooden door, eyes darting over the mess inside.Where the fuck is it? Why is this place always such a goddamn disaster?

A glint of metal under the workbench caught her eye. She crouched, snatched up a spade, and bolted back outside. The rain had started in earnest, cold drops slicing through the thick humidity. She sprinted to where the trackers last pinged, her boots sinking slightly into the softening earth, almost tripping thanks to a low spot. Looking back at the spot, it was all wrong. She knew something was buried there.

Gripping the shovel tightly, she drove it into the ground. The soil gave easily…far too easily. The clay should have been a nightmare to dig through. Someone had already done the work for her. Within moments, her blade hit something solid, and dread curled in her stomach. She dropped to her knees, clawing at the loose earth with bare hands until the objects were free. Her breath hitched. Six trackers. All of them. Cold, useless, and buried like a mockery of her own paranoia. Eirianwen sat back on her heels, mud caking her fingers as she stared at the pile in her hands. Someone knew.

Her cheeks burned hot, but the rest of her body felt frozen. Tears welled, spilling silently down her face as the questions flooded in. Why? Why would Sullivan do this? Had he done this? He wouldn’t put the kids in danger—would he? Where were they? How long had he planned this? Her stomach twisted. Then, her phone buzzed—a single notification. Hands trembling, she wiped her palms on her pants and yanked it from her pocket. Wi-Fi restored—a new alert. Someone had just crossed the perimeter.

“It better be Sullivan and the kids.”

Eirianwen exhaled sharply, swiping at the sweat and tears streaking her face. Standing, she brushed the dirt from her clothes as best she could, shoving the useless trackers deep into her pocket. She locked her phone and steadied herself. If the kids were with Sullivan, she needed to stay calm. Normal. They couldn’t see the weapons strapped under her clothing. At least the incoming storm gave her an excuse to rush them inside. She’d get them safe first—then she’d deal with Sullivan. She turned toward the tree line, heart pounding in her throat. The property was massive, and she had built the house at its farthest edge. Finally, headlights cut through the gloom. A vehicle emerged. Not Sullivan’s truck. A cold, electric jolt shot down her spine. Every instinct screamed at her.

No one came out here. No one. She had made sure of it. For years, she had meticulously crafted the illusion of a perfectly ordinary life. She knew everyone in town—just enough to avoid suspicion, but never enough to invite curiosity. A delicate balance of friendly but distant. She never gave anyone a reason to visit. She didn’t even use their real address! She picked up all of their mail and deliveries in town. So who the hell thought they had the right to pull up to her house? The SUV slowed to a stop, tires crunching against the gravel. The doors swung open in near unison, and two men stepped out. Sheriff Ford. Deputy Pines. Ford adjusted his jacket, his gaze steady, unreadable. Pines lingered a step behind, eyes sharp, scanning. Ford closed the gap between them and gave Eirianwen a curt nod.

Author Bio:

Reign Reeves Pearson is a writer, storyteller, and chaos enthusiast based in Houston, where she lives with her husband, four kids, and three cats who may or may not be plotting world domination. She thrives on Kopiko, rainy days, and an endless love for Final Fantasy VII and Dungeons & Dragons.

She’s been writing for as long as she can remember. But in 2019, a health scare forced her to take a hard look at her life, and the answer was clear: writing wasn’t just something she did. It was what she was meant to do.

Her debut novel and series, Poseidon’s Daughters: Reckoning, is her first and only planned adventure into sci-fi. Going forward, expect Southern Gothic chills, cosmic nightmares, and nostalgic ‘90s horror—all infused with her signature mix of heart, humor, and a touch of the macabre.

When she’s not writing, she’s probably dreaming up elaborate D&D campaigns, getting emotionally wrecked by Final Fantasy VII (again), or staring dramatically out a window while it rains.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Instagram


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BOOK BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: Touch of the Elegrian by Cheryl A. Arko

Touch of the Elegrian
Cheryl A. Arko
Publication date: March 25th 2025
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction

Prejudice. Legacy. Redemption.

Erys carries a secret that could shatter his world. The telepathic Elegrian has spent his life atoning for his dead father’s role in humanity’s disastrous first contact. Now, as a tech specialist for the Earth-led alliance, he serves in silence—until sabotage threatens the lives of dozens of human children. And the traitor is one of his own.

Forced to work with a brilliant but hostile human engineer, Erys must dismantle not only the deadly conspiracy but also the deep-seated mistrust between their peoples. With time running out, he faces an impossible choice: break the fragile Elegrian-Human treaty and invite the death penalty to forge a forbidden mind link with a human… or let innocent lives be lost.

Two worlds on the brink. A single act of defiance. Can compassion rewrite a doomed future?

The Elegrian Legacy begins here—a gripping sci-fi adventure rich in high-stakes dilemmas, deep character bonds, and first-contact intrigue.

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT

Far, far away to the east, in New York City, where magic and power and rumor swirled in their own urban galaxy, a very ancient and powerful creature lived in the highest tower money could buy. While many of his kind lived and worked in the greater New York area, coiled around the rise and fall of stocks and bonds in an endless dance of power and wealth, he was by far the oldest in that den of snakes. He was old enough that his thick fingers still dreamed of worn gold coins and his body of piles of treasure beneath his scales. Now, of course, he slept only on damask of the finest quality, spread over a memory foam mattress—nowhere near as comfortable as cold hard cash.

That night, he was window shopping, his hungry eye roving over page after page of the most exotic goods Sotheby’s online could offer.

If one lived long enough, even the most exquisite meals tasted like ashes on the tongue; breathe often enough, and even bottled air from Everest smelled stale and flat. He could hardly be bothered to hide his own nature when he was alone—the secret theater of the Council and its Compact had been a bit of a thrill for a while, but Mr. Drake—just Drake to his friends—was getting bored.

He yawned, and his long, forked tongue spilled out, unfurling and flicking against his human nose. No one was around to see it, so he wasn’t breaking the Law, and besides, he missed all the parts of his true shape quite badly. Missed a herd of sheep’s eyes rolling in terror. Probably lamb again tonight, from that place on the other side of Broadway.

Mr. Drake’s lair took up the entire upper floor of his tall tower in the center of the city, wide rooms filled with the carcasses of kingdoms burned to the ground beneath his fearsome will. Company logos on banners from decades past, those battle standards of board members who had crumbled and fallen to their knees in merger upon acquisition upon merger. Darwin had certainly been on the money about the adaptation of species. In the face of adversity, Drake and the rest of his kind had thrived, but—

But he wanted to spread his wings high above his head, soar over the crescent moon, sweep down on farmland and gout flame from his throat; the glorious crescendo of a sun going supernova. Instead, he stoked another cigar, the smoke curling from his nose a pacifying reminder of who he had to be now.

His cellphone lit up, vibrating on the long cocobolo desk. Drake looked down at it with a grimace and tapped the screen with one stubby finger.

“Drake,” he said. “How do you have this number?”

“I have my ways, Old One.”

He was in the middle of pouring himself another whiskey, ready to tear this joker a new set of holes, when he recognized the voice and sighed.

“Old One, is it? When was your sweet sixteen, Morgan?”

“Oh well, you know me,” The Hollow Woman sounded far too cheery for his tastes. “Evergreen.”

Drake snorted.

“Isn’t it still daylight on your side of the world? Why don’t you go out and catch some rays, you old hag? Go get a tan. Would be good for the both of us.”

“Have it your way,” Morgan said sweetly. “Don’t trouble yourself with little old me, then.”

“I won’t,” he snarled, and hung up. Smoke was starting to waft down from the high ceilings, having pooled there in those short minutes on the phone. The AC here was top notch, of course, the best AC in the city, but nothing manmade could keep up with his kind’s distemper. He flipped through a few more pages on Sotheby’s, but quickly, rapidly stabbing his finger on the mouse. He tried to hum something to himself, and his phone buzzed again.

“All right. This is getting old pretty fast,” he said. “Spit it out already and go away. What do you want?”

“Want? Oh, darling Drake, not a thing. Not a single thing.”

He laughed, a deep rumble like an earthquake, the magma pushing up beneath the surface.

“Wanting is what you’re for, Morgan. Maybe you forgot?”

“Well, now. Maybe you’re not interested.” She was almost purring. Purring! “I’m sure one of your brothers will be.” And she hung up on him.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit, he thought. The haze of smoke had curled down just above the surface of his cocobolo desk. If he wasn’t careful, he would trigger the alarms on the floor below again. He took a breath. He took another. I am a calm blue ocean, he thought to himself. I can be one with my feelings.

Author Bio:

CHERYL ARKO is a science fiction author and an accomplished senior data scientist with a long career in IT and medical data analysis. She has loved reading science fiction ever since she could connect letters into words, devouring everything from Andre Norton to E.E. “Doc” Smith to more and more authors through the years who have shared their thought-provoking ideas of imagined places and alternate realities.

TOUCH OF THE ELEGRIAN is Cheryl’s debut novel and was a Killer Nashville Claymore Award Finalist for best Science Fiction/Fantasy. She writes stories that take her to the stars, imagining who we might find out there, inviting readers to come along for the ride to visit new worlds and their people. To explore what makes us different—and what makes us the same. And to discover the inherent good that exists in the universe to balance against darkness, no matter how far we travel.

A seasoned dog trainer, Cheryl lives with her beloved Airedales in a tiny house nestled within thirty acres of serene Minnesota pine trees.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter


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BOOK BLITZ: Astral Seeds by Jhani Mills

 

Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Date Published: October 28, 2024


 

Astral Seeds marks the dawn of a new reckoning in Eclipse of the Celestial
War, where fate is no longer a distant prophecy but a force unraveling in
real time. As the Primordial Dragon stirs, its presence sends ripples
through the fabric of the universe, shaking the foundations of power and
trust. The Dragon Council, once the pillar of order, faces an uprising as
the Keepers step from the shadows, weaving their own designs into the
celestial tapestry.

Kingdoms stand at the edge of ruin, their rulers caught between survival
and sacrifice. Dragon riders and Starborn witches walk the fine line between
destiny and destruction, their choices shaping the course of a war far older
than any of them realize. As old alliances fracture and new ones emerge from
the ashes, the cosmos itself seems to hold its breath, waiting for the spark
that will either reignite balance or consume everything in its path.

In a world where even the stars are not beyond corruption, the seeds of war
take root in the hearts of those willing to fight for a future still
unwritten.

 

Praise for Astral Seeds Eclipse of the Celestial War:

“Loved it! Astral Seeds soars with cosmic stakes, dragons, and
prophecies, weaving a vibrant tapestry of epic fantasy sure to captivate
dreamers.” Reedsy Discovery

 

“A fascinating fantasy world featuring a great protagonist and cosmic
repercussions. Astral Seeds certainly delivers for those fantasy readers
with an affinity for stars and astrology. Terra Arcana is an immersive world
worth visiting.” Independent Book Review

 

“A Must-Read for Fantasy Enthusiasts” – Readers’
Favorite

 

“Astral Seeds by Jhani Mills was a captivating   
fantasy book, full of action, otherworldly powers, and dragons. ”
— OnlineBookClub.org

About the Author

Jhani Mills is a passionate storyteller who weaves gripping tales of
fantasy, resilience, and cosmic conflict. Her works, including Whispers
Where the Wildflowers Bloom and the Astral Seeds series, explore the depths
of love, loss, and the enduring strength of the human (and inhuman) spirit.
With a talent for crafting intricate worlds and compelling characters, she
invites readers on epic journeys where fate, power, and destiny
collide.

 

Contact Links

Website

Instagram

Threads

TikTok

BookBuzz

 

Purchase Link

Amazon


NEW RELEASE BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: Specimen by C. Quince

Title: Specimen

Series: PRISM Agents, Book One

Author: C. Quince

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 03/11/2025

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 105100

Genre: Science Fiction, MM romance, sci-fi, interracial/intercultural, former military, spies, secret agents, aliens, vampires, covert missions, cosy mystery, paranormal, paranormal sleuthing, sci-fi fantasy, action, British humour

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Description

David Cortez, a decorated US Marine, is now on the run from his own government after escaping a top-secret CIA lab when an experimental medical procedure turned sour.

While lying low in Mexico, an assassin sent from British Intelligence tracks him down. However, Sonny from MI6, a British-Iranian with a cockney accent, offers David a choice: join his team, or be killed.

David chooses to work with Sonny, not only because he wants his life back, but because he feels a kinship with the man.

They’re also both in the unique position of being the only living test subjects with alien DNA in their blood. Could that explain the strong attraction between them?

Excerpt

Specimen
C. Quince © 2025
All Rights Reserved

Tijuana, Mexico

David was being followed.

He couldn’t see who the tail was; every time David paused to do a little window shopping on the street and check his six in the window’s reflection, the tail managed to hide. Whoever they were, they were good at slipping by undetected.

David wasn’t sure who it was. Agency, probably, or another US-based shadowy government division. He should’ve picked Venezuela to lie low, but Mexico was his home, his heritage. He had lingered here longer than he should; he knew that, but he’d been so careful, using different names and cash only. He’d grown a beard to blend in and kept moving from place to place, never settling. David had been looking over his shoulder for six months. Now it seemed the bastards had finally caught up to him.

The sun was low in the sky, turning the clouds pink and orange. Vendors in the busy street were out in full force, providing good cover. David calmly made his way down the street, not letting on that he knew he was being followed—but if his tail was worth their salt, they’d know that he knew.

If his tail was a US Government agency like David suspected they were, they wanted one of two things: One, they wanted to keep tabs on him. Two, they wanted to bring him in. The latter would involve kidnap in some form or other; then they’d transport him to a black site—a soundproofed lab where nobody would hear him scream.

David should know. He’d been through that scenario once, and once was enough. If they thought he would come in quietly after what they’d done to him, they had another thing coming.

In the early evening hubbub of Tijuana, David led his tail down side streets and off the beaten path. He knew this town like the back of his hand, and it gave him the advantage.

On an ill-lit street, popular with gang members from the local cartel, a neon bar sign flickered on and off over an open doorway. David ducked in there. Immediately inside the door was a set of steps descending into darkness. David hurried down. At the bottom of the stairs, another open doorway awaited him. David knew the bar; it was small, gloomy, lit only by neon, and it was popular with drug dealers. Today it was busy enough, with music playing loud, and David was able to slip in without attracting attention.

He planned to lie in wait and watch who came through the door after him, so he situated himself at the far end of the bar, facing the entrance. He ordered a light beer. The bartender opened a bottle and stuck a wedge of lime in the top before handing it over.

David took the beer but didn’t drink yet. His eyes were trained on the doorway. Nobody had followed him in, which meant they were hanging back.

If the shoe had been on the other foot and David was the one doing the tailing, he wouldn’t have run straight into the unknown either. That meant this tail wasn’t a local, much as he’d suspected.

David leaned on the bar more casually and poked the lime wedge down into the bottle so he could take a sip of beer. He happened to catch his own reflection in the mirror behind the bar. Illuminated by red neon light, David’s tan skin looked darker than it usually did. He’d grown his hair out to ear length, the colour a mid-brown shade kissed by the sun. His full beard was a darker shade of brown. He looked like a local.

It was ironic; he’d spent his youth in California trying to look less Mexican, trying to fit in with the White kids in his grade. He’d lightened his hair with frosted tips for a while there—hair in the early ’00s…not great. David was half Mexican on his father’s side. His mother was Caucasian American from San Diego.

Now David had fled the US, he wanted to look more Mexican. He had felt shielded by his disguise so far, but maybe it was time for a new disguise. A new location.

Still no one had come through the door. That was nearly five minutes, a lifetime in surveillance work.

David was about to cut and run, when a figure appeared at the entrance. For a moment David tensed, but he soon saw that this figure was tiny. A short Mexican woman, and likely not his tail. She was the first of a group of local youths entering the bar. Two women, three men.

David relaxed some. These were Mexican kids. He could tell by looking at them; their dark hair, their complexions, and their clothes. The shoes gave it away: slides and sandals weren’t exactly standard surveillance footwear. These were civilians.

As the lively group came further into the bar to order their drinks, David noticed that one pair of feet among them had on black boots.

Bingo.

That was his tail, the man at the back of the group. Likely he had waited for a group to enter the bar and tacked himself on. Clever.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

Quince is a MENA-British author who lives in England, enjoys sci-fi and fantasy, history, and Halloween.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Bluesky

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One lucky winner will receive a $50.00 NineStar Press Gift Code!

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BOOK BLITZ: Serpentina by Faith Consiglio

SERPENTINA
Faith Consiglio
Publication date: June 27th 2024
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Driven to find a cure for her brother’s illness, Emma embarks on a research trip to the island of Crete, a land brimming with tales of the gods. There, she is drawn to the myth of Medusa, a beautiful priestess turned monster, cursed at the hands of a jealous Athena.

Her exploration leads to a dangerous encounter with a mysterious serpent in the forest, and after the snake’s venom nearly kills her, Emma slips even deeper into the myth, her own fate intertwining with the woman at its heart.

She returns home, eyes set on attending Columbia University after graduation, but it isn’t long before she notices changes to her body and mind… changes that are nothing short of serpentine.

As she pulses through Medusa’s memory, she unlocks an unexpected truth that alters her world. She discovers the scope of her new abilities, including her blood’s power to cure illness, but with a cost. When Emma is betrayed by those closest to her, she finds herself hunted by an enemy hungry for her blood. And she is not the only one in danger; a horrifying plan unfurls as young girls disappear from the streets.

Emma must embrace what she has become to fight an enemy more ancient and evil than she imagined, for the chance to heal her brother, save the girls, and avenge the mythical source of her power.

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EXCERPT:

“Dark leaves rustled in the forest, their dried tips rubbing against each other like the slow rattle of a snake. Emma paused, a warning echoing in her mind. Since her arrival to the reptile research base on Crete, she had ventured into the palm forest alone each afternoon, wandering deeper each time.

Never enter the forest alone. It was the rule her research mentor emphasized most during orientation. But there was nothing truly dangerous on the island. Hercules had cleared away all the deadly creatures to honor Zeus’s birthplace. She smiled, recounting the myth the airport taxi driver had told them. Emma knew, out of all the snakes there, only the cat snake had venom, and it was too mild to hurt a human.

Still, if Dr. Belken discovered her sneaking out at dusk, she might as well kiss a Columbia University recommendation letter goodbye. Yet the forest called her in, beckoning her to explore its ancient grounds.

She stepped over sandy soil, glancing over her shoulder at the wooden stairs and scanning to see if anyone was watching before turning into the trees. She savored a breath. The air was dry and the heat tame, with an endless breeze carrying wisps of sea salt and the spice of wild herbs through the dancing shadows of leaves.

A rustling halted her steps.

Her eyes darted to catch a beige, reptilian tail slipping into the nearby shrubs.

She held her breath and crept toward it, afraid to scare it off. It would sense the vibration of even her lightest step.

She peered through a thicket of narrow, glossy leaves and clustered pink flowers. Her heart pounded, instincts heightened, but she reminded herself that even a bite couldn’t kill her.

At first, she didn’t see anything. Then scales materialized among the leaves on a thick, coiled body. Only now they were green and pink. She squinted. Was it a different snake, or had it changed?

Its serpentine head emerged through the leaves, forked tongue flickering. She froze.

This was not a cat snake.”

Author Bio:

Faith grew up in Sloatsburg, NY, and finished medical school in Stony Brook to become a psychiatrist, with a passion for storytelling. When she’s not writing or seeing patients, Faith enjoys traveling, taking her cat for walks, trying different types of green tea, and seeing how many plants she can fit in her apartment.

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BOOK TOUR & GIVEAWAY: Kindred Spirit by Julia Firlotte

Mankind’s day of reckoning is coming; A young Wicca must
learn to harness the elements and reconcile old friendships if she is to save
mankind from Mother Nature’s wrath.

Kindred Spirit

by Julia Firlotte

Genre: SciFi Dystopian Romance

A plague for a plague, to make the human race pay
For the destruction of a planet which was not theirs to slay

Mankind’s day of reckoning is coming and all hopes lie on the shoulders of one
young Wicca. Only Cady Leigh can harness the elements and reconcile old
friendships if she is to save mankind from Mother Nature’s wrath.

Set three hundred years in the future, the impact of global warming has divided
the nation into two opposing societies. Cady Leigh’s family are Wiccans and the
healers of their underground traditionalist community, so when a craft from the
opposing technologist’s society crashes near her home, Cady saves a wounded
technologist teenager Drew Kemp and brings him to live with her family.

Like all technologists, Drew has a nanochip implant and uses it to spy on the
traditionalist villagers to root out the terrorists who attack the metropolis
he calls home. However, he falls in love with the independent and spirited
young Wicca, Cady. When he reveals the truth to her, she feels betrayed and
rejects him, so he returns to his city alone.

Some years later, due to the damage inflicted on the Earth by humans, mother
nature unleashes her displeasure on mankind in the form of a dangerous virus.
Passionate about healing, Cady travels to the technologist’s city in search for
a cure. But in a world of science and fact, Cady’s Wiccan roots start to reveal
themselves at the worst time and her paranormal abilities to harness the
elements evokes fear and oppression in the technologists around her.
When Cady discovers her abilities are more significant, that she is in fact the
final hope to redeem mankind, she must turn to Drew to help her navigate this
new world and find a cure.

Amazon
* Bookbub * Goodreads

 

I manage to haul myself out of the bath on one leg, wrapping a towel around my shoulders and another around my waist. I rub my body dry, avoiding my tender multicoloured ribs where I was kicked. My eyes fall on the small window as I towel dry my hair. It’s quite high up, and to see through it, I’d have to stand on the chair, but despite my throbbing ankle, curiosity gets the better of me. Using the wall, I manage to pull myself up on one leg and peer outside.

The view is otherworldly. I’m higher up than I’ve ever been in my life. I gulp in a deep breath and barely stop myself from reeling back in shock. Edging closer to the window frame, I see the ground far below and vehicles of varying sizes silently passing by the window in every direction. Vertically, horizontally and diagonally, they weave in and out of the tall buildings. Shivering, I clasp my hand over my mouth, trying not to panic and reminding myself that this was what I wanted, to come to the city and learn about medicine.

Far below, I see people scurrying like ants. There are more people on this one street than in my whole village. I see a network of connecting streets stretching out in all directions, like sections of a spider’s web. I cast my eyes upwards, wrapping my arms around myself in an attempt to fend off this chill inside my chest. How the hell did I ever think I could do this alone? I have no idea where to start to try to find the hospital, and what Drew said about drones arresting me frightens me. What the heck is a drone, anyway?

Vehicles whisk people along high overhead in an ever-moving line, seemingly closing in on me from all angles. People and technology are everywhere.

A circular shape speeding past the window stops dead, then rotates mid-air. It’s a grey object with a single red light rotating around it, and the light stops to shine in my eyes, just a short distance away from the glass. My muscles bunch and freeze, paralysing me. I open my mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. A flash of light fills my vision, and all I see is white. Then the shattering of glass and rush of freezing air engulfs me, toppling me from the chair. The room spins as I smack down onto the hard floor, closing my eyes tightly as the pain from my ankle blocks out all other sensations.

A bucket of water empties over my head, and the most awful mechanical screech fills the room. I hear Drew cursing as he enters the room, and then a strong hand squeezes my shoulder.

‘Cady? Are you all right?’ his voice is urgent and unnaturally tight.

I open my eyes, and he exhales audibly.

‘Did you get glass in your eyes? Damn it, Cady, are you hurt?’ he asks, firing questions at me.

I stare around the room and see it’s soaking wet, the walls, the ceiling, there’s water everywhere, and the bath is almost empty. Shards of glass from the shattered window are spread around the room, and the grey sphere that blinded me is smoking and spinning uncontrollably on the floor in the water, lights flashing in all directions.

I back away from it, shuffling back on my bottom and clutching my towels to my chest.

‘Fuck!’ Drew mutters before he calmly places his hand on top of the machine, and it stops spinning. That’s when I notice four other identical objects, all hovering silently outside the window frame, with various lights focussed inside the room, primarily at me.

‘Don’t look at them. Look at me!’ he growls. ‘Are you all right, or not?’

Finally, my eyes turn to focus on his and I shake my head, more than a little dazed, ‘My ankle hurts.’

‘Anything else?’ he demands, his eyes pinching tight.

I shake my head.

‘Thank God!’ he mutters, breath leaving his lungs in a rush, ‘At least, that, I can fix.’

My eyes return to the window. ‘What happened? What are they?’ I whisper like I’m scared they’ll hear me.

Drew’s hand slides behind my shoulders in reassurance, and it sends pleasant tingles through my stomach. ‘Drones, don’t worry, I’ll get rid of them.’

He turns to the window, frowning and shaking his head like he’s having a silent conversation.

‘Are you talking to them?’ I whisper, shivers wracking down my spine, making my voice hoarse.

‘I’m telling them you have a permit and to leave you alone,’ his voice is tight, and then he picks up the damaged machine in both hands and holds it out towards the open window. A bright blue light fixes onto it, and the object is lifted from his hands and floats outside before Drew waves his the palm of his hand over the window, and it merges seamlessly back into the smooth wall.

I can’t move. I’m fighting it, I want to move, but I can’t. I just feel the need to pee and hope to the Lord and Lady that I don’t.

‘What happened?’ I finally ask him, my eyes drifting from the wall back to his face, and that’s when I realise, instead of the concern of a moment ago, the anger emanating from him is palpable.

What happened? You’re asking me that? Jesus, Cady!’ he explodes, waving a hand around the room in indignation. ‘What the hell did you do?’ he hollers, eyes riveted on me.

My heart jolts, and my throat tightens, preventing me from replying. I don’t know who Jesus is, nor why he’s adding the name to mine, but I shake my head, pointing at the space where the window had been.

‘There was this flash, then the window exploded, and I fell…,’ it’s not just my head that’s shaking now, it’s also my hands. Drew takes a step towards me, his frown deepening.

‘So, it took a scan of you, and the window exploded? Don’t lie to me, Cady! You could have gotten yourself killed!’ he steps closer, almost on top of me now, and I feel a pressure in my chest as if my heart is being squeezed.

‘Back off, don’t touch me. I mean it!’ I hiss at him, fear seizing my stomach in a tight fist.

His frown remains, his eyes appear surprised, and his shoulders flinch. I shuffle further from him, ignoring the glass scrapes on the backs of my bare legs.

A mist appears between us, at first transparent like a light fog and then thickening like a wall of water, glistening with the shards of glass still caught in it.

After a lifetime of reading romance novels, Julia Firlotte
started writing her own novels in 2018. As soon as she started, she knew she’d
found her passion.

Julia is inspired by the world around her, often coming up
with the opening scenes of a novel and the characters in them and then later
developing a plot line. Julia’s stories always have a focus on the role trust
plays in a relationship and the twists and turns love takes when this is
brought into question.

Julia is also a romance blogger and reviews books on her
website.

Her favourite authors are Jaine Diamond, Sylvia Day,
Chrystal Kaswell, EL James and Kendall Ryan.

Please do subscribe to her mailing list on her website and
be so kind as to leave reviews. As a self funded / self published author, the
role readers play in supporting new authors is crucial to allowing them to
write more books and reader support is valued above all else.

When she’s not writing, reading, blogging or editing, Julia
works at her day job in Logistics, shipping other people’s books all over the
world. Julia is married with two children and five fur babies and lives in West
Sussex, Southern England.

Website * Facebook * X * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon
* Goodreads

 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

BOOK TOUR & GIVEAWAY: A Reckoning of Souls by Harrison Edwards

Sci-Fi / Fantasy

Date Published: 09-18-2024

Publisher: Bright Communications

 

 

WOULD YOU SACRIFICE AN ENTIRE CITY TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE?

A massive explosion rips through the outdoor seating area of a popular
restaurant in downtown Trondheim. Two days later, fourteen people are found
dead in a church along a remote section of coastline. The souls of the
victims have been ripped from their bodies. Moments later a spirit from the
Otherworlds steps through the Black Void to find the ancient relic that
killed them.

On a secluded island in the Arctic Circle, a troubled man sees a world that
has lost its way and feels compelled to change that. He plans to wield the
formidable power of a mysterious artifact to reshape the moral fabric of
eight billion unsuspecting souls—knowing that his actions will wipe
out the inhabitants of an entire city.

David Skye and Jade “Epiphany” Hendrix set out to stop him and
save the lives that would be lost if he were to succeed. Their efforts to do
that are complicated by Kari Salversen, a dedicated police detective with
the Norwegian Police Service. She believes David and Epiphany are involved
in a recent string of deadly attacks and is determined to apprehend
them.

A reckoning of souls is quickly approaching, as the battle for humanity
unfolds in the snowy, arctic fjords of Norway, and the vast spirit realms of
the Otherworlds. The possibility of a peaceful future for billions of souls
and the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people are both at stake. In
a clash that pits two opposing sides against each other, which one is on the
more righteous path?

 

Excerpt

        Beyond thick veils of falling snow, a darkness awaited. There was no avoiding it, no turning back. David Skye had an uneasy feeling about what he’d find, yet he pushed forward anyway. Visibility worsened with each pass of the wiper blades as they swished from side to side, leaving smears of frozen snow across the windshield. He wrapped his fingers tightly around the steering wheel, doing his best to keep the vehicle from veering off the slick, snow-covered road. David desperately wanted to press down harder on the accelerator, but he thought better of it as he fought to guide the Toyota 4Runner along the deserted stretch of highway that hugged the northern coastline of Tjeldøya Island.

“There it is, up ahead, on the right,” Epiphany said.

The sound of her voice momentarily broke David’s concentration. The silhouette of the old church, its spire reaching into the cold, cloudy sky, stood out against the backdrop of the waterway and the mountains. A heavy, gray fog rolled in off the water. David slowed the vehicle and slid to a stop in the church parking area just off the main road, where he saw six or seven parked cars. The vehicle had barely stopped when Epiphany flung open the passenger door. She leapt out of the 4Runner, swung the door shut, and sprinted down the path leading to the church. David watched her disappear into the snow and mist, vanishing like a specter leaving this world for the next. A transient thought darted through his mind. He had barely been with Epiphany for more than a few days, and given their circumstances, he hoped they’d somehow manage to stay alive for a few more.

Guest Post – “Authors Who Inspire Other Authors” by Harrison Edwards

“Wow, I wish I could write like that,” is something I find myself thinking when reading a novel by an author whose writing style stands out from the rest as truly unique and innovative. At the top of my list is the late Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Some writers are great storytellers and others have a wonderful mastery of the written word—Carlos Ruiz Zafón is one of the talented few who has mastered both. The first book in his four-book series, was titled The Shadow of the Wind, and it was the biggest selling novel in the history of Spain, and his second book in that series, The Angel’s Game, was the fastest selling. Carlos Ruiz Zafón could weave together a magical tapestry of words in the manner that Beethoven could string together a collection of notes to form a magnificent symphony. Zafón’s characters are deep and full of life, and his stories transport you into another time and place.

In the category of great storytellers, there are two writers who stand out for me. The first is Tony Hillerman. I have read his entire Detective Leaphorn / Officer Chee tribal police series. Every time I read one of Hillerman’s books I feel as if I am right there with Chee and Leaphorn wandering a dusty arroyo in the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States looking for clues. The second author in the category of great storytellers is James S.A. Corey (the pen name for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). Picking up a novel in the 500-to-600-page range is something I’ve always tended to shy away from. How many pages would I have to read before the story grabs my attention? Would I get 200 pages in only to put it down because I’ve lost interest. That was not the case with the nine-book Expanse science fiction series written by James S.A. Corey. Each book was 500+ pages and I devoured the entire series in the course of less than one year.

Each of these authors has given me great insights into: incorporating setting as a critical element of their stories, creating characters that jump off the page (you feel their joy, their anguish, their pain and always root for them to succeed), and developing interesting plots with a pace that pulls you along through the entire story. After finishing one of their novels, I found myself anxiously anticipating the next book in the series. Every time I sit down to write, the great gifts these writers have given me and their readers are at the forefront of my mind, and I will never cease in my efforts to maybe someday write as well as they hav

About the Author 

Harrison Edwards lives in eastern Pennsylvania with his wife and their
black Lab, Deacon. Harrison’s writing is a blend of science fiction
and urban fantasy. Subject matter for his stories comes from deep interests
in science, technology, and mythology. When he’s not compiling and
developing ideas for future novels, you can find him composing original
works of contemporary instrumental music for his next CD release.

 

Contact Links

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Purchase Links

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