THE TRACEVERSE SAGA

 

The Shattered Gate &

 

The Two Gates

 

by

 

ERIC R. SWANSON

 

 

Genre: Science Fiction / Genetic Engineering

Publisher: Eric R. Swanson, LLC.

 

Date of Publication Book 1: March 22, 2020

Number of Pages: 394 pages

 

Date of Publication Book 2: May 1, 2021

Number of Pages: 402 pages

 

 

 

The Shattered Gate

 

They selfishly pillaged Earth and made him a hybrid. Will his split nature spell the end of intergalactic abduction?

Half-human, half-Ceran, Micah Trace yearns for something more. Though the repetition and isolation of living as a body double for the King of Ceres is crushing, he’s grateful to be treated better than the other genetically engineered humans. But when he discovers the ailing plight of his ancestors, he heeds the calling and cleverly insinuates himself into a dangerous mission across the galaxy.

Fearing their plan to repair a failing transportation gate might lead to disaster, Micah uses his experience mimicking the king to steal the forbidden authority he’s assumed for so long. But with ulterior motives darkening the depths of space, he may not survive to see the centuries-old connection between the planets repaired.

Can the royal mimic win control of the ship before they’re lost to the vacuum’s void?

The Shattered Gate is the thought-provoking first tale in the science fiction Traceverse Saga. If you like character-driven action, high-tech military defense systems, and intriguing political powerplays, then you’ll love Eric R. Swanson’s interstellar adventure.

 

 

Amazon

 

The Two Gates

 

Born to serve. Trained to lead. Can a man of two species bridge the critical gap between his peoples?

2454. Micah Trace’s half-human heart races as his expedition approaches Earth. Taking leadership of a one-way-trip from Ceres, he fears the memory of a centuries-old mass abduction means they’ll face a hostile reception. And his desperate claim of a shared ancestry falls on deaf ears when the traumatized Earthers greet them with suspicion, capture, and interrogation.
With relations treading a knife’s edge, the offworld ambassador finally proves his genetic roots and convinces the nervous population to repair the stargate and reconnect their worlds. But some resent alien interference in the planet’s affairs, and Micah suspects that they may be willing to kill to ensure his mission’s doom.

Can the hybrid herald unite his two species before the past destroys their future?

The Two Gates is the thrilling second novel in the science fiction Traceverse saga. If you like complex interplanetary politics, stunning character revelations, and pulse-pounding action, then you’ll love Eric R. Swanson’s galactic tale.

 

 

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Watch the book trailer for The Two Gates

By Eric Swanson

 

 

 

 

 

Or click here to view on the author’s Facebook page

 

 

 

 

 

Eric Swanson was born in September of 1981 in Chicago, IL, and his entire life has been spent engrossed in stories. Growing up in a Minneapolis, MN suburb, Eric developed a deep appreciation for stories with a wide scope. From being frightened by Stephen King’s IT to being enthralled by Orson Scott Card’s Ender Wiggin stories, the written word of others grabbed Eric and often refused to let go… Even after he finished the first reading of a book. Several of his personal copies of favorite novels have endured many many readings. From an early age, Eric was a fan of all things science fiction with a leaning toward the dystopian and post-apocalyptic. The future fascinates Eric to no end, be that a realistic or wild-eyed and farfetched future. While he annually binges Battlestar Galactica (04), he dreams of worlds, people and happenings yet to be written. Eric lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, two children, and a pair of Goldendoodles. They sometimes Tweet for him…

 

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3/27/22	Book Trailer 2	StoreyBook Reviews
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3/30/22	Bonus Story	All the Ups and Downs
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Synopsis

 

Get their attention before it’s too late… The Quiet War has begun…

Acclaimed journalist and media celebrity Diana Willis can snag the inside scoop and truth on any story. But when her helicopter mysteriously malfunctions and plummets to the ground, everything changes, sending Diana down a maze of murderous intrigue and confusion. Waking up from a coma eight weeks after the crash, she struggles with the recurring dreams that reveal an extraordinary past life. Now, Diana’s hellbent on uncovering the secrets about those past memories.

Delving into a world of mind control and past lives, the truth is more terrifying than she ever imagined as she travels back in time to face the perpetrators of America’s most confidential and sinister projects. Teaming up with an unlikely ally, an elusive interdimensional mentor from her other life, Diana is able to restore her psychic and telepathic powers. Suddenly, they’re in more danger than ever before as their enemies seek world domination through mind control and media manipulation.

Can Diana use her powers to expose the truth, bring a message from another world, hundreds of earth years in the future, and save the world before it’s too late?

“I returned from your future and there is no fear. I am courageous and free…”

 

 

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Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

Excerpt

 

Chapter One

 

You might think you know what I am doing, but it goes beyond anything you imagine. You don’t know I am borrowed from another galaxy, from another time. I arrived shortly after you detonated the two atomic bombs in the middle of your last century. My work of infiltration, subversion, and transformation began immediately.

The woman stumbled over the uneven ground, dazed, confused.

Thoughts trickled into her head.

Where am I? What is going on?

She realized there were cold, wet stones beneath her bare feet.

What happened to my shoes?

Through a veil of pain, she tried to discern what appeared around her, but her eyes couldn’t focus in the dawn light because a fog blurred the details.

A chill poured over her skin, and when she hugged herself for warmth, she discovered that her clothes were ragged and torn. When she brought up one hand, she noticed blood smeared across her fingers.

She heard waves lapping against rocks. A humid mineral smell filled her nostrils.

The ocean?

She turned to the sound of the surf and saw, on the water’s edge, a large, unusual formation of rocks, shaped like a pyramid. In the distance, past the rocks, she noticed a light shining through the mist. This light was also unusual in the way its reflection cast a strange trail of sparkles across the water.

What is that?

For a moment, she stared, transfixed, then realized she’d been holding something in her hand. As she brought the object closer to her eyes, she saw her bloody fingers gripping a small red book with a silver pinecone embossed on its cover.

She realized someone was behind her. The abrupt presence startled her, and she dropped the book. Just as she was about to turn around, the stranger said, “Get their attention before it’s too late.”

 

 

About the Author

 

At 19 years old, Steven Paul Terry felt a stirring in his soul that he recognized as the archetypal call to adventure. It was then that he began a great odyssey to discover his life’s purpose and mission. Born in London, England, and educated there and in Australia, Steven believes it took him over 3 decades and many trips around the world to prepare him to manifest his creative force for the benefit of the planet.

Currently dividing his time between Colorado, Mexico, Tasmania, and Southeast Asia, Steven travels the world as a professional speaker and corporate training facilitator.

At the moment, Steven is concentrating his efforts on writing a trilogy of supernatural thrillers, the first of which, Star Revelations, will be published by Hero Acts.

 

HERO ACTS | Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder.

Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing’s simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights” to the past.

Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion—and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls.

None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see.

On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. Because the U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology—and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.

January is sure the timing isn’t a coincidence. Neither are those “accidents” that start stalking their bidders.

There’s a reason January can glimpse what others can’t. A reason why she’s the only one who can catch a killer who’s operating invisibly and in plain sight, all at once.

But her ability is also destroying her grip on reality—and as her past, present, and future collide, she finds herself confronting not just the hotel’s dark secrets but her own.

At once a dazzlingly time-twisting murder mystery and a story about grief, memory, and what it means to—literally—come face-to-face with our ghosts, The Paradox Hotel is another unforgettable speculative thrill ride from acclaimed author Rob Hart.

 

 

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This book releases 2/22/22

 

 

Review

 

This book packs a lot into the pages with a diverse character group, addressing issues we see today, and even a little bit of a mystery thrown in to boot.

This book is not one that you will sail through because of the complexity of the plot and the vast amount of characters. However, it is well worth the read especially if you like science fiction and fantasy rolled into one.

January Cole is a whipsmart character that isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. Accompanied by a robot/drone that helps keep her in check, these two make the story quite fascinating. They play off of each other and the snarky comments add levity to the situations at hand. January does have an advantage, or perhaps disadvantage, as an Unstuck person. She can see snippets of things to come which aids her in doing her job and what to look for, but at the same time, it hinders her because of the prejudice from those around her.

This story delves into time travel and what it might be like to travel back in time to a historic event and watch it live. Granted, the TEA has to watch out for those that might be trying to alter history or profit for themselves. There is a scene where 3 dinosaurs are caught running around the hotel and the story of how they arrived in the present only adds to the mystery of what is going on at the hotel.

As I mentioned, the characters are diverse and range from LGBTQ+, nonbinary (which is still hard for me to get used to They/Them and not expect it to refer to a group of people vs just one), entitled wealthy individuals, and even some down to earth characters. Each adds something to the storyline even as a minor character.

The mystery comes in trying to find out who is erasing video and other data files, who might be trying to kill some of the super-wealthy, and just creating general havoc that keeps January and the rest of the staff on their toes.

I enjoyed the book and while it might not be for everyone, I think many might just enjoy this book. We give it 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Rob Hart is the author of THE PARADOX HOTEL. He also wrote THE WAREHOUSE, which has been sold in more than 20 countries and been optioned for film by Ron Howard, as well as the Ash McKenna crime series, the short story collection TAKE-OUT, and SCOTT FREE with James Patterson.

His short stories have been published widely, including “Due on Batuu,” set in the Star Wars universe, which appeared in FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and “Take-Out,” which appeared in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2018.

He’s worked as a political reporter, the communications director for a politician, and a commissioner for the city of New York. He is the former publisher at MysteriousPress.com and the current class director at LitReactor. He lives in New York City.

 

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Synopsis

 

Would you trust your developing years to a mysterious organization expecting a successful life in return?

In the midst of the 2040s, Livvy Blunt, a girl with an unquiet mind, lives in confinement. Her home is a monastery, a place of silence and meditation created to keep her mind free from the frivolous matters of the modern world.

The Monastery is a corporation with a clear goal: transform young Empty-heads into skilled Silver-hairs. The means to do that are controversial: uploads of skills to the brain. The more youngsters manage to keep their minds empty of gossip and avoid overthinking life, the more skills can be transferred.

Livvy has a hard time trying to keep her mind idle, but her sacrifice should pay off by the promise of a successful future as a Silver-hair, a professional any recruiter would fight to hire. But when time comes for her to choose her set of skills, she is denied every professional and fun skill she ever longed for.

People say she’s lucky for being selected to the Monasterial Upload Program, but she’s not so sure.

 

 

 

Amazon

 

 

Review

 

What if you could have any skill in the world that you wanted by simply receiving a mind upload? That is the focus of this new YA series and is quite an intriguing one. Set in the future, we meet Livvy who has gone into this program as a young child and purposely keeps her mind free of any information so that when she turns 18, she can become a silver hair and receive an upload of her new skills. The more space you have in your brain, the better the position.

However, something goes awry when Livvy receives a request to meet someone in the garden at midnight, well past curfew. What happens from there is an adventure for Livvy and time for her to reevaluate the path for her life.

This self-discovery journey for Livvy is one that I think many can relate to in their own lives. She thinks that she wants to go down one path but when the opportunity to explore Barcelona where her mother was from, well that was too much of an opportunity to pass up. It challenges what she was led to believe all those years and was uploading skills the way she wanted to live her life? It doesn’t hurt that a few new friends open her eyes to life and what it could be versus what it was scheduled to be through The Monastery.

There is also conflict between warring companies seeking the same technological advances. It is no different than what we might see today. What was interesting was who participated in this battle to save mankind from itself and from big corporations. It made me think what side would I want to be on if I was there.

I loved all of the descriptions of Barcelona and the historical buildings that were explored. I’ve never been to Barcelona but while reading this book I felt like I was there and could envision the sites of this European town.

This is a great start to a new series and I wonder what is in store for Livvy and the gang going forward. We give it 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Just another author, with the same set of letters from the alphabet, trying to put them in such order that they could bring joy, excitement, pain, and inspiration — while trying to make a living out of it.

 

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The Awakening: Three Sources. Two Worlds. One Connection

 

by Dana Claire

 

 

Awakening

 

The government called her a weapon. Her mother called her a gift. She called it a forced fate. Beatrice Walker is no stranger to surprises and after the year she’s had, finding out she is responsible for billions of lives is a drop in the bucket. Until she learns there may be more to the prophetic plan to prevent the extinction of two planets—both Earth and Ferro, and that she isn’t the only Blood-Light they will need to fight the imminent threat of an asteroid hurtling toward the planets.

He grew up a loyal heir. He trained to be a soldier. He found purpose with the Rebellion. Cash Kingston didn’t think falling for a Blood-Light—part human, part Ferroean—was possible. But when he met Beatrice Walker, all of that changed. What didn’t waver was his quest to save his beloved planet Ferro and his new home, Earth. Not only from the oncoming asteroid but from leaders of both planets with more sinister agendas.

Together, Beatrice and Cash, plus their team, must uncover who they can trust, how they can stop their enemies, and what superpower matters most, or they will lose everything they are fighting for.

 

 

Amazon * B&N * IndieBound

 

 

Praise

 

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, I was absolutely sure I was going to love this one as well and boy, I wasn’t wrong. This is the second book in this stellar series and it’s even more action-packed than the first. It starts off with a bang and doesn’t let up the entire time. It also introduces more fun and quirky characters that I immediately fell in love with. And what an ending! It was done so uniquely and kept the momentum going until the very last page, during which we’re also treated to some astounding revelations that just make me that much more anxious for the next book to get here already. If you like young adult scifi action adventure, you’ll love this author and this series. They’re both outstanding.” -5 Stars DTChantel

“I’m so in love with this series!! This is the second book, which you expect for it to be not quite as good as the first, NOPE!!! This was just as great as the first, if not a little better!!!
The growth we see of the characters and not just the main characters, is so well done. We have a few new side characters that brought a lot to the story. But my favorite are Cash, Beatrice and Ashton. But I totally ship Cash & Beatrice!!!
I can’t stress this enough… if you like Romance with SciFi (like The Lux series by JLA, The Kricket series, The Saven series) you will LOVE this series!!!! It’s definitely it’s own series, not a copycat, but just to give you an idea of the kind of Romance with SciFi story it is. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SERIES!!! And I can’t wait for the next book!!!” -5 Stars Donna (Book Dragon Girl)

“I was so excited to read book two in this series! There was just enough backstory sprinkled in so that you could still follow the story if you hadn’t read book one (and enough to remind the reader if they read book one a while ago). I was pulled right back into Bea and Cash’s story, and I could barely put the book down until I reached the end. From rescuing Ashton, to Cash being captured, to Bea’s first experience of Ferro, to the surprising “reward” for saving the world, I had to keep turning the pages. We’re left with a cliffhanger at the end, though, so I hope Ms. Claire is industriously writing volume three!” -5 Stars Cyndi

“This book is beyond amazing. It keeps you so hooked at all times. You cannot go wrong with this read.” -5 Stars Amazon Customer

 

 

Guest Review from Gud Reader

 

Dana Clare does it again this time with her hard-hitting science fiction ‘The Awakening’. Having read her first book in the Blood-Light trilogy I am just amazed at how she is able to come up with such a mind-blowing and thought-provoking plot.

In this book, we encounter Beatrice ‘Bea’ Walker a character not new to surprises. This time her forced fate as she is about to find out, is to save both Ferro and earth from an imminent threat of an asteroid that is about to strike both the planets. On her side is Cash Kingston the gorgeous but arrogant character from Ferro. The twist depends upon finding Cash’s half-brother, Ashton who, in this case, is the ‘opposing source’, if their mission is at all to be successful. Now, Bea, Cash, and Ashton are on a mission to save planet Ferro and planet Earth from destruction. Will they succeed in this and who can they trust to ensure that their mission is not foiled?

For any science fiction lover, an exquisitely fabulous blast of science fiction with a dash of romance awaits you in this book. Dana does a marvelous job as she writes with an elegant and beautiful flowing style that carries the reader with her as she blends scientific fact and some supernatural lore to create that outstanding plotline that feels both authentic and believable. Her world-building and character-building are pitch-perfect!

 

 

About the Author

 

When author Dana Claire had several poems published as an elementary school student, she was hooked and writing became her passion. A shared dream of hers and her mother’s, she promised her dying mother that she would become a published author and that dream has been realized with The Connection.

Dana believes that a good story is made through strong character development; when readers become attached to the characters’ emotional state and are invested in their objectives. She believes that the beauty of reading is that one can live a hundred lives within the stories of books. Her own stories come to her in her dreams, and she wakes up with book ideas.

Dana’s family is very supportive of her writing and the creativity and sentiment driving it. Enjoying bicoastal living between Los Angeles and New York, Dana says she “lives the best romance in the world being married to the most amazing man she could ever ask for.” The Connection was her debut YA novel, the first volume in a planned trilogy. The Awakening is the second volume.  She is also the author of The Reclaimed Kingdom, a YA fantasy romance novel.

 

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Giveaway

 

3 print copies and 3 matching eye masks, 1 each per winner.

It is open to Canada and the U.S. only and ends on September 17, 2021, at midnight pacific time

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Synopsis

 

2020 Maxy Awards Finalist – SciFi/Fantasy

The contest between men and women escalates to a new battlefield—genetics. Legislators mandate a testosterone-lowering food supplement to reduce violence and make gun control unnecessary. The blowback assumes epic proportions. Nadia Holkam—a pawn in the battle—desperately seeks her true identity.

Diana Holkam discovers companies are using her twin sister as a template for the perfect subordinate female in an experiment aimed at turning all women into pets. With help from a one-eyed Muslim Bible salesman, an African American woman promoting a testosterone-reducing food supplement, and an Indian geneticist fleeing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, they fight against a misogynistic CEO, a would-be prophet of male supremacy, and the mob. Neither side realizes the AI system developing the genetic “cure” has a different plan for human evolution—a plan that has something to do with fish.

 

 

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Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

Review

 

Sci-Fi/fantasy books are not usually a genre I read, or at least not often. However, I was intrigued by the description of this book and decided to give it a whirl. What I found was a very bizarre book that featured gender wars, talking fish and multi-faceted characters.

There is a battle between the sexes and women currently hold the upper hand and food is doused with Testrial that seems to calm men down and they act more like servants than men. Not all men are like this, there are those that avoid any food that contains this ingredient and several are on course to create the “perfect” woman and return things to a time of the past where women were more like “pets” for the men. Obviously, most women (and some men) don’t want to see that happen. So a small band of protestors seeks to shut down Berky and Candor’s quest for this new lifestyle.

I found the characters to be quite interesting and the interactions between all kept the story flowing. There is some scientific discussion but nothing to drawn out to lose a reader. There is humor that I didn’t expect and was darker than you might expect. I was surprised by a few twists at the end regarding the twins, Nadia and Diana. There was also some graphic violence that was unexpected and it made me uncomfortable considering the level.

This book is definitely a journey for the reader and while sometimes it felt like I was trudging through, other sections were brilliant. Overall, we give this 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

J.S. Morrison is the author of “The Perfection of Fish” (Speculative Fiction, Satire, Black Rose Writing, 2020). He was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1947, had a career in Air Force Intelligence (1970-1991), followed by a career in the Tech industry (1991-2016). He has lived in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, and visited Asia, Africa, South America, and Antarctica. He optioned two original screenplays before deciding to write a near-future satire on gender wars. He currently lives near Annapolis, MD, where he is working on his second speculative fiction novel. He is a member of the Maryland Writers’ Association, the Columbia Writers’ Group, the DC Speculative Fiction Group, and the Black Writers Collective. When he is not writing or traveling, he dabbles in astrophysics as a member of a local scientific society.

 

Website * Twitter

 

 

INFINITY’S GATEWAY

 

by

JAMES S. PARKER

 

Published by: Morgan James Publishing

 

Series: The Infinity’s Gateway Trilogy

 

Pages: 361 Pages

 

Pub Date: January 26th, 2021

 

Categories: Science Fiction / Adventure / Action

 

 

Scroll for Giveaway!

 

 

 

 

Every year, all across the planet, people simply vanish, completely disappear and are never seen again.  Some areas of the world are well known for this phenomenon.  Infinity’s Gateway opens with a very famous incident that took place just after the end of World War II with the United States Navy.  The story then jumps to the present day with an unexplainable event that occurs off the coast of Florida, an event that cannot be ignored by the military.

The Navy ship Eclipse and its crew are sent to investigate, but after several days come up empty.  Two days before returning to port, the event reoccurs, and the Eclipse is caught up in something it cannot escape.  The Eclipse and its crew suddenly find themselves completely isolated, all communication lost, surrounded by a terribly hostile environment where each day is a struggle to survive.  Infinity’s Gateway is an intense, action packed story of survival, self-reliance, and discovery.

 

 

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Praise

 

“Infinity’s Gateway is an engaging science fiction thriller with tones of Michael Crichton Tom Clancy.  To fans of the science fiction genre, it will feel like an old friend with a surprising, and exciting new makeover.”  —Joseph Mauceri, Executive Editor, Fearsmag.com.

 

 

 

 

Just when you thought the Bermuda Triangle was a myth, along comes a story that makes you wonder if it is real and what might happen if you were caught in this phenomenon.

The story starts during WWII when several fighter planes go missing. Jump forward 50ish years later and some strange energy readings are noted and a research vessel with a supercomputer is sent off to try and figure out what is going on and how it might impact the world. What happens next is nothing anyone could ever imagine.

This action-packed adventure will take you on the ride of your life. It is hard to tell you much about what I liked without giving away too much of the story. The details were amazing and I feel like the author did a lot of research to get some of the details correct…and here is where I can’t say what without giving away too much.  The characters are diverse and multi-faceted and each one brings a special something to the story. I enjoyed the interaction between the characters and their actions and reactions to the crazy situations that they found themselves in and how they handled the unknown. I thought about how I might react and I don’t think it would have been as well as these characters.

And then the ending…talk about a cliffhanger! OMG, I am now so intrigued as to what might happen next for the cast of characters. There are so many possibilities and I can only imagine where this story might go next.

If you are a fan of science fiction, adventure, perhaps just a bit of the supernatural/paranormal, and staying up late to finish the book then you will want to add this one to your to be read list.

We give this book 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every now and then author James S. Parker has a vision.  And, when he does, he sees people and places off in the misty distance.  Sometimes these visions are futuristic and filled with danger.  Most often they are mystical, with good and evil and a cast of characters who beautifully represent both.

In his high school years, James experienced a spine-tingling brush with the supernatural.  That single event – complete with the sound of heavy footsteps and an invisible visitor – etched forever in his mind the idea that life is much more mysterious than we oftentimes admit — that the spiritual world is all around us, and that its impact on us cannot be denied.

Though he sees through a glass darkly, he writes as though he has been granted a glimpse into the unknown, one that has informed his novels and their powerful stories of good and evil and the struggles we all face every day to assure that good wins.

Infinity’s Gateway, the first book in a fascinating sci-fi adventure trilogy, is his latest work.  James lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife Margaret. He is available for in-person and online book club visits.

 

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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

 

TWO WINNERS each receive a signed copy of Infinity’s Gateway!

 

(US only. Ends midnight, CDT, May 8, 2021)

 

 

 

 

 

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4/28/21	Promo	Texas Book Lover
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4/30/21	BONUS Promo	Hall Ways Blog
5/1/21	Review	The Plain-Spoken Pen
5/2/21	Author Interview	Sybrina’s Book Blog
5/3/21	Character Interview	All the Ups and Downs
5/4/21	Review	StoreyBook Reviews
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5/6/21	Review	Bibliotica
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Synopsis

 

Once upon a time, inhabitants of another world tore a hole through the universe and came to Earth. They called themselves Suriias, and rivalled humans in knowledge and skill with one great exception: they had magic.

War followed. Humanity lost. And three hundred years later, humans are on the brink of extinction.

Orphans Thorn and Thistle live in hiding. They are the last of their families, the last of their friends. They scrape by, stealing to survive and living on the streets or hiding in sheds. But even under the brutal regime of the Suriias, there are places where humans can mingle in secret with magical sympathisers, and one night Thistle gets an unexpected offer of marriage from a Suriia with high standing and friends in all the right places. For Thistle, it’s a chance at safety and comfort; for Thorn, it’s a chance to find the ones who killed her parents.

And so the pair move into the capital city of Courtenz. An urban monstrosity of magic and might, false friends and flying cars, drones and death tolls, the new city promises a fresh start – and new love – for both.

But if there’s one thing Thorn knows for certain, it’s that dreams can swiftly turn into nightmares.

 

 

 

 

Amazon

 

 

Excerpt

 

Excerpt from These Violent Nights (2021) by Rebecca Crunden, p. 143

‘You can be whatever you want in whatever world you’re in.’

‘No,’ she retorted. ‘You really can’t.’

‘Maybe not easily. But you have to try.’

‘Does that argument work for the ones who died before they had a chance?’

He held her gaze openly, a dark eyebrow arched. ‘Arguments are arguments with or without luck,’ he replied. ‘Sometimes life is disgustingly unfair. It doesn’t change the fact that you have to keep trying to live life as you want it to be. If we let the pain cripple us, there’s no hope for anything.’

‘I don’t have any hope.’

‘Of course you do.’

Her scowl deepened. ‘You say that like you have the authority to say it.’

‘I know you hope for humans to return,’ he countered. ‘I know you hope for a future for you and Thistle. I know you hope that, despite everything, you’ll be proven wrong about us. And even if you don’t want to believe that they do, you hope that good things still exist. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t fight to stay alive. I’m not saying any of this to mock you, Rose. I’m saying what I know about you. What you’d admit to Thistle but won’t admit to me.’

Indeed, rather than admit he was entirely right about how much and how adamantly she hoped for all those things, she said instead, ‘If you know already, it would just be redundant.’

‘Yeah,’ he muttered, scratching at his beard. ‘But getting to know you would be nicer if it didn’t feel like you have no interest in getting to know me.’

 

 

About the Author

 

Rebecca Crunden is an indie author of fantasy, science fiction, and romance who lives in Cork, Ireland. To date, she has published one series, three standalone novels, a novella, and various short stories. Her most recent novel, These Violent Nights (2021) is set in a futuristic world that blends fantasy and sci-fi.

 

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HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

 

by

 

Richard Cox

 

 

Category: Techno Thriller / Science Fiction / Adventure

Publisher: Night Shade Books

Date of Publication: July 27, 2020

Number of Pages: 408 pages

 

Scroll down for Giveaway!

 

 

 

 

Both a frightening apocalyptic story set in the southern United States and a character-focused, deeply moving literary thriller.

 

What would happen if technology all over the world suddenly stopped working?

When a strange new star appears in the sky, human life instantly grinds to a halt. Across the world, anything and everything electronic stops working completely.

At first, the event seems like a bizarre miracle to Seth Black–it interrupts his suicide attempt and erases gambling debt that threatened to destroy his family. But when Seth and his wife, Natalie, realize the electricity isn’t coming back on, that their food supplies won’t last, they begin to wonder how they and their two sons will survive.

Meanwhile, screenwriter Thomas Phillips–an old friend of Natalie’s–has just picked up Skylar Stover, star of his new movie, at the airport when his phone goes dead, and planes begin to fall from the sky.

Thomas has just completed a script about a similar electromagnetic event that ended the world. Now, he’s one of the few who recognizes what’s happening and where it will lead.

When Thomas and Skylar decide to rescue Natalie and Seth, the unwilling group must attempt to survive together as the world falls apart. They try to hide in Thomas’s home and avoid desperate neighbors, but fear they’ll soon be roaming the streets with starving refugees and angry vigilantes intent on forming new governments. It’s all they can do to hold on to each other and their humanity.

Yet all the while, unbeknownst to them, Aiden Christopher–a bitter and malignant man leveraging a crumbling society to live out his darkest, most amoral fantasies–is fighting to survive as well. And he’s on a collision course with Thomas, Skylar, and the Black family…

 

 

 

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Excerpt from Chapter 2 of HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN by Richard Cox

 

In this scene, screenwriter Thomas Phillips has just picked up actress Skylar Stover at DFW International Airport. They’re on the phone, speaking with a man threatening to commit suicide, when the call mysteriously drops.

 

 

HOLY SHIT THE SKY IS FALLING

“Dude,” Seth said in a weak voice, “I told you everything you need to know. Can’t you just let me be done with it?”

“Don’t do it!” shouted Thomas, surprised at the sudden empathy he felt for this man he’d never met. “I can help you. You don’t need to do this.”

“Help me with what?”

“With money! With whatever you need.”

“If this is about money,” Skylar offered loudly, “I’ll help, too.”

“Who is that?” grunted Seth. He sounded lethargic, like he’d woken from a deep sleep.

“We just want to help you. You don’t need insurance. You don’t—”

“It doesn’t matter. Even if you paid every last dime of my debt, I still have to live with what I’ve done. And I can’t. I won’t. It’s too late.”

“It’s never too late, Seth. Let me help you.”

“Just come here when it’s over. Please.”

“Seth.”

“Promise me, man. Promise me you’ll come here and take care of my family. Please.”

Seth was crying. His voice was hoarse, and he coughed as if his lungs were failing him.

“Please, man. Promise me.”

“I promise, Seth. Just stop and I’ll do whatever you want.”

Now there was no answer.

“Seth?”

Thomas pressed the phone to his ear, trying to dampen the sound of the wind, but it was no use. Eventually he looked at the display again and saw it was dark. He swiped and tapped the screen, but nothing happened.

“Thomas, look out!”

He glanced up and saw he was about to rear-end a white Ford sedan that was either slowing down or stopped. He quickly checked his mirrors and veered into an adjacent lane. Jammed his hand on the horn.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he yelled involuntarily. “This is a highway!”

“Thomas, again!”

He looked back at the road and saw they were rapidly gaining on a black pickup truck rolling on four enormous tires. Thomas changed lanes, sliding just past the truck and the noise of its monster tread.

“What the hell is going on?” he yelled.

“I don’t know, but something is weird. All the cars are slowing down. Look over there. It’s the same thing on both sides of the road.”

Skylar was right. Everyone was slowing down, but no one seemed to be using their brakes. Well, wait. In the far-right lane, about fifty yards ahead of them, a small car came to a screeching stop and Thomas heard the dull thunk of bumper-to-bumper contact.

“He totally hit that truck!” Sky yelled. “Why is everyone stopping?”

Thomas had slowed down and was switching lanes almost continuously as vehicles around him came to rest. When he looked briefly at Skylar, he saw something in the sky above her, something so odd and unexpected that he could hardly make sense of it.

People were beginning to climb out of their vehicles. Others stood in the road, gawking at the sky. Thomas moved toward the inner shoulder, trying to divine a clear path, but other drivers were having the same idea. Ahead, a woman stood beside a giant Lexus SUV and gestured to him.

“Skylar,” he said. “Look in the sky on your right.”

Thomas was rapidly approaching the woman on the shoulder. She was tall and thin, wearing a yellow sundress and flip flops. Maybe thirty-five years old.

“What is that?” Sky asked.

“Looks like a star, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…except you don’t usually see stars during the day.”

They reached the woman in the sundress. She approached the driver’s side door. Her face was drained of color.

“Excuse me, sir. Do you know what’s happened?”

“I’m not sure. But I would guess it had something to do with that.”

Thomas gestured toward the new point of light in the sky, which was twenty or so degrees above the horizon, brilliant and white. It was bigger and brighter than any nighttime star but much smaller than the sun, which was almost directly above it. In different circumstances, like if he had been on his back porch, looking at it over the lake, the new star might have been the most amazing thing Thomas had ever seen. Instead, Natalie’s husband was trying to kill himself and the airport freeway was a war zone and the whole world seemed to have lost its mind. No vehicle was operational except his and people were noticing. Especially because, aside from the rumble of his engine exhaust, the airport was quiet. Eerily quiet. Nothing else mechanical was running.

Nothing.

The woman’s face was slack, her mouth wide open. She seemed to be holding back tears. Next to him, Skylar whispered words he couldn’t hear.

Something was terribly wrong about the silence. It was never quiet on this road, ever, not even in the middle of the night, because D/FW was one of the busiest airports in the world. The sound of jet engines and traffic was so ubiquitous you never even noticed it.

Until it wasn’t there at all.

“I’m sorry,” he said to the woman. “We have to go.”

Thomas inched his car forward. The woman’s eyes widened.

“Wait! Can you help me? I’m stuck here.”

Thomas kept driving, watching the stalled cars carefully. He picked up speed. Changed lanes often.

“Don’t you think we should have helped that woman?” Sky asked.

“Help her do what?”

“I don’t know. Get home. Something.”

“We only have so much room. We can’t take them all.”

Thomas realized why his car worked and the others didn’t. Honestly, he’d known it all along.

 

Read part two of this excerpt 1/10/21 on Jennie Reads

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Cox was born in Odessa, Texas and now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His newest novel is House of the Rising Sun. Richard has also published The Boys of Summer, Thomas World, The God Particle, and Rift. He’s written for This Land Press, Oklahoma Magazine, and TheNervousBreakdown.com.

When he’s not writing or reading, Richard loves spending time with his wife and two girls. And hitting bombs.

He also wrote this bio in third person as if writing about someone else. George likes his chicken spicy!

 

 

 Website ◆ Twitter ◆   Amazon ◆ Goodreads

 

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—————————————

 

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

 

THREE WINNERS

 

1st: Signed copies of House of the Rising Sun & The Boys of Summer;

 

2nd: Signed copy of House of the Rising Sun;

 

3rd: eBook copy of House of the Rising Sun.

 

Giveaway ends Midnight, CST, January 15, 2021

 

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Visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page

 

For direct links to each post on this tour, updated daily,

 

or visit the blogs directly:

 

 

1/5/21	Guest Post	Texas Book Lover
1/5/21	BONUS Promo	Hall Ways Blog
1/6/21	Review	Missus Gonzo
1/7/21	Deleted Scene	That’s What She’s Reading
1/8/21	Review	Chapter Break Book Blog
1/9/21	Excerpt	StoreyBook Reviews
1/10/21	Excerpt	Jennie Reads
1/11/21	Review	Reading by Moonlight
1/12/21	Guest Post	All the Ups and Downs
1/13/21	Review	Rainy Days with Amanda
1/14/21	Review	Forgotten Winds

 

 

 

 

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Synopsis

 

The unthinkable has happened. The enemy has recovered the lost Stones of Sumer and have managed to neutralize the Prophecy of Tarkus. And now the only person capable of deciphering the runes written on the ten stones has been captured. Madeline Alleyn will risk everything to keep the meaning of the rune stones away from her captor, but how can she when these people can open minds as easily as turning a page. She must keep their enigmatic message from her enemies. Her only hope lies in her daughters. Can they rescue their mother in time to prevent Prometheus Erazmos from gaining this knowledge? Stonehenge is the key, but what terrible secrets does this ancient monument hold?

 

 

 

 

Excerpt

 

Three girls and a man crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Phoebe groaned, rolled away from the thing poking her in the back, and reached up to the knot forming on her throbbing head. The pain was a good thing: it meant she was alive. But alive where? Had Rhea’s black hole deposited them near their home in upstate New York? Not likely. She glanced around the gloom—woods, a forest maybe. Even some strange, savage land would be okay as long as that crazy man they’d barely escaped from hadn’t tracked them here.

Phoebe reached out into the dark with her mind. Could these be the woods they had often visited growing up? The National Forest near Seneca Lake was big enough to get lost in for days. And then there was that story of the wild man living there. An urban legend maybe. Phoebe wasn’t sure. Weird that Rhea would bring them here. She reached out with her mind again. No one.

Nothing seemed broken, so she got to her knees and saw Dione lying flat on her back a few feet away. She looked paler than usual, like death. Steven Dryer lay sprawled to the left. She studied his still form, regret bubbling up in her. He’d discovered the triplets by accident. He hadn’t known of their power, but had gotten a good taste of it since meeting them. Too bad for him. They’d captured him and with their abilities forced him to help. It was a debt he owed anyway after stealing from their mother. There was no way he could escape them, but he’d slowly come to understand his purpose in all this. He was meant to help their family, and because Phoebe had gazed into his mind, she knew him, all his predilections, every nuance of him. She knew he would keep helping even without her control. And because of this knowledge it wasn’t much of a gamble to trust him. He’d come through big time and been brave in the face of that bastard’s attacks at the museum.

Only Rhea seemed to have managed a smooth landing. Phoebe reached out with her mind, feeling for Rhea’s aches and pains. She knew then that her knees had taken a beating. She’d been thrown to the ground with enough force to break them, but Rhea seemed ok otherwise. The four of them were still alive, and that was the only thing that mattered. Not their tattered nightclothes or soiled appearance.

Phoebe managed to stand on shaky legs and tried to get some sense of the direction they’d taken, of the length of time they’d been borne aloft. It was useless. She doubted even Rhea would know. The disturbance that had been their grandmother’s quantum trace and the explosion that had destroyed the museum had eliminated such sensory perception.
She managed to shuffle to where Rhea was bent over Dione, crying. Di was unresponsive, the result of the attack earlier that very night. Phoebe went to Dryer next and tried to stir him with a mental probe but gave up soon after. Her skills were still new. She wouldn’t risk damaging him.

 

 

About the Author

 

Stanley P. Brown always had heroes as a child. Born in Plaquemine, Louisiana to Joseph Harry, a painter, and his wife Vivian, a homemaker, these heroes mostly took the form of his big brother, Harry, and those populating the pages of Marvel Comics. Realizing he didn’t have the right stuff to be a superhero himself, he concentrated on academics at Louisiana State University and The University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned his doctorate in Exercise Physiology. He went from there to his first academic post at The University of Mississippi. Others followed, as did many scientific publications and several textbooks. But the call of storytelling remained strong in him, and he answered that call with publication in 2017 of his debut novel, The Legacy. Veiled Memory and Fallen Wizard followed in 2018. The Third Factor, the sequel to Veiled Memory, came in 2020. The completion of the trilogy, The Stonehenge Chronicles (VM and TTF and the Untitled final), will be done next year. A fourth fictional world is in the children’s chapter book, The Captain of Tally Ho, which is not yet published. Sequels are planned for all his novels.

 

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