An asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Twins from another planet sent to stop it.
With a vibrant art movement, thriving music scene, and culture of change, 1960s Manhattan is pulsating with energy. Twins Mark and Jason appear human, but they have been given powers beyond anyone’s imagination. The city embraces them and they dive headlong into all it has to offer.
As the time for them to fulfill their mission grows near, the twins sense that something is wrong. Have they been sent to Earth to save it or to be eliminated? With the fate of both planets in the balance, and everything they’ve grown to love on the line, can Mark and Jason unravel the truth before time runs out?
If you enjoy a tantalizing journey into Manhattan in the 1960s, aliens among us, and rogue AIs, you’ll love Soteria: The Crisis Forge.
About the Author
Roberto Arcoleo was born in New York City, Queens to be exact, into a working-class Italian-American family. Roberto’s father was a hardworking, grumpy, and reserved restaurateur, his mother a warmhearted, talkative hairdresser.
Roberto was a bit of both. He grew up in Astoria in a two-bedroom ground-floor apartment with one younger brother, his parents, and an invalid grandmother. His early years were tumultuous and confused. Roberto never felt that he fit into the molds that were laid before him. His early extended family home life was chaotic, and his teenage years were worse. After the Catholic grammar school, he continued on to a Catholic high school. He hated them both.
As a teenager, Roberto felt more and more apart from his surroundings. He withdrew into his own world. To onlookers he seemed full of bravado, but he was timid and reserved at heart, always feeling out of place. He started lashing out at the world with violence as mark of distinction. He found a home within street gangs and hard drugs at fourteen. Roberto started living on the streets at fifteen, but was soon taken in by a schoolteacher uncle who lived on Long Island. His uncle held him captive from his own devices until he graduated high school. Later, in college, he studied psychology hoping to find answers. Still troubled, he didn’t find the answers he needed in the text. He gave up his clinical ambitions for more underground alternatives. The same uncle gave him his first camera, and he discovered photography.
Under a name other than Arcoleo, he obtained recognition as an artist. He received his MFA from Brooklyn college and later saw his art reviewed in the New York Times. Roberto’s work has been acquired by major collections. Among them Brooklyn Museum, the Chrysler Museum, the Museum of Fine arts in Houston and the Museum de l’Eysee, Lausanne Switzerland. He was the first artist working in photography to be given a one-person exhibition at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art; he was awarded a stay at the American Academy in Rome; and his work is presently in the National Gallery of Art.
He always had an urge to write and his late mother was always asking for his first novel. He told her he had to wait until he was called from a special place.
Humans have always
looked to the stars for signs of Extraterrestrials.They have been looking in the wrong place.
They are already here, entombed in a spaceship beneath Antarctic ice for
thousands of years.
The ice is melting and they will soon be free.A huge rift in the ice is discovered in Antarctica that stretches for 18 miles,
(29 km) and 820 feet (250 meters) apart at its widest point.
When environmental scientists enter the ice rift to check out an anomaly on
NASA’s satellite scans of the area, they discover something far more life
threatening than the raging blizzard trapping them in the rift. They are
unarmed and unprepared for their ensuing fight for survival.
Note – Though Ice Rift – Salvage, is a continuation of the story from Ice Rift,
it was brought about by readers feedback saying they would like to read a
follow on book. Ice Rift can be read as a complete story. There is no
cliffhanger or abrupt ending.
The spaceship entombed in the huge iceberg calved from the Pine Island Glacier
drifts towards the warmer air and ocean temperatures of the South Atlantic. The
race is on to claim the alien technology before the ice melts and releases its
hold on the trapped alien vessel.
The mission: Board the spaceship and salvage as much alien technology as possible before the doomed vessel sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
The obstacles: A disintegrating iceberg, a collapsing spaceship, an armed Russian salvage force intent on claiming alien technology for themselves, an approaching storm, and the biggest obstacle of all—the spacecraft’s alien inhabitants.
The aliens have another mission—survival—and when opposing species clash, there can be only one victor.
Ice Rift – Salvage is the sequel to Ice Rift, which needs to be read first to gain the most enjoyment from the story.
ICE RIFT – SIBERIA is the 3rd book in the best selling Ice Rift series. Ice Rift and Ice Rift – Salvage need to be read first to gain maximum enjoyment from this novel.
Having stowed aboard the Russian vehicle transporting the alien weaponry
salvaged from the doomed Antarctic spaceship, the surviving fragment of EV1L
arrives at a secret underground complex in the remote wilderness of the Siberian tundra.
It will hide.
It will feed and grow.
It will breed.
When all is ready, EV1L and her hoard of vicious offspring will emerge from the facility and head for the nearest city to start their conquest of Earth.
When the Americans intercept a plea for help from the secret facility and learn of the alien menace, a crack team is rushed to Siberia. Their mission is to destroy the alien creatures before they escape.
If they fail, it could bring about the end of human civilization.
Ben was born in England, but currently lives in Germany.
He loves to laugh and make others laugh, something which he is particularly good at. He is a joker, a hoaxer and someone who loves mysteries, especially if they involve a long lost treasure.
Apart from writing he likes nothing better than to be travelling in his motorhome around Europe seeking out mysteries and hunting for long lost treasures, which invariably lead him below ground to explore caves, caverns and old mines. These then become ideas he can use in his books.
Currently based in Germany, if he is writing a book with a location in Europe, he will often drive to the area to get a feel of the place, the smells and the sounds of the
streets, the people and the landscape, and will write down descriptions for later use.
Ben’s research into the mysteries he has sought to solve is so thorough he often discovers snippets of information no one else has. His research has been used in many documentaries and his hoaxed discoveries detailed in his Lost Tomb of the
Knights Templar book were featured in a Hollywood movie.
After Mike goes through a gut-wrenching betrayal by his fiancée, he finds himself in what he thinks might be the afterlife. But this is no heaven. The gods made a mistake and created another Earth in a parallel universe, putting both universes in peril. They need someone from his planet to destroy the alternate, and Mike is randomly selected for the job. Trapped in an impossible choice, Mike accepts his mission and is returned to an Earth – and a body – so unlike his own. There, he meets Jane, who is – unbeknownst to him – the secret leader of an organization bent on tracking down Earth’s saboteur. In the face of her passion for humanity, Mike’s resolve falters. If Mike won’t complete his mission, the gods will.
After working for several years as a professor in Brazil, C. Hofsetz moved to the United States and changed careers. Currently, he is a Software Engineer Manager at Microsoft by day, and a writer by night.Software engineering and computers have been his passion since he was a teenager, but he’s been reading novels for longer than writing code. One day, he couldn’t help it anymore. He wrote the first chapter of a book. How bad could it be? But things escalated quickly. Next thing he knew, he was writing yet another chapter, and then the next. He tried to hide it, but his family knew he was up to something.When they figured out what he was doing, it was too late—he accidentally had written a whole book.The result of this journey is Challenges of The Gods, a story about a fantastic world of gods meddling with humans.
Alfred Tam was born in San Francisco, CA and raised in the Bay Area. Growing up as a first generation Chinese American, he was fascinated with cartoon voices and would mimic both American cartoon characters as well as his favorite anime heroes. Alfred went on to study biochemistry in University of California: San Diego, with additional courses in German and French language. He eventually pursued a career in veterinary medicine at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. His passion for public speaking and voice over had not deteriorated, however, and he started the first veterinary public speaking club during his medical training. After finally completing his degree, Dr. Tam began narrating for podcasts, YouTube videos, and audible. His most favorite genre is science fiction, both to read and narrate, because of the infinite possibilities these worlds could provide by changing one simple rule of physics and mathematics. Alfred is fluent in English and Chinese, proficient in Spanish, and knows basic German and French. You can find Dr. Tam practicing emergency veterinary medicine in South Florida (starting 2020) and primarily hear his voices on audible. Otherwise, he could be found at the beach throwing the frisbee with his Golden Retriever, Lady, or air-balling three-pointers on the basketball court.
O.E. Tearmann’s Ten Reasons To Listen To This Book
Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
The process took longer than I expected. Like with any artistic profession, talented narrators are hard to find. You need to have the ability to bring not only the story, but also the characters, to life. Once you find a narrator like that who’s also willing to work with you, it takes about two to three months.
Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
Talented narrators will get milk out of a stone (this is a popular Brazilian expression). I’m so glad that Alfred Tam agreed to narrate Challenges of the Gods. His voice makes my novel shine. That said, I think that books narrated in first person are better for audio since we feel a closer connection with the narrator and the main characters.
Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?
All the time. I have been an avid audiobook listener for more than 10 years.
How did you select your narrator?
I signed the audio contract with my publisher before the print version was published. It took me six months to find the right narrator. Some of the auditions we got were just people reading the book with no emotion. Others were great narrators but had voices that didn’t match the character age or profile.
To make matters worse, it was especially hard for me to know if I had the best narrator because I’m Brazilian, and English is my second language. Thus I have to trust my narrator since I wouldn’t know how several words are correctly pronounced.
How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process? Did you give them any pronunciation tips or special insight into the characters?
The only thing I asked Alfred was to give accents to some of the characters. The problem with accents is that if they’re not done well, they distract from the story, but Alfred did a great job. Other than that, I gave him absolute freedom. For instance, there are a few made-up words in the book, and I let him choose the pronunciation.
Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
All characters are partially fictional and also a part of the author’s life. For instance, the main theme of the book is trust and betrayal, and who hasn’t been betrayed?
In Challenges of the Gods, I did include an inside joke between me and my daughter. I added characters named after my children in the book (Dr. Alice and Dr. David). I always told my kids that I’m not their friend—I’m their dad. I told them that it’s a completely different dynamic, and Alice always hated that. So the main character in the book says, “This means Dr. Alice is not my friend.”
How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for writing?
I see each book as a learning experience. I started writing later in life, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. But despite the setbacks and rejections, I’m always learning. I also have a long-term plan for my writing.
Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals to you?
I love audiobooks. My problem is that I’m a fast reader and I often miss details here and there. Listening to an audiobook helps me avoid that, because an audiobook forces us to pace ourselves and follow the narrator. On top of that, I can listen to audiobooks almost anywhere, even while driving or in court. And in case someone thinks I’m a criminal, I’m joking. It wouldn’t look good for the defendant to be listening to an audiobook during their trial.
What’s next for you?
I’m in the final stages of editing the sequel – Enemy of the Gods – and it’ll be published by Spring next year. Hopefully, I’ll be able to have the audiobook out sooner this time. In the next year or so, I’ll write the final book of the trilogy – tentatively titled Killer of the Gods. And then I’ll try something different. Beta readers love my young characters, so I may write a young adult novel as well. I want to have five books out in ten years, and once I retire from software engineering—many, many years from now—I’ll become a full time author and publish more often. That’s the plan.
YA Action Adventure Fantasy | Science Fiction | LitRPG
Publisher: Fire & Ice Young Adult Books
Date Published: August 27, 2019
Gwen Nielson is a gamer and she’s damn proud of it. Her mother may be a former beauty queen and her kid sister may participate in every pageant the state of Colorado has to offer, but Gwen is content to stay at home and play on her Xbox. To her, life isn’t about fashion and make-up; it’s about making a difference and keeping a low profile. And while most of the girls at her high school hang out at the local country club vying for the popular boys’ attention, Gwen is cool with having a boyfriend she’s never met. Pete is a fellow online gamer who lives in California. He’s funny and sweet, and his father owns a gaming company, which is an added bonus because Gwen gets to test out new games before they’re released to the public.
When Pete mails a new game for her to beta test, Gwen patiently awaits its arrival, but the package is never delivered. To make matters worse, when she calls to let Pete know, she discovers that he’s at the hospital after succumbing to a mysterious illness. Hours later, an ambulance arrives next door because her neighbor’s youngest son, Ben, suddenly becomes ill too. His parents and doctors aren’t sure why he has slipped into a coma, but when Gwen finds her opened package in Ben’s bedroom, she begins to suspect that the game is responsible for both of the boys’ eerily similar conditions.
Even to Gwen, the idea of a game making people sick sounds absurd, so she decides to test her theory before going to her parents. Unfortunately, her neighbor’s older brother, Ryan, insists on checking out the game with her. That’s when they discover that the disc isn’t a game at all—it’s actually a portal to a high-tech government simulator named Eve 2.0 who’s programmed to trap players until they can complete all of the timed objectives.
With her top-notched gaming skills, Gwen is a formidable opponent, but she quickly begins to realize that playing a game versus living it is a lot harder than she ever imagined. And as the objectives become more difficult and the four kids are forced to work as a team, Gwen concedes that she may not be as good as she needs to be, which just might end up costing her not only her own life, but Pete, Ryan, and Ben’s too.
About the Author
Winter lives in the moment and loves nothing more than being surrounded by her family, her fur-babies, and a ton of great reads! When she doesn’t have her nose stuck in a book, she’s usually thinking up far away, fantastical worlds or she’s cooking up a storm in the kitchen!
Because of her love for all things literary, Winter pursued a Master of Arts degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. Professionally, she is a manuscript editor and, in her spare time, she enjoys hosting author spotlights, posting book reviews, and teaching creative writing workshops.
In her private time, she is an avid reader of science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal romances, and one day she hopes to inspire young readers in the same way her favorite authors continue to inspire her today.
When everybody is against them, it is tough being a lifeliner, as Nash
Bannon found out. Lifeliners are ordinary people…almost. They can
draw energy from another person; they live longer and are smarter.
Scientists claim that Western high-pressure living and growing
sterility in developed countries has triggered the rise of
lifeliners, and homo sapiens will replaced by homo renata within ten
generations. So, what’s not to like about lifeliners? Protest
marches by extremist groups, riots, attacks against lifeliners,
repressive laws enacted by governments everywhere, were portents of a
dark future. Young, successful, Nash Bannon did not like what was
going on, but he thought he had the world at his feet and life in
Australia was good, provided no one found out he was a lifeliner. A
chance encounter with Cariana during a lunchbreak develops into
something he considered important. The Australian government calls a
snap election, and Nash stands as a Senate candidate on the Lifeliner
Party ticket. Unless lifeliners rise up and fight for their rights,
they can expect sterilization, incarceration, and possible
extermination as democracies everywhere turn into autocracies. To
survive, the Lifeliner Party must employ the same dirty tricks the
government used against them, but they were not prepared for what
awaited them.
Stefan Vucak has written eight Shadow Gods Saga sci-fi novels and six
contemporary thrillers. He started writing science fiction while
still in college, but didn’t get published until 2001. His Cry of
Eagles won the coveted Readers’ Favorite silver medal award, and his
All the Evils was the prestigious Eric Hoffer contest finalist and
Readers’ Favorite silver medal winner. Strike for Honor won the gold
medal.
Stefan leveraged a successful career in the Information Technology industry,
which took him to the Middle East working on cellphone systems. He
applied his IT discipline to create realistic storylines for his
books. Writing has been a road of discovery, helping him broaden his
horizons. He also spends time as an editor and book reviewer. Stefan
lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Ariel Paiement and I met through social media. We both share a love of fantasy.
Author Bio
Ariel Paiement is a fantasy author who writes the occasional historical fiction or science fiction novel. She enjoys all ranges of books and writing when it comes to reading, though fantasy and science fiction are her favorites. She likes to spend time coming up with new ideas or in wild flights of imagination. If asked what she spends most of her time doing, she’d tell you that she spends most of it reading or writing one thing or another. She is the author of On the Narrow Way in the anthology Above and Beneath: The World of Angels and Demons and has also written and published In Darkness Lost, a stand-alone fantasy adventure novel. Her novel, Bane of Ashkarith, is coming out on July 31st and is the first in the Legends of Alcardia series.
Tell us about yourself.
I’m a fantasy author who dabbles
in some sci-fi and historical fiction. I also occasionally write Christian
fiction. I’m not predominantly a Christian fiction author, but since I am a
Christian, some of the traditional values from a Judeo-Christian worldview do
come out in the books I write. Of course, that’s true of any author’s viewpoint
since no one writes without a bias.
As a writer, one of the things
that I’m committed to is showing that doing the wrong thing does have
consequences on the characters and those around them. I realize this is
becoming less and less important to many people, but I believe that showing
that there are consequences to morally incorrect or generally poor
decision-making is a part of making the books I write truer to reality.
Besides creating well-rounded
characters, I’m pretty big on world-building. I love creating and fleshing out
the worlds I place my characters in, and in many cases, the worlds become
almost like another character in the book’s cast for me. My goal with every
book is to immerse the reader in the world through the character’s eyes so that
the reader can have the full high fantasy or alternate world fantasy
experience.
But above all, my greatest goal with each book I write is to
create something that people of varied backgrounds and age groups can enjoy.
While not every book will be “family-friendly” or YA, I strive to have a
variety so that younger and older readers can find something within the worlds
I’ve created that will appeal to them.
When did you know you wanted to be an author?
I’m not sure I had a specific defining moment where I
thought, yeah, I’m going to be an author. I’ve been writing since I was pretty
young, and I always wanted to tell my stories to the rest of the world, so I
guess you could say that the idea of being an author started fairly young even
if I didn’t have enough understanding of the concept at the time to put a label
on it.
What genres do you like to read? Are these the same genres you write in?
Definitely fantasy and sci-fi! But I also enjoy lots of
other genres. I’m not a particularly picky reader, though my favorites tend to
be fantasy, sci-fi, and paranormal. Those are pretty much the same genres I
write, though I haven’t really done anything paranormal. I stick to fantasy and
the occasional sci-fi short story or experimental piece.
Is your book for adults, young adults or children?
Bane of Ashkarith is suitable for anyone in their pre-teens
or above. The book is written to appeal mainly to a young adult and adult
audience, but it doesn’t contain content that would be objectionable for older
children to enjoy. There is some violence and a bit of gore in places, but
nothing extreme, and there are only a few places where it’s shown.
What is your current release or project?
Bane of Ashkarith is my current release with the revised
version of In Darkness Lost, my first published novel, following it at the end
of November.
Tell us about the key characters
The two main characters in Bane of Ashkarith are a husband-and-wife
team. They work as Seekers—their world’s equivalent of archaeologists—for the
Society of the Learned, or the Society for short. The two of them specialize in
the mythology of their world, and on a dig site, while trying to prove that
there really was a battle between the gods there, they come across a journal
that belongs to the Queen of one of the sides in the battle. This sends them
off on a mission to determine the validity of the journal’s claims.
Both characters are stubborn and determined, and both value
truth a great deal. They risk life and limb throughout the novel’s course just
to find out whether or not the diary is telling the truth about what happened
between the supposed gods of the old world. They keep going despite the dangers
and uncertainty, and they work well as a team through the whole thing.
What is your blurb or synopsis of the book?
Kaidan Tadegan is
working on a new site trying to prove the myth that two armies of the gods clashed
there. While on the dig site, he discovers the evidence he’s looking for, but
he gets more than he bargained for when he discovers a woman’s bones in a
section of the dig site where no other remains have been found.
As he digs the
bones out, he discovers a journal with the woman’s body, which tells a story
that, if true, will turn the myths of the old world and the established
concepts of good and evil on their heads. Startled by the find, Kaidan sets out
to discover whether the diary’s claims have any validity.
But when the
diary leads to a city that’s supposedly long gone, Kaidan’s journey becomes
more difficult than expected. Things become even more tangled when he discovers
that the city isn’t gone, but it’s no place for the living.
Unable to give up
on his quest, he forges ahead. What lies ahead is uncertain, and even more
uncertain is whether Kaidan will survive this quest. He has only two questions
in his mind. Will he find the truth in this city of the dead? And will the
world accept the truth?
Share an excerpt
KAIDAN Tadegan straightened for a moment, pausing in
his work. He wiped the sweat from his brow and craned his neck to see over the
hill’s rise. The rest of the dig crew was still working on the opposite side of
the hill. Stretching, he picked his shovel back up and returned to digging into
the side of Dubarin Hill.
He worked with fervor but
also with care, not wanting to damage anything. The sun glared down on him,
roasting him alive, and he wiped the back of his neck with a cloth. Nothing had
rewarded him for his labor yet, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t. Perhaps he
might find something on this side of the hill to answer the questions they’d
come here to answer.
He took a deep breath, the
musty scent of freshly turned soil filling his senses. Well, even if they never
determined whether those who had clashed here were the old gods, they’d at
least proven that there had been a battle. That was something. They could hold
their heads high when they spoke to the king of Argos about the dig, and when
they returned to the Society of the Learned, they’d have something to report.
The hole he was digging
had turned into an open-roofed tunnel that sloped gradually downward as he
went. Perhaps he’d gone a bit overboard. But he had a good feeling about this
area. He could just sense it in his bones. There was something here. He just
had to find it.
At around seven feet down
into the side of the hill, his shovel struck something with a dull thud. He
tested the soil with the tip of the shovel, trying to determine what it was.
When he shifted some more dirt, he saw a flash of white under the sun. More
bones?
Kaidan knelt in the hole
and brushed the loose layer of dirt away. The yellow-white bones of a corpse
glared up at him in the harsh rays of the sun, dirt still packed around the
majority of the remains. He hadn’t found any bones on this side of the hill,
and he’d begun to think the battle hadn’t raged this far. Perhaps they just
hadn’t dug in the right places. It seemed they’d given up too soon.
Kneeling, he brushed the dirt away and grabbed
a trowel, gently clearing packed clods of dirt and loose soil away from the
corpse. When he had, he backed further up the slope and sat on his heels,
staring down at it.
Inside the tunnel, the
bones rested. Time and worms had rotted through the clothing of the deceased
individual. The slender facial structure of the skull and the tiny stature
indicated it was a woman. He frowned. Who
is this? They hadn’t found any women’s corpses in the battlefield. What was
this one doing all by herself out here?
A book lay locked against
the corpse’s chest, her skeletal hands clutching it to her even in the rigor of
death. He leaned down, seeking to pry it from the hands of the skeleton. The
hands wouldn’t budge. Strange. The tendons were long gone. Nothing should be
stopping him from moving the bones. Kaidan put his hands on his hips. Well,
destroying the corpse wouldn’t do. Too disrespectful to the dead. He’d have to
try a different angle. Jumping down into the hole again, he tried to slide the
book out of the corpse’s grasp.
This time, the hands
relinquished their prize, and he stared down at the book’s unmarked leather
cover, which was worn with age and crusted in dirt. A quiver ran through him, and
he grinned. What treasures of knowledge did this find contain? He took a closer
look at it, rubbing at the dirt on the corners before pausing in his attempts
to clean the item. The leather binding was in remarkable condition for the age
of the corpse.
He glanced back at the
bones. Far too old for the condition of the book. So how had the skeleton come
to be clutching the book in the tight grip of death? He clambered back up to
the mouth of his open-roofed tunnel and sat down, dropping the book beside him.
What secrets did the skeleton hold that she would never share now? His mind
whirred through the possibilities, and he glanced down at the book. Perhaps it
held the answers.
Do you have a favorite scene?
This one is tough because I have lots that I like. But I’d
say one of my favorite scenes takes place after the air captain, who transported
the two main characters to the area around Ashkarith, has just picked them back
up at a village in the same area. The two had just returned from their trip into
Ashkarith, and they were looking for an air ship to take them home when he
showed up. I love the scene because the two main characters are so confused
about how the captain knew to show up, and the banter between the three as they
reunite was a lot of fun to write. But I think my favorite thing about the
scene is the last part where the captain tells them that “sometimes people
would rather stay blind” to the truth. This is really the pivotal moment where
Kaidan and Zerua come face to face with what it might cost them to tell the
truth. They knew before this moment, but now it really sinks in fully, and they
make the final decision that they’re going to share the truth they uncovered
anyway. They’d been struggling with that very decision the entire novel, and
here they finally settle that struggle.
What advice would you give a beginner?
Keep writing, and don’t ignore the advice of those who have
gone before you. Don’t let your pride or your insecurity get in the way of your
growth. I’ve known writers on both sides of the spectrum, and both end up
quitting. Writing is hard work. Whether you tend to have a better opinion of
your work than you should or are more insecure about it than you should be, you
need to understand that what you’re writing is going to stink—at first. But
that’s okay. That’s why you need to stick with it. Because the only way you can
stop stinking at it is to work at it and to learn from the people who have
already walked the path you’re now taking. If you enjoy it, don’t give up even
when it’s hard.
Be humble and have an honest perspective of your work. Know
your flaws, but know your strengths too. Then find the ways you can fix the
flaws and improve the strengths. Never turn down free help, no matter how harsh
the person might seem.
Not everyone will be a fan, but knowing why they’re not a
fan might help you find a way to convert them to being part of your fan group
later on. You don’t get that chance if you dismiss their criticism just because
it doesn’t paint a perfect picture of your work.
There’s a grain of truth even in the harshest critiques most
of the time. Be discerning and don’t swallow everything you’re told—this is
where reading books on writing and learning about the craft from published
authors and well-known writers or editors helps—but at least consider
everything you’re given for a moment aside from pride or insecurity.
His species became extinct decades before the aliens rescued and cloned
him, but he still must do everything he can to save them all. Karm
must travel back in time, create the most powerful financial empire
ever seen on the planet Dyan’ta and assemble a team of experts who
must be kept in the dark about his plans for fear of upsetting the timeline.
Dr. Jontar Rocker is an up and coming geneticist whose untested and
controversial theories on cloning become the lynch pin in Karm’s
schemes. Maripa, Karm’s petite and beautiful surrogate niece,
personal secretary, and deadly bodyguard must learn to trust Karm
despite his deceptions and secrets. Can the emerging love between Dr.
Rocker and Maripa survive the demons and surprises of their own past,
as well as Karm’s impenetrable air of mystery?
Karm and his companions must save the Brin. To do so, they must band
together to overcome Brach, the ambitious and obsessed monarch.
Determined to take control of Karm’s vast industrial empire, Brach
joins forces with his conniving brother Pareth, leader of The Faith
an ultra-conservative religious order committed to stopping Dr.
Rocker and his heretical efforts to develop cloning techniques.
Nothing less than survival of their species is at stake.
In this sequel to Hegira, the Brin are thriving on their new world, but
will greed, prejudices, and old rivalries tear apart their grand
civilization? Maliche Rocker, descendant of The Saviors, uncovers a
terrible secret and must fight those in power, including members of
his own family, to save thousands of innocents from the cruelty of
his own people.
In this conclusion to The Brin Archives, Maliche Rocker must risk
everything including his family’s reputation and even his life, to
uncover the truth about the Skae. For over three hundred years the
Brin have believed the Skae to be their benefactors, and the race
that rescued them from extinction. But recent revelations by a group
of young Kolbri, the offspring of Brin and Kolandi mating, tell a
disturbingly different story.
Three Kolbri, including Maliche’s son Jontar, must use their unique
abilities to telepathically connect with technology, and discover the
truth about the Skae once and for all by undertaking a perilous
journey through thousands of years in space and time, unravelling the
history hidden from them by Skae. During this expedition, Jontar and
his two companions must encounter the Gorvin, hated enemy of the Skae
and supposed instigators of the current interstellar war.
What turned the Skae and Gorvin into mortal enemies? What is the true
cause of the war responsible for the destruction of hundreds of
worlds over thousands of years? Will Maliche and his small group find
the truth and avert disaster both at home and across the galaxy? Can
his wife, Ryma, hold the Brin government together long enough for
Maliche to succeed? Only time will tell.
Jim Cronin is a retired middle school science teacher, currently working
part-time as an educator/performer at the Denver Museum of Nature and
Science. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, raised in Arlington, Virginia
and Denver, Colorado, he became an avid science nerd at the height of
the space race of the 1960’s. After thirty-five years teaching
science in the middle school classroom, he decided to retire and
explore new worlds of opportunities, including volunteering,
bicycling, and writing. It is the writing experimentation which
resulted in this novel.
Today, Jim Is an Educator Performer, or Edutainer if you prefer, at the
Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The museum makes science fun and
entertaining with an entire crew of performer/educators. Two years
ago I was lucky enough for the museum to hire me, and pay me to come
and play with kids and science.He lives in Colorado with his
beautiful wife of thirty seven years. Together, they look forward to
completely spoiling their new granddaughter.
Something or someone has encapsulated an entire valley on Earth.
The story begins at an abandoned overgrown trail with the scary name of
‘The Devils Tail’. The trail lies a few miles southeast of Portland
Oregon. The trail has been around for several years and has many
frightening rumors associated with it about why people disappeared
while hiking the trail. Two childhood friends get together and chat
about the trail. One of the friends, Janet Johnson, an experienced
hiker wants to hike the trail and the other Bob Wild is terrified of
the trail and doesn’t want to hike it. Bob tells Janet that the
reason he is doesn’t want to hike it is because people who hiked the
trail never came back. Janet thinks this is silly and just rumors.
She finally convinces Bob to reluctantly go with her on the trail.
The two of them set out on a thrilling and frightening adventure of a
lifetime. What they encounter changes their lives forever. The hike
encompasses the interactions of people from two different worlds and
the meeting of a Charles Manson type leader who thinks he is God.
Stanley Straub was a Guided Missile Technician in the Navy and worked as an electrical engineer in the Aerospace Industry. He is a master at crafting technical thrillers that will capture you and thrill you with his stories. Mr. Straub loves writing Science Fiction suspense stories and has been honing his skills by writing spine-tingling stories since he was in grade school. He has his own unique style. If you like reading suspense thrillers, then you will love reading his books. He is the author of three published thrillers, “The Killer Within”, “The Segmented Tail”, and “The Trail in the Woods”.
Serus is a killer. As a policeman he was recruited to be a weapon at the
Martian government’s disposal. Brainwashed into compliance, he’s
lost the life he once had, but his memories remain. When a hit is
placed on his sister’s life, Serus is faced with the dark reality
that in order to save Kara, he must go rogue and doing so will put
both of their lives in danger. Forced into an unlikely alliance to
save Kara, Serus discovers a truth that could bring Mars to its
knees, but what if it’s too late?
If you like fast-paced science fiction then immerse yourself into a
world controlled by a militant force; where humanity’s purpose is to
make the rich richer.
If you enjoy cyberpunk novels with a noir feel, then grab Exodus, the
first book in The Dead Planet Series, today!
From Drew Avera, author of The Dead Planet Series, comes an all new vision
of humanity’s future.
VERITY is the second book in The Dead Planet Series
Twenty-five hundred years in the future humans have colonized Mars. The
advancements in technology have taken humanity to a new world, but in
that new society the problems of old have once again taken root.
Corruption and murder are on the rise, but not from lowlifes on the
streets. The real threat to civilization lies in the one world
governing entity known as The Syndicate.
Armed with money and power, The Syndicate rules with an iron fist. Their
form of government has brought forth an era of humanity that has
surpassed every empire in human history, but behind that veil of
wealth is The Agency; an organization of Policemen who do anything
except protect and serve.
Against incredible odds, Serus Blackwell, a Policeman within The Agency, is
determined to save humanity from a horrible truth discovered by his
sister Kara. In the crosshairs of The Syndicate, Serus fights to save
the only member of his family he has left–and in the process, might
end up saving himself.
After arriving on planet Earth, Serus and Kara are taken prisoner by a
local group of soldiers. Knowing that The Syndicate will do anything
to stay in power, Serus forms an unlikely alliance in order to stop
The Syndicate from taking control of Earth and hope to find the
answers they need in order to save the people on Mars. But it may be
too late!
If you love fast-paced science fiction then take a peek inside a world
controlled by The Syndicate. The future is darker than you think…
Endgame is the third and final novel in The Dead Planet Series.
After returning to Mars, Serus discovers that things aren’t quite the way
they were when they left almost two years before. Thanks to their
efforts, the answer to Mar’s salvation has been safely delivered,
but bad news travels fast. Serus learns that Harris has been abducted
and Midican has been destroyed. Knowing what is at stake, he vows to
return and save his friend before his enemies can take another life
of someone he cares about.
With a renewed sense of justice, Serus and his friends must return to
Earth to finish what they started; to stop The Syndicate once and for all.
Drew Avera is a U.S. Navy veteran and the bestselling author of the
Alorian Wars; a fast-paced space opera adventure series.
Born and raised in rural Mississippi, Drew longed to see the world and
enlisted in the Navy at seventeen. With nearly twenty-years of
service, four combat deployments, and countless miles traveled on the
open ocean, it was only a matter of time before the worlds he created
in his head sprang to life in a new venture. He began his writing
career by participating in National Novel Writing Month 2012 and
published his first book, Exodus, in March 2013. Since then, Drew has
written more than twenty books. Additionally, he has had several
stories featured in The Future Chronicles, The Expanding Universe,
and the Pew! Pew! Anthologies.
Aster Worthington spearheads the First Contact Team to unravel a message
from an alien race. “The Lambdons” promise free energy if
humanity builds a few special robots and downloads their message into
a super computer to direct construction of the fusion reactor. An
excited world agrees and builds a massive structure called the Dome
to house the alien enterprise.
Seven years later, there’s no “free energy” and strange things happen
in and around the Dome. Aster and her colleagues mount an expedition
under the protection of Army Rangers to investigate the interior.
Instead of friendly aliens, they discover hordes of deadly
intelligent humanoids with insect-like characteristics.
When the military team is brutally murdered by the Lambdons, the
scientists scatter. It’s soon apparent that the Lambdons intend to
take over the planet using biological warfare. The only hope for
humanity lies with a two-thousand year old scroll hidden by the
church. The question is, can Aster and her team unravel the scroll’s
mystery in time to save the planet?
I attended college at Ohio Wesleyan where I struggled with physics.
Having made so many mistakes in college with physics, there weren’t
too many left to make and I did quite well at graduate school at Purdue.
I worked for nearly twenty years at Choate Rosemary Hall, an exclusive boarding school in
the heart of Connecticut. More often than not, students arrived in
limousines. There was a wooded area by the upper athletic fields
where I would take my children for a walk. There, under a large oak
tree, stories about the elves would be weaved into the surrounding forest.
Returning to my home town to help with a father struggling with Alzheimer’s, the only
job open was at a prison. There I taught an entirely different
clientele whose only interaction with limousines was stealing them. A
year later Alfred State College hired me to teach physics. I happily
taught there for over ten years. A rural, low income high school
needed a physics teacher and the superintendent, a friend, begged me
to help out. So, I am finishing my teaching career in a most
fulfilling way… helping kids who would otherwise not have access to
a qualified physics (and math) teacher.
My wife pestered me about putting to “pen” some of the stories which I had created
for the children and other relatives. I started thinking about a
young boy and a white deer, connected, yet apart. Ideas were shuffled
together, characters created and the result was the Return of the
White Deer. This book was published by the Martin Sisters.
Years ago I gave a lecture on evolution. What, I wondered, would be the next step? Right
away I realized that silicon ‘life’ had considerable advantages
over mortal man. Later this idea emerged as the exciting and
disturbing story called Reap the Whirlwind, my most recent novel.
I have many other stories inside my mind, fermenting, patiently waiting for the pen to
give them breath. Perhaps someday I will even write about those elves
which still inhabit the woods in the heart of Connecticut.
Oct. 24th:
