Synopsis

If you could open a door to anywhere, where would you go?

In New York City, bookseller Cassie Andrews is living an unassuming life when she is given a gift by a favourite customer. It’s a book – an unusual book, full of strange writing and mysterious drawings. And at the very front there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door .

What Cassie is about to discover is that the Book of Doors is a special book that bestows an extraordinary powers on whoever possesses it, and soon she and her best friend Izzy are exploring all that the Book of Doors can do, swept away from their quiet lives by the possibilities of travelling to anywhere they want.

But the Book of Doors is not the only magical book in the world. There are other books that can do wondrous and dreadful things when wielded by dangerous and ruthless individuals – individuals who crave what Cassie now possesses.

Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is, it seems, Drummond Fox. He is a man fleeing his own demons – a man with his own secret library of magical books that he has hidden away in the shadows for safekeeping. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .

Because some doors should never be opened.

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Review

Everything comes full circle.

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be about one thing – a young woman who finds adventure. Well, yes, she does, but this book is so much more than just that. It is filled with suspense, action, danger, magic, and friendship.

Cassie is a young woman who has had a somewhat difficult life. She lost her mother at a very young age and was raised by her Grandfather until he was gone, too. I feel like she is a bit of a lost soul and floundering to find her place until she befriends Mr. Webber at the bookstore where she works. He leaves her The Book of Doors. This book allows her to travel anywhere in the world as long as there is an unlocked door. Forget transporters from Star Trek; this is the way to travel!

I loved her adventures, but her friend, and roommate, Izzy, is concerned about what the book could do. Is it safe? Will they be harmed? One wouldn’t think so until we come across a bunch of book hunters who want these books for their personal gain. These individuals are not to be trifled with in the least. They are hard and ruthless. However, this is the full-circle comment I made. While I can’t divulge much because it would give away a lot of the story, we learn how these individuals came to be who they are today. It might be a bit of a surprise when you get to that portion of the story (last 30%).

While I thought Cassie was a good protagonist, there was a period near the end when I did not like her and thought she was wishy-washy and weak. After everything that she had gone through, to act the way she did was mind-boggling. However, she does redeem herself after that.

The story has a varied cast of characters. All add depth to the story, which makes it even more engaging.

I highly recommend this book and give it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Gareth Brown has been writing novels since he was a teenager. Most of those books were not very good and, thankfully, were never published. His first published novel – The Book of Doors – will be released in the UK (Bantam) and USA (William Morrow) in February 2024. Foreign language rights for The Book of Doors have also been sold to nearly twenty other territories, including Germany. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary.

When not working or writing, Gareth loves travel, barbecues, playing bass guitar, and watching snooker. He also enjoys falling asleep in front of the television like an old man.

Gareth lives with his wife and two Skye terriers near Edinburgh in Scotland.

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Synopsis

Alien swarms.
Ceaseless wars.
Hive worlds, pirates and conflict without end.

For hundreds of years, the Conviction has kept these threats at bay. So why now are its forces suddenly disappearing?

Adroa is a bleak, backwater world on the edge of known civilisation, with every day a struggle to survive for Ellie and her two siblings. Yet when a heavily armed Conviction soldier falls from the sky and into her lap, she must face dangers even greater than the ravenous Rike swarms that threaten to consume her and her entire colony.

Something is stirring in the dark between galaxies as the greatest military power humanity has ever known empties its garrisons and leaves its worlds undefended. Can a simple melon farmer rebuild her shattered home in peace, or will Ellie and her family be dragged into a galactic conflict that could determine the future of the Conviction itself?

In this romantic, action-packed space opera of life and love, C.J. Watson weaves a captivating story of upheaval in a cold and uncaring universe – and the tenacity of those fighting to survive another day.

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Excerpt

Four: High Score

Ellie saw the captain was indeed out as they crested the top of the ramp to the spaceport’s main platform. It was next to impossible to miss him and his distinctly booming voice as it carried across the distance.

Ellie could see he’d already dealt with many of the larger farmers as large stacks of shipping containers were being loaded up the ship’s ramp by their respective mechs.

It was surprising, however, to see a number of the ship’s heavy loaders carrying many separate payloads out of the cargo hold. Giant construction haulers floated by above them with a throaty rumble. Of course, Ellie expected some offloading; it was the one delivery of the year that brought people whatever they may need from off-world. But as quadrupedal loaders stomped past the two of them and their little cart, Ellie could make out construction supplies, large metal and plasteel plates, as well as bags of instant cement stacked high atop one another. Even some large panels of framed glass moved past, reflecting the world in their mirrored finish.

Ellie tilted her head in curiosity. Almost all the buildings outside the area immediately surrounding the spaceport were earthen or wooden or else small, prefabricated dwellings like her own, a necessity of self-reliance on the tiny fringe colony. Metal for building material was used almost exclusively for swarm bunkers.

Not that it did the Sayers much good.

Ellie screwed her eyes shut, turning her head away from the procession and batting away the thoughts. Emotions welled deep down as she’d yet to fully process her grief over the loss of the Sayers and the multitude of emotions between which she’d been flung during her ordeal with Hunter.

But right now, Ellie couldn’t afford to let it affect her mood. She slammed the window shut on the emotional storm clouds gathering in the distance, simultaneously trying to harden her heart and soften her smile. Soon, she would have all the time she needed to process her emotions. But now was the critical moment that would determine what she would be able to feed Jonathan and Alayna for the next year.

Ellie nudged the cart and Jonathan along, pulling to one side and joining the short line of smaller farms shuffling forward bit by bit. Even at the back of the line, only a handful of people stood ahead of them.

“Are you okay with taking the cart the rest of the way?” Ellie turned to ask Jonathan softly.

Jonathan simply nodded, taking the full weight of the yoke so Ellie could slip under. Facing her back to the line ahead, Ellie tugged on the bottom of her skirt and straightened all the frills along its edges. She took care to pull up and position her bosom as well as she could, letting her natural curves accentuate the fullness of her chest and the graceful silhouette of her neck.

Reaching up, she quickly retied her ponytail, ensuring it looked fresh and making sure her fringe was swooping down just low enough to cover one eye perfectly.

“How do I look?” Ellie asked.

“You look… You look good,” Jonathan replied.

Ellie smiled at him, running her fingers through his hair one last time to straighten it neatly.

Ellie took position next to him, doing her best to stand easy and look casual. They shuffled along as the line progressed. Ellie did her best to discreetly listen to the deals the other farmers were cutting with the captain, specifically the prices they were negotiating for their goods so she’d have an idea of the window in which she had to manoeuvre. The captain held a monopoly over their prices as their primary link to space, excluding the occasional prospector or explorer. They were prices that could be decided on his whim and were affected by his mood. What they were able to negotiate the year before was no guarantee of what they’d get today.

But try as she might, their voices naturally dropped to an almost conspiratorial level when it came to actual negotiation. Ellie could make out the sounds, but not the words. The distance, noise of the heavy machinery and general bustle of the area proved too much for her ears to overcome.

“Captain, please. The colour is only due to nitrates in the soil. Trees can’t be rotated like other crops; the fruits more than make up for it in their extra size and juiciness from the rains!”

Ellie turned her head slightly, careful not to look over-interested in the scene playing out. The farmer ahead of her had raised his volume, a distinct note of desperation and pleading entering his voice.

A cold stone dropped in Ellie’s stomach. The farmer had just made a grave mistake, tipping his hand and letting his desperation show. No one liked a charity case except for the captain, and even then, only for all the wrong reasons.

“Ah, Mr Thomas, how many years have we been trading? I fully understand the difficulty of farming, and if it were up to me, I’d be paying you all twice the asking price currently on the market,” the captain replied, his words sympathetic, but his smile predatory. His tone indicated he knew that everyone else was aware of what he was doing. And yet he’d put on the theatrics anyway because there was nothing anyone could do about it.

“But the only ones I can sell it to are the colonies that don’t grow enough for themselves. Why, the cost of fuel alone to fly your produce all the way to Etheria, or even Newgate Station, let alone the cost of crew and maintenance… Imagine if I were to go to all of that expense, only for half the stock to rot on the shelves for not being ‘pink’ enough,” he said, holding up one of Mr Thomas’s Pink Lady apples that was almost entirely a pale yellow.

“Why, such a thing would ruin me. And then how would you or the rest of the colony feel when I have to close up shop and can’t make a run next year, or any other year, for that matter?”

“But…” Mr Thomas began, indignant but unsure of his footing.

“Now listen here. I can offer you twelve dols per tonne,” he continued as if Mr Thomas hadn’t said anything at all. “That seems more than fair; since each apple is, as you said, so much larger than last year’s, it should be much easier to hit that same weight with fewer fruits. Oh, and no need to thank me directly. Just keep it to yourself that I cut you such a good deal, yes?” he finished in that slimy, coy tone.

Ellie tried not to baulk, very aware she would already be in the captain’s peripheral vision. Twelve dols a tonne was nothing short of thinly veiled robbery.

Mr Thomas seethed, clearly backed into a corner.

“You’re a wretched bastard, Captain,” he said in earnest, holding out his hand.

The captain smiled.

“Why thank you. I take that as a compliment. Wouldn’t make it out here to buy up your slop if I wasn’t,” he said, nodding once.

Two blue circles appeared over the backs of their hands to confirm the transaction. The light had barely dissipated before Mr Thomas snatched his hand away and stormed off, a dark cloud hanging over his expression.

Grabbing his coat with both hands, the captain pulled down to straighten it before turning to acknowledge Ellie.

Captain Slackvore was a complete dichotomy of character. He wore a long, brown trench coat, tattered in places and well-weathered. Its creases ran deep, and its surface was cracked from years of use. Yet underneath, he wore vibrant, tailored pants and a complexly embroidered vest, the material a shimmering purple interlaced with intricate floral patterns, and its shades perpetually shifting from slightly lighter to slightly darker than the rest of the outfit. Equally ornate boots with black velvet trim worked together with a dark, wide-brimmed Stetson to vertically frame the odd man.

A slimy smile that always made Ellie feel as if she was on the wrong end of a bad deal she couldn’t understand hung below a pair of cunning, calculating eyes. His exact age was unclear. Older than Ellie for sure, but still far younger than one would expect of a man running a pirate crew. Then again, the man exuded a fierceness not difficult to pick up on.

“Melon girl!” he bellowed in welcome, a deep, booming voice scratched raw by the various questionable spirits Ellie knew the crew brewed, and occasionally sold.

“Captain Slackvore! It is so good to see you!” Ellie responded with a bright smile and a light, excited tone. Stepping forward, she threw her arms around his shoulders and pressed her entire body tightly against his, pretending the scene with Mr Thomas hadn’t just happened.”

Review

Sometimes, I like to try a genre or book that is a little out of my normal reading sphere. This novel is a cross between science fiction, fantasy, romance, and maybe even a little dystopian, and it was a delight to read.

Ellie is a tough young woman. She is only 21 but is taking care of her two siblings and trying to make it as a melon farmer on a planet that doesn’t have a lot going for it. One of her siblings, Alyana, is a bit of a hothead. So, the nickname she is tagged with from Jake (more on him in a moment) is more than appropriate. He calls her Spitfire. Jake is a savior, but does he have an ulterior motive? He has combat skills and is able to help Ellie and her family in some difficult situations. I like how he was raised to be kind and see the goodness in people. It does seem to contradict his career path, which is never fully defined, and we are left to guess what he did before coming to this planet.

I was taken away to a world that has little hope for anyone. The inhabitants are attacked by something called a Rike. We are never really told what a Rike is or why it attacks the people of the planet. The best description is some sort of beast that bleeds purple. We do know that everyone does what they can to protect themselves from this creature, including adding turrets to their homes to fight them off.

I admired Ellie for doing what she needed to do for her family to survive. It isn’t easy accepting Jake’s help, and she is suspicious about his true intentions. I can’t blame her; why should she trust him? But I think she is going to be surprised at how easily he will fit into her life if she will allow him to.

The author does a good job of building this world and bringing it to life, from the dark and gritty characters to those with compassion. While there are many unanswered questions, this is the first book in a series, and I have a feeling all of those will be answered soon.

There is an epilogue that gives a hint as to what Jake might be running from in his life. Only future books will tell.

We give this book a solid 4 paws up.

About the Author

When he’s not running various I.T. departments for his day job, he can be found spoiling both his partner and their many, many cats somewhere around the desolate hellscape of Sydney, Australia.

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CONQUERGOOD & THE CENTER

OF THE INTELLIGIBLE MYSTERY

OF BEING

by

CG Fewston

Science Fiction / Dystopian / Steampunk

 Date of Publication: October 17, 2023

Number of Pages: 381 pages

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One of resilience and transformation, Conquergood’s life-changing discovery explores the depths of family, memory, love, and the mysteries that lie at the heart of the universe.

In 2183, Jerome Conquergood is an outcast roaming the abandoned and crumbling skyscrapers of Old York City outside the Korporation’s seductive and dizzying headquarters, a post-apocalyptic security-city for the mega-rich. Despite his hatred for the techno-optimism and the Korporation, Conquergood is compelled to save his mysterious twin brother Vincent by joining the Korporation, a mega-corporate and governmental entity in a world oppressed to peace.

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CG Fewston on the Writing Life, Part 2

How has being a Texan influenced your writing?

For better or worse, Texans have a direct way of telling it like it is. When I travel the world, strangers always ask, “Where are you from?” And my reply is always the same, “Texas.” And every single person, no matter what country they are from, knows Texas.

So being a Texan shaped how I grew up, and it shaped me in how I see and think and tell stories. As a Texan I aim to be direct, unflinching, and authoritative. As a Texan I also seek to be kind, patient, and considering. So, this is how I was raised to be a Texan, but it is also how I treat the stories and characters I am writing. As a writer, I am patient and kind with my characters, and with a fierce intensity I must also be direct and immediate in the act of storytelling.

Where did your love of books, reading, and storytelling come from?

As a young child growing up in Brownwood, Texas without the internet or most of the technological wonders that we are blessed with today, books and storytelling — believe it or not — was a popular form of entertainment in my household.

My Grandmommy — Goldie O. — would read to me before bedtime each night I stayed with her in my grandparents’ lake house in Breckenridge, Texas where the white crane called Big Bird would stand in the shallows waiting for sunrise, and when the sun hit the great white bird, it would fly across the lake in all its wonder and glory. My Grandmommy would tell me stories about this bird, where it came from, where it was headed, and at night she would read from books telling to me the lives of historical figures, such as Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, and Helen Keller.

Why did you choose to write in your particular genre?

As a writer (and avid reader), I’m not bound to one genre. As a serious novelist I enjoy and focus writing mostly historical fiction, because the research aspect of writing about history is fascinating and challenging to me.

Conquergood is a sci-fi novel because the story demanded it so. I did not choose to write a sci-fi story. The story is set in 2183, and I tried to write about this time by going even further into the future and writing this story as though it were already history. But the story takes place in the far future with more advanced technologies which reshape humanity and culture, so the label the story has chosen for itself is one of science fiction.

Are there under-represented groups or ideas featured in your book?

Yes, though it may be a strange one because it might not be currently accepted as an “under-represented group” — well, not for at least another fifty years or so.

The group I’m referring to is primarily A.I. related, and I imagine “Artificially Intelligent Related Entities” (i.e., A.I. Robots) might read my book one day and see themselves in the unique characters I’ve created.

There have been distinct times since 2007 while writing Conquergood where I felt that A.I. would one day read my words, read this novel, and learn something about themselves and about humanity. Now in 2023, that seems ever more likely than ever.

What do you like to read in your free time?

You can see my author website for everything I have recently read. The living writers who I frequently go back to are Paulo Coelho and Haruki Murakami. I did the same for Cormac McCarthy until his recent passing in the summer of 2023.

My “free time” (outside of my normal working-writing-reading hours) is spent with my family, and I read to my son Thor every night. Over the last few months, we worked our way through, and finished, The Notebook of Doom book series (2007) by Troy Cummings. We also read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) by Roald Dahl.

We’re currently reading and making our way through The Unofficial Minecrafters Mysteries series (2018) by Winter Morgan. We’ve already finished Stolen Treasure (Book 1) and Beneath the Blocks (Book 2), and we’ll soon be starting The Skeleton Secret (Book 3).

As anyone will quickly see, I love to read, but what’s more important is that I pass that passion on to my son so that he will have a strong desire to read, to learn, to think critically, and to explore new lands and new ideas when he’s older.

Do you have any writing pet peeves?

Yes. I like to be left alone to write. I must write in solitude — isolated from the world so my words can reach the world in their own time and place — and for me, this has a sense of delayed gratification — giving myself to something bigger than the moment or the current fad.

Photo credit: Thor Fewston

The American novelist CG FEWSTON has been a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome (Italy), a Visiting Fellow at Hong Kong’s CityU, & he’s been a member of the Hemingway Society, Americans for the Arts, PEN America, Club Med, & the Royal Society of Literature. He’s also been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) based in London. He has a B.A. in English, an M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership (honors), an M.A. in Literature (honors), and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Fiction. He was born in Texas in 1979.

Fewston is the author of several short stories and novels. His works include A Father’s Son, The New America: Collection, The Mystic’s Smile ~ A Play in 3 Acts, Vanity of Vanities, A Time to Love in Tehran, Little Hometown, America, A Time to Forget in East Berlin, and Conquergood & the Center of the Intelligible Mystery of Being.

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Synopsis

For fifty years, Ebar, an alien from planet Rykos, has lived in human form on Earth as Kyle Johnson. When Ebar gets into a fight at the sewage treatment plant where he works, he is put into jail. A jailer overhears Ebar trying to contact his home planet and tells the authorities. Ebar is sent to the psychiatric ward of the Buffalo County Hospital for evaluation, where he eventually comes under the care of Jeremy Slater.

Jeremy is a young mental health professional, and Ebar’s case is his first assignment. No one believes that Ebar is an alien. More to the point, everyone thinks he’s crazy. After working with his patient for a month, Jeremy begins to believe Ebar truly is who he says he is and concocts a plan. If Ebar will quit talking about being an alien and pretend he is human, Jeremy will work with him so he can get released from the hospital and go on living his life. Ebar agrees.

Jeremy’s egotistical boss, Doctor Richard Andrews, has other ideas. He and a friend at the Pentagon have come up with a plan of their own. Andrews will take over the case and announce to the world that Ebar really is an alien. Andrews figures it will make him famous. His plan is to keep Ebar locked up and study him for the rest of his life.

Jeremy is appalled. He and Ebar have become friends, and he can’t allow Andrews to take control of his friend’s life. Aided by co-worker Julie and her partner Wren, the four of them go on the run with thugs sent by the Pentagon in hot pursuit.

This is a story about good and evil and is a mirror held up to the times we live in. Ultimately, though, it is a story of friendship, a friendship that changes the lives of both Ebar and Jeremy forever.

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Excerpt

Jeremy took a deep breath and made a fateful decision, one that would change his life forever. Julie was right. He had been riding the fence, and he couldn’t have it both ways. It was time to decide. “Okay, let me tell you this, Ebar. I believe you.” He stood up and went to his patient and looked him square in the eyes. “I believe you. I really do. I believe you are an alien.”

Ebar felt weak in his knees. Jeremy caught him by the elbow and guided him to the chair at the desk by the window. Ebar sat down and looked gratefully at his counselor. “You really believe me?”

Jeremy fought an urge to ‘cross his heart’ like he and his friends used to do when they were kids. Instead, he looked Ebar with as sincere an expression as he could muster and said, “Yes, I do, Ebar. I believe you. I promise.”

Ebar sighed in relief and smiled. “You’re sure?”

“I am.”

A wide smile broke out on Ebar’s face, but it quickly faded. “But do you think you can help me? Really and truly? That big meeting’s coming up next week. That’s pretty fast.”

Jeremy wasn’t sure at all, because he had no idea what he was going to do. But that’s not what he told Ebar. Instead, what he said was, “Yes. I am very sure.” He took the stack of communiques and started spreading them out on the bed. “Let’s take a look at what we’ve got here.”

Jeremey’s mind was racing because there was something else he and Julie had talked about; something that was now painfully clear the more he thought about it. If Ebar was an alien, what exactly did Jeremy hope to accomplish by helping him? Integrate him back into civilian life so he could return to work as a sewage treatment employee? That seemed a little far-fetched. Once word of Ebar being an alien leaked out, the news media would go crazy for the story. Jeremy could just see it – the press would have a field day. Ebar’s picture would be plastered all over not only newspapers and cable news shows, but social media as well. His life would change forever, and probably not for the best.

Ebar didn’t need that. What he needed was to somehow establish communication with Commander Zenon and his home planet Rykos. That’s what would make him feel better and restore his mental health. But Jeremy’s boss, doctor Andrews, and the others like Wallace and Kucinen wouldn’t go for that. After all, treat some guy who believes one hundred percent that he’s an alien. No way. That’s what they’d be thinking. In fact, they’d probably think Jeremy was nuts himself. Andrews might even fire him, and maybe, just maybe, have him committed. He and Ebar could end up being patients together.

Enough! Jeremy shook his head to clear the garbage thoughts from his mind. Talk about a conundrum. He’d have to tread very carefully. And he’d have to make sure Ebar understood the issues they faced. If Ebar wanted people to accept him, they’d have to accept him as Kyle the sewage treatment employee, not Ebar, the refugee alien from another galaxy.

About the Author

Jim’s stories and poems have appeared in nearly five hundred online and print publications. His collection of short stories, Resilience, is published by Bridge House Publishing. Short Stuff, a collection of flash fiction and drabbles is published by Chapeltown Books. Periodic Stories, Periodic Stories Volume Two, Periodic Stories Volume Three – A Novel, and Periodic Stories Volume Four are published by Impspired. Dreamers, a collection of short stories, is published by Clarendon House Publishing. Something Better, a dystopian adventure novella, and the novel, The Alien of Orchard Lake, are published by Dark Myth Publications. In the fall of 2022, his collection entitled Holiday Stories was published by Impspired as was his collection of poetry, Haiku Seasons. In February 2023, Periodic Stories Volume IV was published, as was his collection of poems, The Alchemy of Then, both by Impspired. In June 2023, a collection of flash fiction, Dancing With Butterflies, was published by Impspired.In July 2023, his YA novella The Battle of Marvel Wood was published by Impspired. His short story “Aliens” was nominated by The Zodiac Press for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. His story “The Maple Leaf” was voted 2021 Story of the Year for Spillwords. He was voted December 2022 Author of the Month for Spillwords. He also reads his stories for Talking Stories Radio and for Jim’s Storytime on his website. He lives in a small town west of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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THE OXYGEN FARMER

by

Colin Holmes

Science Fiction / Space Mystery

Publisher: CamCat Books

Date of Publication: December 5, 2023

Number of Pages: 338 pages

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After 35 years of living on the Moon, cranky old oxygen farmer Millennium Harrison has stumbled onto a hidden facility in the shadows of the Slayton Ridge Exclusion Zone with a radiation leak and a deadly secret. Mil’s discovery leads to the death of a young astronaut, sabotage, murder, and cover-ups that may go all the way to the Chief Administrator of the space agency. Unfortunately, she happens to be Mil’s estranged daughter, busy trying to secure her own legacy—the first international mission to Mars.

With time ticking down to a limited launch window, enemies, friends, and even family may do anything to ensure the truth doesn’t come out. Or will history finally catch up with a deadly scheme that has the potential to destroy the moon and eradicate all life on Earth? It seems the planet’s only hope is a cantankerous guy who never really liked those people in the first place.

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Praise

“An action-packed thriller perfect for fans of Andy Weir and Jack McDevitt.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This space mystery is a page-turner rooted in its convincing and compelling protagonists and their well-written relationships . . . SF fans will enjoy this rich novel full of good world building, mysterious space intrigue, and dry humor.” —Booklist

This book has the perfect balance of science fiction and suspense and is a book you will want to read, especially if you enjoy Star Trek and Space Force or really anything having to do with space. I have to admit that my husband has turned me onto Star Trek, and the concept of traveling through space is one that boggles the mind. But is a topic I am always willing to explore.

Set 50+ years in the future, Mil (short for Millennium) has been living on the moon, farming oxygen from the soil until he is told that someone else will be providing all of the oxygen for the moon and shuttles. On top of that, Mil has discovered a secret bunker that is in an exclusion zone. His curiosity about the bunker in a moon’s crater has all the markings of a conspiracy theory. What ensues is a search for the truth, evading those in authority, and trying to stay alive.

I wasn’t sure what to expect since this isn’t a genre I typically read. I found myself engaged in the story from the start. Mil may be a crusty old fella, but he isn’t stupid. He has had a hard life, and isolation on the moon wouldn’t be easy for many. That isolation also kept him from his children and grandchildren. Despite that, it is ironic that his daughter and granddaughter are both in the space field. One is willing to help him, the other not so much. Family! But you shouldn’t count Mil out; he is in the game and willing to do what he needs to do to uncover this secret. Or maybe it is just his curiosity.

The upside to this science fiction novel is that it is primarily set on the moon and Earth. There isn’t any world-building that has to be done other than a little bit on the moon. The characters are not perfect, and some are flawed, but there is depth to all of them.

I had a hard time putting this book down, and I certainly didn’t want it to end. I was invested in Mil and his discoveries. I thought about how I would react if I were in his shoes. I probably wouldn’t have the gumption that he has, but if I lived on the moon, I might be the same way. I do have to say that the first few times I saw the name Mil, my mind automatically went to the acronym for mother-in-law until I realized that it was short for Millennium.

We give this book 5 paws up.

Before the pandemic, Colin Holmes toiled in a beige cubical as a mid-level marketing and advertising manager for an international electronics firm. A recovering advertising creative director, he spent far too long at ad agencies and freelancing as a hired gun in the war for capitalism.

As an adman, Holmes has written newspaper classifieds, TV commercials, radio spots, trade journal articles, and tweets. His ads have sold cowboy boots and cheeseburgers, 72-ounce steaks, and hazardous waste site clean-up services. He’s encountered fascinating characters at every turn.

Now, he writes novels, short stories, and screenplays in an effort to stay out of the way and not drive his far-too-patient wife completely crazy. He is an honors graduate of the UCLA Writers Program, a former board member of the DFW Writers Workshop, and serves on the steering committee of the DFW Writers Conference. He’s a fan of baseball, barbeque, fine automobiles, and unpretentious scotch.

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Synopsis

He could be dead, dreaming, or painfully alive. Does he really want to find out which?

Timothy Smit is sick. He’s stuck in middle management at a second-rate news aggregator when an intense coughing fit causes him to pass out at his desk. Tim wakes up in the ICU to a diagnosis of a rare and aggressive form of lung cancer and the news that he likely has no more than a few months left to live.

Confined to a hospital bed with his health deteriorating, Tim finds himself immersed in a series of vivid dreams. As he becomes increasingly captivated by this enigmatic fantasy world, he realizes his dreams just might be keeping him alive.

But can Tim discover a real life worth living before it’s too late?

To Build a Dream is a mesmerizing psychological sci-fi novel that blurs the line between dreams and reality. If you like lone heroes fighting to survive, visionary quests, and a race against time, then you’ll love Greg Hickey’s enthralling dream world.

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Review

What if your dreams were helping you move on in your life or even keeping you alive? That is what seems to be happening with Tim. After being diagnosed with a normally fatal type of cancer, he seemingly starts to beat the odds. Were his dreams an escape? A way for his body to heal itself? Or something more? It is up to each reader to decide for themselves what is really happening in Tim’s dreams.

This book can be hard to read because of everything Tim is enduring while undergoing treatment for cancer. The effects are real and might hit too close to home for some people. The descriptions were what I would expect for someone battling terminal cancer, from the treatments to the sores, losing weight, and so forth. None of it is a pretty situation, and the fact that Tim’s dreams seem to be curative is beyond amazing.

Let’s talk about these dreams. In these dreams, Tim is in a tunnel being led around by a coworker, or at least someone who comes across as a coworker. The dreams are fairly repetitive as they stumble around these caves, not knowing where they are going or where they will end up. There were times I wanted to skip ahead because I didn’t feel like this wandering led to anything and felt like some filler. However, it is the dialogue when he exits the dreams with the doctors, nurses, and his sister that is intriguing. Were these dreams restoring his life? Is that even possible? The mind is an amazing thing, and I wouldn’t discount this entirely.

While we have an idea of how the book ends, I would have liked to have seen more information about where Tim went from there. Was he cured? Were there relapses? What did he do with his life? There were many unanswered questions.

This book was an interesting read, but do not expect to sail through it in one sitting. At least, that was not my experience.

We give the book 4 paws up.

About the Author

Greg Hickey started writing his first novel the summer after he finished seventh grade. He didn’t get very far because he quickly realized he preferred playing outside with his friends.

Eight years later, he began to find a better balance between writing and life. He wrote the early drafts of his first screenplay, Vita, during his last two years of college. Vita went on to win an Honorable Mention award in the 2010 Los Angeles Movie Awards script competition and was named a finalist in the 2011 Sacramento International Film Festival.

After college, he spent a year in Sundsvall, Sweden, and Cape Town, South Africa, playing and coaching for local baseball teams and penning his first novel, Our Dried Voices. That novel was published in 2014 and was a finalist for Foreword Reviews‘ INDIES Science Fiction Book of the Year Award.

Today, he still loves sharing stories while staying busy with the other facets of his life. He is a forensic scientist by day and an endurance athlete and author by nights, lunches, weekends, and any other spare moments. After his post-college travels, he once again lives in his hometown of Chicago with his wife, Lindsay.

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RIP THE SKY

by

Mark Packard

Speculative Fiction / Fantasy / Science Fiction

Publisher: Bluestreak Publishing

Page Count: 317 pages

Publication Date: August 21, 2023

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After a shocking courtroom tragedy, a disturbed Vietnam veteran and the vindictive judge who sent him to prison become an unlikely pair of time travelers in a chaotic multiverse. The fallen angel who rescues them wants to guide them to a radiant new life. But first they must return to the scene of a ghastly crime.

Billy Worster was a naïve teenager ill-prepared for the gruesome realities of war. The sole survivor of a deadly massacre in a Vietnamese jungle, he avoided certain death only because he ran away when the shooting started. Riddled with guilt, he comes home to a dusty Texas farm with post-traumatic stress disorder and the crazy notion that he can fly in and out of parallel worlds.

As Billy struggles with addiction and questions his sanity, he is arrested on a drug charge and ends up in the courtroom of Judge Madeline Johnston, a bitter old judge tormented by a dark secret surrounding her father’s death. She callously tosses Billy into prison, but when a greedy executor files a lawsuit to steal his inherited land, Billy is hauled back to her courtroom in chains, where a stunning twist of fate launches them into the sky on an odyssey of discovery and healing.

Spanning forty years from the jungles of Vietnam through infinite, parallel worlds, Rip the Sky examines how the power of forgiveness can lead us toward a better life, no matter how many worlds we may live in.

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Deleted Scene, Part Two

 from Rip the Sky

by Mark Packard

CLICK TO READ PART ONE OF THE DELETED SCENE

It was quiet. The radio in the old truck had long been broken, and the only sound was the hot wind whistling through the open windows. Neither one spoke for several minutes. Finally, Billy broke the silence, “Were you scared when you were over in Normandy? I remember you telling me when I was a boy about how you waded to the shore, and there was dead bodies floating face down in the water. They got drowned cause their packs strapped to their backs were too heavy.” Billy couldn’t help gesturing with his hands as visions of the littered battlefield played out in his mind. “And then when you got to the sand you had to step over body parts, and everything was on fire, smoke coming from everywhere. And I remember you saying how lucky you were that you were not one of the first ones to land, ‘cause they never had a chance.”

Floyd took another drag from his cigarette, inhaled deeply and methodically, holding in the smoke for what seemed like half an hour, and then let out a long, hard exhale, as if he were respirating bad memories.

“We did what we had to do,” he said, “and so will you.”

The sun blasted the pavement, and Billy stared at the highway ahead, fascinated by the illusory sheets of water, the mirages that appeared and instantly vanished on the highway. They always looked so real. He counted them, tried to pinpoint the exact spot when the phantom mist evaporated from sight, but could never really figure out where they were when they vanished. Billy squirmed again in his seat.

“Dad, I guess I am a little scared,” he said.

Floyd turned to look at Billy, staring hard at his pimply-faced, scrawny son. Floyd’s eyes glassed over, and Billy felt—measured, even pitied. And he hated that.

“I was afraid when I went to war too,” Floyd said. “A man would have to be crazy not to be scared. There ain’t nothing wrong with being scared, Billy.”

Billy nodded, unable to look away from his father’s gaze.

“But if I could make it,” Floyd continued, “so can you. You’re just as good as anybody else, especially all those long-haired city boys.”

“I will,” Billy said, “Thanks, Dad.”

There was another long silence, and then Floyd cleared his throat, rubbed his eyes, and whispered, “Damned pollen.” Billy knew better than to speak when the pollen made his father’s eyes water. The old man’s eyes had watered just two days before, during a whisky-filled night,

when Billy saw his dad pound the coffee table with his fist, muttering about how only poor kids get drafted, about how he wished Billy could have gone to college so they wouldn’t have to drive to Abbeville. Billy didn’t speak then either.

Floyd drove slowly in the right-hand lane, and another pickup passed in the left lane, the driver in the cowboy hat giving Floyd’ the “thumbs up” signal as he blew by them. “Must like my bumper stickers,” Floyd said, and as the passing pickup sped away Billy noticed the same bumper stickers that were patched onto the back of Floyd’s truck that read “America, Love it or Leave it” and “America, My Country Right or Wrong.”

Billy watched the pickup disappear into the horizon, then read the white letters and numbers on the green road sign that flashed by, barely having time to learn that Abbeville was 30 miles away.

Neither said another word, and at long last they pulled into Abbeville, drove past the Air Force base where pilots learned to drop bombs and napalm on the North Vietnamese hiding in the jungles of Vietnam, past the tall buildings that adorned the sky, and into the parking lot at the Continental Trailways Bus Station.

The long truck ride was over, but Billy didn’t want to get out yet, keeping his head down, staring at the fabric of the cloth seat beneath him.

A long, awkward minute passed, until Billy, with his head still bowed, muttered the words, “I love you, Dad.”

This time Floyd squirmed, cleared his throat again, but didn’t speak right away. He gripped Billy’s hand and shook it hard. “I’ll miss you too son. Pay attention and remember that everybody in Langtry is praying for you.”

Billy’s throat felt tight and swollen, and his eyes were moist. “Yes sir,” he mumbled, as he climbed out of the pickup, scooped up his duffle bag out of the rusted bed, and waved goodbye.

Floyd watched his son walk into the bus station and wiped his eyes.

“They never stood a chance.”

Mark Packard spent the last 38 years as a trial attorney and is now retired from the courtroom and working as a mediator. In a life before lawyering, he was a journalist and regrets waiting far too long before returning to his roots to write his first novel, Rip the Sky. Though he knows he should have jumped off the merry-go-round years ago, he hopes to hang around long enough to craft a few more tales. Connect with the author:

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ONE WINNER

Signed hard copy of Rip the Sky + $50 Amazon gift card

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Synopsis

Josh Tanner, was trying to fix his life and get back to his four-year-old daughter Sophie. Then he was pulled into the multidimensional world of the Immortals simply by being the last person on the elevator after lunch . . . and carrying a briefcase!

Senyak Marztanak needs to reacquire his immortality and his place on his family’s ruling seat. Both having been stripped away when he failed his grandfather’s trial.

Now, after being bonded through karma, Josh and Sen are forced to rise together through the levels of mortal cultivation to reach transcendence.

In a new and fully developed sci/fi-fantasy universe. Chock full of multiethnic mythology, ageless powers, saviors and treacherous villains. Josh & Sen Save the Multiverse tells the tale of two unlikely heroes pushed together by the fates, karma, and the most powerful immortals in existence. Through hilarious and life-threatening adventures, they form bonds of friendship and brotherhood. All while having to rely on each other’s unique qualities to survive eight iterations away from their universe of origin.

Follow Josh and Sen as they grow, fight, live, laugh, love and cry. They don’t know it yet . . . But for each to get home they will not only have to save their own lives . . . but the entire Multiverse!

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Interview with the Author

You wrote this novel partly in response to the hopelessness amid the Covid-19 pandemic. What do you hope readers will take away when they read Josh and Sen’s story?

Everyone in the world has been affected by the pandemic. It is true that we can see the silver lining in some of the changes, and feel brought back to our roots in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, many of the changes have been devastating and will continue to be so for many years. You can see this very prominently in third world countries where the economies of tourism were completely shut down for long periods of time. When I first started noticing this, I remember thinking, “How good would it be if there were a couple of guys who would be willing to go to the wall to save us all?”

How did you create Josh and Sen? Were there any sci-fi/fantasy figures from your childhood that inspired the character’s stories?

Everytime I sit down to write about Josh and Sen I learn more about myself and my motivations. Some things even surprise me. But, ever since I was twelve years old and my father took me to Merrionette Park in Chicago’s south side to see Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy’s been my hero. One of my favorite spots is the classic line where he is trying to steal the ark back from the nazi’s, he lays out a plan and ends it with, “I dunno, I’m making this up as I go . . .” I would have to say this is a major inspiration for Josh and Sen. Don’t ask them how beforehand, but they will find a way to get where they need to be.

Why did you decide to weave bits of Greek mythology into the book?

When I was growing up there wasn’t a lot of fantasy literature or TV shows. Where I turned to get it was the classics.  I loved Greek mythology when I was a kid. Particularly stories from the Age of Heros. When I started the first book and wanted Josh and Sen to travel underground to get their first Earth Attunement, Gaia, Mother of the Earth was just a natural fit. But you can’t talk about Gaia without getting into the serious family drama she has with her husband and the multiple sets of kids and grandkids, can you? Not to mention, all the stuff is public domain.

What can we expect next from you as a writer? What are your big plans for Josh and Sen?

Right now I’m finishing the third book. The second, “Karma and Bigger Fish” is already written and being polished for final release between 3-6 months after the Path of One comes out.

Josh and Sen will be meeting some new folks. Some friends and some decidedly not so friendly. One of the things they are going to learn is that the iteration is a lot bigger than they are right now. They are also going to learn that Karma and Reality have some pretty big plans for them and the people that they care about.

About the Author

DAVID BEHLING is a Chicago born sci-fi, fantasy, and video game admirer. When he was younger and stronger, he was able to fight off his infatuation long enough to work as a Honolulu-based plaintiff’s malpractice lawyer for five years before attending med school and residency. Now he treats his patients on Oahu, where his office has been for the last fifteen years. He has trained in several fields of martial arts over the years, including Tae Kwon Do and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Older now, he would rather be surfing, snowboarding, and skating when he is brave enough! Most importantly, he is the proud father of four amazing children: Indigo, Tristan, Kireina, and Nina. They even text him sometimes. He is also the lucky owner of the world’s cutest chihuahua, Rosie.

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Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Charli is living in a pandemic-ravaged 2020 America when she stumbles upon the parallel world of the Q’ehazi. Drawn to these peaceful people, whose constant joy and optimism provides a stark contrast to the suffering and violence in her own life, Charli wants nothing more than to stay with them forever—but first, she must learn to attain a state of grace.

Can she forgive her mother’s abusive boyfriend? Can she learn empathy for her mother? Charli’s inward and outward struggles will lead her to a discovery she wasn’t even looking for: the beauty of her own world.

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Praise

Brightwell’s storytelling is vivid and rich, and her writing compelling. The World Beyond the Redbud Tree is a fascinatingly adventurous and original examination of life, grief, forgiveness and compassion. It’s unlike anything I’ve read before: captivating, touching, gently magical, and ultimately uplifting.” — Penny Haw, author of The Wilderness Between Us

“The novel offers us the story of a struggling young girl making her way through both dystopian and Utopian futures. A very thought-provoking tale for readers of all ages. I highly recommend The World Beyond the Redbud Tree.” — David Silverman is a Hollywood screenwriter with writing credits including The Flintstones, The Wild Thornberrys, and Life with Louie.

“Madison has a great way of merging two worlds together in The World Beyond the Redbud Tree. She writes beautifully and has an incredible imagination. She showcases how a young girl Charli is running from her fears but stays resilient and really just wants to be loved. Madison Brightwell is a talented writer and has created a masterpiece. I hope to one day see it on the big screen.” —Kandace Caine, Voice Over Actress of the popular games Hogwarts Legacy and Call of Duty; screenwriter, and producer.

Excerpt

P R O L O G U E

Tears streamed down her face, warm and comforting on her skin. She let them fall. Waves of grief passed through her and then were released to the earth below. Sitting cross-legged on the moist grass, she felt strong hands clutching hers on either side. Her eyes were closed, and all she heard was the soft chanting of the group around her, and a mellow voice intoning:

“We send our dear little Belilly across the Rainbow Bridge for the last time, where all is peace and comfort. And we will miss her, for she brought joy to everyone she met, and now her time has come, and she can remain with us no more.”

The girl’s body swayed back and forth in rhythm to the soft flute music playing a tune she knew well because she had heard it many times before. There were no words, but she hummed a sweet harmony to the notes.

The smell of jasmine permeated the air. She remembered how Belilly had loved to sniff the scented air on her morning amble. She remembered the way the breeze would ruffle Belilly’s beautiful white fur and how her whiskers twitched in anticipation of the events of the day ahead. The memories were bittersweet: bitter because she knew she would never again experience them, and sweet because she had experienced them so many times before and they would always exist in her memory.

Gradually, the tears on her face dried. She felt the stroke of a burdock leaf on her cheek, and she turned her head and opened her eyes to see her mother smiling at her and passing the leaf gently over the dried tears in a soothing ritual. Tenderness emanated from her mother’s face as she made this gesture, and the girl felt a sense of relief at the knowledge that Belilly’s passing was done and all suffering was over.

As the girl allowed her gaze to traverse the scene, she took in this group of about twenty people, all known to her, all seated on the ground and clasping hands in a circle, and all swaying to the music around them. Behind them, the beautiful rays of crimson light cast by the huge stone on its ceremonial plinth were enhanced by the stream running behind it. The tinkling of the water cascading over rocks in the stream harmonized with the flute.

Belilly was gone and would never be here again. She knew there was nowhere else she’d rather be than in this place at this time with these people. An intense gratitude swept over her, casting out the grief and replacing it with joy and contentment.

About the Author

Madison C. Brightwell is an author and a licensed MFT with a doctorate in psychology. She has been working as a therapist for fifteen years, before which she worked as a professional actress in film and TV development. She has written four other novels and three self-help books in the field of psychology. Since moving to Asheville, North Carolina, from her native Britain, Madison has become inspired by the history of this land, originally inhabited by the Cherokee. She draws on many of her experiences helping clients with trauma, addiction, and chronic pain.

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Synopsis

When the solar system’s key asteroid mine is seized by revolutionaries, it puts the secret mission of the spaceship Ulysses in jeopardy. Without a refueling launch from the asteroid, the survival of the ship and its crew is uncertain. The safest course for the Ulysses? Abandon the mission and limp home.

But Cal Scott, captain of the Ulysses, is an astronaut of the old school and failure is not an option. He has a plan: head straight for the asteroid belt and get their fuel—one way or another.

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Book 2 – Encounter at Jupiter

Book 3 – The Odyssey

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Excerpt

[The Lander] was still, essentially, in the same two-hundred-and-fifty-mile-high, perfectly circular orbit the Ulysses had occupied since grabbing the taxi. He slid his fingers over a disc-shaped control on his touchscreen; it spun like a platter. Reaction control thrusters outside the craft pitched the vehicle so that the taxi’s back faced down toward the asteroid and its engines aimed at its direction of travel. His fingers twirled a second disc; horizontally placed thrusters flared to roll the ship over so that the planetoid below appeared in its viewport. Opposing thrusters belched quickly to stop the roll at the right moment.

“Go for transfer burn, Cal.”

Cal slid the thrust tab all the way forward. Bright blue-yellow cones of flame burst from the twin engines, slowing the taxi lander. He held the slider in position as the mission timer clicked away.

The taxi was, second by second, shedding horizontal speed and falling deeper into Ceres’s gravity, dropping faster and faster. Its orbit had gone from perfectly circular to an exaggerated ellipse that would bring it down to just fifty thousand feet above the ground on exactly the opposite side of the planetoid from where the burn had begun. If he did nothing, the little taxi would loop back up around Ceres, returning to its apogee two hundred and fifty miles above.

Cal had half an orbit to think. He didn’t relish the time, but the lander’s descent path would give him a better look at the icy, dusty treasure house of an asteroid. Ceres was the largest body in an asteroid belt made up of millions of rocky objects. The planetoid made up over a third of the entire belt’s mass and a good amount of it was in the form of water ice. Every now and then, due to an odd combination of forces, a geyser of sublimated water vapor would spew out of the little world. Ice volcanoes. As such, Ceres had its own faint atmosphere, and it lent it an air of mystery: a tenuously shrouded and misty sphere against a backdrop of endless clarity.

Dropping down below one hundred miles a shattered area, appearing to be made up of great crusts of ice and clay heaved over one another, spread out beneath him. Another quarter way around the small globe and he would reach the low point in the transfer orbit. That would be the time to initiate descent. Looking over the taxi’s systems, he thought he caught a sparkling reflection in his viewport: an object rising from the surface? He looked again but could see nothing. He checked for a record of it on the scopes but could find no trace. Paranoia?

The taxi lander swept down, approaching the low point—the nadir—of its orbit. Cal’s fingers hovered over the control screen. There would be a nearly endless number of repeat tries if he missed. The lander would stay in its transfer orbit, shifting between the high point of the parking orbit and the fifty-thousand-foot low, but Cal wasn’t about to miss the moment, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Odysseus would fire the engines if he failed to act, even though he had asked it not to.

Right at fifty thousand feet, he ramped the thrust up to full, and the lander shed enough of its remaining momentum that Ceres’s gravity had it. There was nothing that was going to keep it from falling to the planetoid. There just wasn’t enough fuel remaining in its tanks to put it back into orbit. Technically, all paths in space were orbits; this new one the taxi was falling along just happened to intersect with the ground.

Now, Cal thought, it was all about mitigating the fall.

About the Author

R. Peter Keith grew up on a steady diet of classic science fiction—Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Farmer—and Marvel comics. He went to the Joe Kubert school of cartoon art during his teenage years, received a degree in psychology, and then started a museum exhibit and games company. He is a recognized expert on the history of video games, having worked as an advisor for recognized entities like the U.S. Post Office, History Channel, Microsoft, AMD, and Digital Eclipse. In this capacity he has appeared as a commentator and interviewee on CBS This Morning, CNN, CNBC, and others. He appeared in the CNBC documentary Game On, as well as History Channel’s Modern Marvels.

In 2008, he designed and produced the largest and most complex restoration of an extinct ecosystem for a museum exhibit, bringing back to life over 2.2 square miles of late Cretaceous Wyoming complete with accurately simulated animals, insects, and plants with proper dispersal and nutritional values. The animals could hunt and track visitors via sight and sound and what is called “digital scent.”

In 2015, an exhibit Keith designed and produced broke all attendance records at its debut at Space Center Houston, NASA Johnson Space Center’s official visitor center, and because of its success his company was awarded a NASA Space Act Agreement Partnership. During the research and creation of this exhibition, which simulates space flight and landings on multiple moons and worlds in the solar system, Keith spent hours upon hours discussing space with the greatest minds at NASA. He visited the astronaut training center, spending time in and out of various spacecraft, including time in the Orion Space Capsule with one of its designers. He piloted the Lunar Lander simulator at NASA’s Langley Research center and spent months of accumulated time within a simulation of the lunar surface accurate down to a scale of 1 foot. This experience inspired the idea for Wine Dark Deep.

R. Peter Keith is married with two kids, two rescue dogs, and two vintage sports cars that he calls his “steel brothers.”

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