Science Fiction

Interview with Author Michael Owens, AKA Mika Horvath

My latest interview is with Sci-Fi author Michael Owens, who wrote The Windless Sky.

Alexis: Tell us about yourself! What would you like readers to know about you?

Michael: Hi! I'm a single mom named Michael, who took an early retirement during the pandemic to write books in an old yellow farmhouse by the sea. I write SF and NF under my own name, women's fiction as Mary Jane Owen, and MG gothic horror as Mika Horvath.

Alexis: Sounds like you’re living the dream! What book or books have most influenced you as a writer?

Michael: I love romance and SF and have a library of over 1000 books, many of which I've had since my teens. Most of them would be considered trashy paperbacks, but they are old friends to me.

Alexis: I love that! I have so many books that I’ve loved for years as well. What do you like to do other than read or write? Do you have any interesting hobbies?

Michael: I am a lifelong lover of all animals, especially dogs, and run an international dog rescue.

Alexis: That sounds so lovely! Dogs are such loving and amazing animals. What TV shows/Movies do you like to watch or stream?

Michael: My favorite movies are Aliens, Victor Victoria, and the Pitch Perfect trilogy.

Cover of Michael Owens’ book The Windless Sky.

Alexis: What’s your favorite animal?

Michael: Dogs. Little dogs, big dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs. I like dogs.

Alexis: Has a video game ever influenced you as a writer?

Michael: One of these days I'm totally going to write Among Us fan fiction.

Alexis: Do you have pet(s)? If so, share a picture of your pet!

Michael: I have 10 dogs and a cat. Three borzoi, a greyhound, a galgo, a french bulldog, a terrier, and 3 chihuahuas. You can see some of their pics in my fb photos, https://www.facebook.com/ms.owens/photos_by.

Alexis: What advice do you have for other writers or people just getting started in writing?

Michael: Just do it.

Interview with Science Fiction Author Eric Goebelbecker

I’ve been so excited to learn more about so many amazing indie authors, so check out my latest interview with Science Fiction writer Eric Goebelbecker!

Alexis: Tell us about yourself! What would you like readers to know about you?

Eric: I'm a rookie indie author and released my first book back in March. I write science fiction that makes you think. My first book, Shadows of the Past, is the introduction to a sequel series to War of the Worlds.

Alexis: What book or books have most influenced you as a writer?

Eric: Fahrenheit 451. Slaughterhouse Five. The First Book of Swords. Dark Matter (most recently.)

Alexis: Fahrenheit 451 is so iconic, and I often wonder what Bradbury would think about all the book banning going on today, by groups like Moms for Liberty (more accurately called Karens for Censorship). Slaughterhouse 5 is one of my favorite classic novels—it’s so powerful. I think we definitely need more books that make people think, especially if they can tell a good story. So, what are some tropes of fiction in your sci-fi that you love/hate? Why?

Eric: I dislike telepathy, as I think it works too well as a deus ex machina. I don’t like military sci-fi that spends paragraphs describing cool weapons. My favorite sci-fi trope or subgenre is alternate history.

Cover of Eric Goebelbecker’s Shadows of the Past.

Alexis: Alternative history can be very powerful! I definitely enjoyed The Man in the High Castle. Who is your favorite character in your book? What do you like about them?

Eric: Emil Zimmerman. He's based on my grandfather, who fought for the German Army in WWI and saved his unit when the Welsh broke through their lines at Mametz Woods. He fled to the U.S. in 1929 after tangling with proto-Nazis.

Alexis: What do you like to do other than read or write? Do you have any interesting hobbies?

Eric: Cycling, Aikido, computer programming, dog training.

Alexis: Tell us about a mystery/urban legend from your hometown!

Eric: New Jersey has the Mob and Springsteen instead of Urban legends.

Alexis: I guess that’s true! Maybe there’s fewer urban legends when there’s more frightening people in real life. What TV shows/Movies do you like to watch or stream?

Eric: Dark Matter. Andor. For All Mankind. Last of Us.

Alexis: What’s your favorite animal?

Eric: Dogs.

Alexis: Do you have pet(s)? If so, share a picture of your pet!

Eric: I will send a picture of my dog, Freya.

A picture of Freya, Erc Goebelbecker’s dog.

Alexis: What advice do you have for other writers or people just getting started in writing?

Eric: Write! Don't wait for permission!

Alexis: How do you choose what books you want to read?

Eric: Online recommendations. Discovery via reviews. Friends.

Alexis: Do you like Greek/Roman/Norse/Asian/African mythology or folklore? What’s your favorite myth?

Eric: Probably the Pantheon due to Saberhagen's Books of Swords.

Alexis: If you write sci-fi, what technology or innovations or scientific discoveries have inspired your work?

Eric: War of the Worlds. WWI. Working on radars when I was in the Army.

If you’re interested in learning more about Eric Goebelbecker and his work, you can find his website and other information here.

Book Spotlight: A Friend Like Filby by Mark Wakely

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Welcome to the book tour for A Friend Like Filby by Mark Wakely. Read on for more details!

A FRIEND LIKE FILBY front cover (2)

A Friend Like Filby

Expected Publication Date: December 6th, 2021

Genre: YA/ Young Adult/ YA Contemporary/ Time Travel

George has been fascinated with the idea of time travel ever since the unexpected death of his mother when he was ten, and hopes someday to find a friend like Filby, the forever loyal friend of the time traveler in the 1960 movie The Time Machine. George’s two closest high school friends, Dave and Nancy (nickname Onion), struggle at times to understand his odd obsession as they deal with issues of their own both in and out of school. The story takes place during the three friends’ tumultuous senior year from beginning to end, with a major realization in store for George on graduation day.

“Mark Wakely weaves an unusual tale with characters that are both emotionally and psychologically rich…The story is told from George’s perspective and in a first person narrative voice that is as clear as it is compelling. The prose is beautiful and evocative at times and I enjoyed the author’s peculiar turn of phrase, the humor, and his knack for vivid descriptions…It is a delightful read.” – Readers’ Favorite

Available on Amazon

About the Author

Author

Mark Wakely has held a lifelong interest in all things science-related, dating back to high school when he won the Bausch & Lomb science award in high school. Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and is a college administrator at prestigious Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois. He lives in a nearby town with his wife and three children, and is an avid reader and amateur astronomer.

Mark Wakely

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Book Spotlight: Fractured Lives by Russ Colchamiro

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Welcome to the tour for another exciting Angela Hardwicke Sci-fi Mystery! This one is called Fractured Lives.

Read on for more details!

FracturedLives epub FINAL 05.28.2021 cover

Fractured Lives (A Angela Hardwicke Sci-Fi Mystery)

Genre: Sci-Fi Mystery

Publication Date: August 29th, 2021

In the cosmic realm of Eternity, there’s only one private eye to hire when your world gets turned inside out—Angela Hardwicke.

Darla Fyne, a college freshman and galaxy design savant, is suffering from a nervous breakdown—or is she the victim of an urban legend known as the Scarlet Raj?

As Hardwicke follows the intersecting worlds of art galleries, college dorms, and a semi-secret clan that patches up tears in the Universe, her investigation will either uncover a hoax gone wrong or a plot that could shift the balance of power across the entire realm. If only she can fight through her own paranoia to tell the difference.

In Russ Colchamiro’s new Sci-Fi mystery Fractured Lives, Angela Hardwicke is confronted by a PI’s worst nightmare—dark secrets from her past that will irrevocably change her future.

“Colchamiro’s heroine is a blunt, wry gumshoe battling her own demons.” —James McCrone, author of Emergency Powers

“I didn’t think Russ Colchamiro could surpass his previous novel. Fractured Lives proved me wrong. It takes readers into the workings of the universe and shows them the workings of the soul.”

—John L. French, author of the Bianca Jones series.

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Excerpt

I reach inside my jacket, hand on the grip of my weapon. I don’t want to use it. I don’t want to need it. I want this to be nothing more than another awkward, misconstrued moment in an awkward, misconstrued career taking on awkward, misconstrued cases.

I want to be free of danger. I want to stop putting myself in danger. I want to come home every night and hug my son. I want him to hug me back. I want to let go of the demons that haunt me, the past that defines me, and a future that frightens me.

I want to sleep at night.

I want to wake up in the morning believing my life doesn’t have to be one mystery after another, one dark path leading down a darker alley of a bitter, lonely labyrinth that inevitably reveals someone’s pain. Their ugly secrets.

But most of all, I want to be Angela Hardwicke.

Not Angela Hardwicke, Private Investigator. Just Angela
Hardwicke. Me. Whoever that is, and whatever that means. Which is all well and good, but if I don’t get myself out of this particularly awkward, misconstrued moment, I might not have the chance to find out.

Available on Amazon!

About the Author

Russ Groovy headshot

Russ Colchamiro is the author of the rollicking space adventure, Crossline, the zany SF/F backpacking comedy series Finders Keepers: The Definitive Edition, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, and is editor of the SF anthology Love, Murder & Mayhem, all with Crazy 8 Press.

Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two ninjas, and crazy dog Simon, who may in fact be an alien himself. Russ has also contributed to several other anthologies, including Tales of the Crimson Keep, Pangaea, Altered States of the Union, Camelot 13, TV Gods 2, They Keep Killing Glenn, Thrilling Adventure Yarns, Camelot 13, and Brave New Girls.

He is now working on the first novel in a new series featuring his hardboiled private eye Angela Hardwicke, and the first of three collaborative novella projects.

Russ Colchamiro| Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Book Tour Schedule

October 18th

Reads & Reels (Spotlight) http://readsandreels.com

Nesie’s Place (Spotlight) https://nesiesplace.wordpress.com

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

October 19th

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

PoptheButterfly (Spotlight) https://popthebutterfly.wordpress.com

A Very Original Username (Review) https://averyoriginalusername.wordpress.com/

October 20th

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

Liliyana Shadowlyn (Spotlight) http://www.thefaeriereview.com

The Magic of Wor(l)ds (Spotlight) http://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com

October 21st

Auto.erraticism (Spotlight) https://www.autoerraticism.com/

Sadie’s Spotlights (Spotlight) http://sadiesspotlight.com/

Jessica Belmont (Review) https://jessicabelmont.com/

October 22nd

B is for Book Review (Spotlight) https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com

Lunarian Press (Spotlight) https://www.lunarianpress.com/

Stine Writing (Spotlight) https://christinebialczak.com/

The Faerie Review (Review) http://www.thefaeriereview.com

Book Tour Organized By:

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FanExpo 2021! Cosplay, Books, and Fun!

So one of the things I’ve missed since the start of the Covid pandemic is Comic Cons. The year before Covid hit, 2019, my friend Sarah Mensinga and I did our first con—Fan Expo Dallas 2019. We got a table where we sold our books and Sarah sold prints, and it was a great time. I only had one book available at the time, Sapience, and while I didn’t sell a huge amount of books, I made enough to cover my half of the table, which was good. I also met tons of people and saw some amazing cosplay.

After that, I got to do one more small con (Arlingcon, at the Arlington library). Sarah and I rented a table for Fan Expo 2020. Which was supposed to happen in March of 2020. And then the whole country shut down.

It’s funny, because I remember hearing rumblings about Covid even back in December 2019. By February it seemed like things were getting worse, but then it felt like it sort of exploded. In the end, Fan Expo 2020 was cancelled, but we decided to keep our table for the next time the con came back. Which it did for the first time September 17-20, 2021. And once again, we were there with our books. This time, I had Saints and Curses as well as Sapience.

Me and Sarah at Fan Expo 2021!

Me and Sarah at Fan Expo 2021!

It was very exciting to be back after all that time. I honestly had no idea what to expect. I halfway expected that no one would be there except for a couple of vendors. I was amazed to see the huge crowds of people arriving at the con (masks were required and I’m vaccinated, so I felt reasonably safe from Covid). And just like 2019, there were tons of brilliant cosplayers. Since there were so many, I decided to post some of pictures in galleries. Check them out! I love great cosplay—it looks so fun and brilliant.

BTW, Sarah and I are also going to another fair in December, the Grapevine Library Christmas Market. I’ll post more about it as we get closer, but it’s going to be December 4-5, 2021.

Day 2—Sarah and I spread out because the table next to us was unoccupied.

Day 2—Sarah and I spread out because the table next to us was unoccupied.

Book Spotlight: Sand and Shadow by Laurisa White Reyes

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Welcome to the blog tour sci-fi/ horror Sand and Shadow by Laurisa White Reyes! Read on for more details and a chance to win a $20 Amazon e-gift card!

SandandShadowEbook2Sand and Shadow

Publication Date: September 6th, 2021

Genre: Sci-Fi/ Horror

Seven Survivors.

One Monster.

Nowhere to hide.

Mission Specialist Adán Fuentes awakes from cryo-hibernation to discover that most of his fellow crewmates are dead and the shuttle Carpathia is not where it’s supposed to be. Surrounded by a vast barren landscape, he and the other survivors wonder how they can accomplish their mission, to establish a home for future colonists.

When an unseen creature attacks them, the Carpathia’s crew must turn their attention to surviving and solving the true purpose behind their mission.

Inspired by the 50’s sci-fi flick FORBIDDEN PLANET, SAND AND SHADOW plumbs the depths of the human psyche and the power of its influence. As the Carpathia’s crew’s secrets and flaws are revealed, readers may find themselves compelled to examine their own dark places.

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Excerpt

“Hold it here!” Adán jabbed a finger at the corner of the tent still attached. Tink obeyed, gripping the fabric with his gloved hands. Adán grasped the canvas several feet above Tink. Then he began to pull it, gradually drawing the fabric toward him. It was like trying to haul an anchor up from the ocean floor, the effort requiring every ounce of strength he could muster. He wasn’t sure his plan would work. He was battling a storm that at any moment could snatch him up and carry him off.

“Get me down!” Scott screamed, his voice piercing through Adán’s comm.

“I’m trying! Just hold on!” Adán kept pulling, but he made little headway with the wind pulling so hard in the opposite direction. “Scott, use your hands! Try to climb down!”

Scott started hand-over-hand down the column of living canvas. The distance between Scott and Adán slowly began to shrink. The sand pelted Adán so hard now that he could feel it through his gear.

“The rest of you get inside!” he called out. “It’s too dangerous out here!”

Fess grabbed the heating unit that Scott had dropped and made his way toward the shuttle. Tink held tight to the tent behind Adán.

“Tink! I’ve got it! Go on!”

“You don’t have it,” said Tink. “I’m not leaving!”

“But you have to—” Suddenly, a powerful gust tried to rip the silver tarp from Adán’s hands. The knuckle in his pinky finger snapped in a stabbing flare of excruciating pain, but he did not let go. Scott flipped around in the air, as helpless as a marionette on strings, though he was a good eight feet closer to the ground than he had been minutes before.

Adán tried to hold tighter to the fabric, but the pain in his hand throbbed ruthlessly and had robbed it of its strength.

“Scott! You’re going to have to let go!”

“Let go? Are you insane? This wind will blow me away like a kite!”

“Curl up into a ball! Wrap your arms around your knees and drop to the ground!”

Adán heard Tink’s voice. “This strap is tearing! When it rips all the way, that tarp is taking you with it, Scott!”

“Scott, you’ve got to let go now!”

He did. Scott released the fabric and pulled his knees to his chest. He fell like a stone to the sand below. He hit the ground, his limbs sprawling out in every direction. Then, getting to his hands and knees, he scurried away like a bug just as the tarp tore free from its strap. The silver snake curled and whipped like a flag in a hurricane and then vanished into the darkening sky.

Adán, his back to the wind, dropped to his knees beside Scott. “You all right?” he asked. “Can you get up?”

Scott collapsed into the sand, moaning. Adán felt a wave of relief. Their commander was dazed, possibly even hurt, but he was alive. A few yards off, Tink fought against the storm’s assault. He clutched the transmitter case to his chest and staggered forward one step at a time. The sky was so dark now and the sand so thick that the shuttle looked like nothing more than a broad mass of shadow.

Adán slid one of his arms beneath Scott’s shoulder and hoisted the barely conscious commander into a sitting position. “Dryker, listen to me! We’ve got to get back to the shuttle or we’ll die out here! Get up, Commander! On your feet!”

Scott moaned again, but Adán felt his muscles stiffen as he attempted to get his legs under him. With a bit of effort on both their parts, Scott was soon standing, though he leaned much of his weight against Adán. Adán looked back at Tink, who hadn’t made as much progress as he’d hoped.

“Tink, drop it!” Adán shouted.

Tink shook his head furiously. “We need it to communicate with the other shuttles! They’ll never find us without it!”

Tink’s words came back to Adán broken and staccato. He tapped on his earpiece. The storm had damaged his comm. “Tink? Can you hear me?”

This time Adán heard only static. He looked back to the shuttle, a mere ten yards away. Dema and Fess, clinging to each other, were scrabbling for the hatch lever. Adán looked back at Tink, half that distance behind him. He’d get Scott to safety, he decided, and come back for Tink.

“I’ll be back to help you in a second!” he said, though he couldn’t be sure if Tink had heard him, then he trudged forward with Scott in tow.

The two minutes or so that it took for him to hand Scott over to Dema and Fess felt like hours. He was exhausted and in pain, but Adán turned and headed back out for Tink, now on his knees hunched over the transmitter just four or five yards away.

He had just reached him when Adán saw it—a dark mass rising up from the ground behind Tink. “What the hell is that?” he said more to himself than to anyone else.

Dema’s voice crackled over the comm. “Adán, do you read me? Scott’s okay. A bit stunned but okay. Fess is with him in the common room now. Do you have Tink and Lainie?”

Lainie. Adán had forgotten all about her. But Tink. . .

“There’s something out here!” said Adán.

There was a pause before Dema’s voice returned. “Adán, get out of there. The sensors are picking up something solid, something big!”

He reached Tink and pulled him to his feet. Together, with the transmitter still clutched in Tink’s arms, they staggered toward the shuttle, which they could now barely make out through the thick haze of sand.

“Lainie!” Adán waited a moment for a reply. “Lainie, do you read me?” He shook his head. “The storm’s interfering with the frequency!”

“She was carrying the generator,” said Dema, her words nearly impossible to make out through the static. “She was closer to the shuttle than we were. You should see her!”

Adán and Tink continued trudging forward. Then just to right of the shuttle hatch, they spotted something square and black half buried in the sand at their feet. It was the generator tipped onto its side, but there was no sign of Lainie.

Available on Amazon

About the Author
AuthorPic

Laurisa White Reyes is the author of the SCBWI Spark Award winning novel The Storytellers and the Spark Honor recipient Petals. She is also the Senior Editor at Skyrocket Press and an English instructor at College of the Canyons in Southern California.

Laurisa White Reyes | Skyrocket Press | Facebook | BookBub

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Blog Tour Schedule

September 6th

Reads & Reels (Spotlight) http://readsandreels.com

Nesie’s Place (Spotlight) https://nesiesplace.wordpress.com

Lunarian Press (Spotlight) https://www.lunarianpress.com/

September 7th

B is for Book Review (Spotlight) https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com

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

Misty’s Book Space (Spotlight) http://mistysbookspace.wordpress.com

September 8th

Liliyana Shadowlyn (Spotlight) https://lshadowlynauthor.com/

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

Musings of a Final Girl (Review) https://musingsofafinalgirl.wordpress.com/

September 9th

Jessica Belmont (Review) https://jessicabelmont.com/

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

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

September 10th

PoptheButterfly (Spotlight) https://popthebutterfly.wordpress.com

The Magic of Wor(l)ds (Spotlight) http://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com

The Faerie Review (Review) http://www.thefaeriereview.com

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Book Spotlight: The Tribesmen of Juno by Robert I. Katz

Check out this Book Spotlight for Robert I. Katz’s book The Tribesmen of Juno, which is the third book in his Survivors Series (more about the first two books below)! You can also find the giveaway for the book here!

Synopsis of The Tribesmen of Juno, Book 3 of the Survivors Series

From USA Today bestselling author, Robert I. Katz, comes The Tribesmen of Juno, Book Three of The Survivors.

Thirty years ago, Terence Allen left his father’s home in the city of the Viceroy, and under the assumed name of Blake Pierce, gained both fame and fortune, first as a wandering ronin, then as a mercenary commander. Now, Blake Pierce is the Duke of Taverno, and he controls half the nation of Venecia.

Blake Pierce is a power in the world, but the cities that owe Taverno loyalty are being bribed to switch allegiance to his principal opponent, Benedetto Corsi, the Duke of Siena.

In far away Fomaut, the Primate has been assassinated. Wolford is beset by unknown forces.

All over the continent, unrest is stirring.

Men are digging into the ruins of the dead cities, seeking riches and the weapons of the nearly forgotten Empire. The industrial revolution encouraged by Blake is slowly grinding to a halt.

For three thousand years, the Viceroy has ruled over all the nations, rarely exerting his authority but tolerating no opposition to his reign. Only the Viceroy retains any remnant of the Ancient’s lost technology. Many men have tried to challenge the Viceroy. All have been crushed.

But the seven nations are stronger and richer than they were, and the Viceroy has expended much of his hoarded arsenal. Has the time come to finally throw off the Viceroy’s rule? Or will Taverno turn into just another dead, radioactive city?

Blake would prefer not to find out, but unseen forces are moving against him, and in the end, he may have no choice but to fight back or lose everything he has gained, including his life. 

Cover of The Tribesmen of Juno, Book 3 of the Survivors Series by Robert I. Katz

Cover of The Tribesmen of Juno, Book 3 of the Survivors Series by Robert I. Katz

Chapter One of The Tribesmen of Juno

And so it came to pass in the thirtieth year of the reign of the Viceroy Gaius Tiberius VII that a rebellion arose from a minor princeling in the city of Poitiers. This princeling was tall and handsome, a writer of poetry and a singer of songs, unrivalled with a blade, strong with phrygium, quick with praise for the accomplishments of others. His people loved him and he had been told since he was a small child that he was destined for great things.

His rebellion was small, at first. He questioned the primacy of Inquisitoria over the spiritual needs of his people, arguing that a relationship with the creator could be forged by every individual through devout prayer and without the intercession of God’s anointed.

The Inquisitoria declared this to be heresy, but heresy, though frowned upon, is not forbidden. Only words that encourage active disobedience to Imperial edicts are forbidden. All other enquiry is allowed. The Prince’s thoughts, at first spoken, then written, and then disseminated throughout all the nations, were much discussed.

The Viceroy took no position on this issue.

But then, the Prince decreed that the mandate of heaven had fallen from the Viceroy, since the Empire from which the Viceroy’s authority derived had turned its face from this world. This was rebellion. This was not allowed. The Viceroy, ever merciful, gave the Prince a chance to repent. He refused.

The Viceroy then led an army to the gates of Poitiers and called upon the Prince to emerge, to recant his words and pay homage to his rightful overlord. Again, the Prince refused. The Viceroy, much saddened, returned with his army to the City of Varanisi.

The Prince, joyful in his defiance, decreed a celebration, and declared that the Viceroy’s rule was at an end.

One day later, an Earthquake shattered the city of Poitiers. A day after that, a ball of fire descended from the heavens upon whatever remained. The Prince and those few of his people who had not already abandoned him vanished in the conflagration.

The city of Poitiers no longer exists. Where it once stood, a blue, placid lake now fills a gigantic crater. Fish swim in the lake, but those who eat these fish grow ill. Their hair falls out. Their blood grows thin and pale and then oozes from their mouth and their eyes, and then they die, screaming in agony.

Three hundred years passed before the Viceroy’s rule was again challenged.

 

From: The Reign of the Viceroys of Gault, Third Edition, New Imperial Library, 4753

 

“Your Grace?”

Blake Pierce looked up. Colin McGregor insisted on following the rules of protocol and decorum, in public at least, and he did so with an unruffled air of gravity and calm. Colin had been with him for many years, first hired as the purser for Pierce’s Marauders, Blake’s former mercenary company, now serving as seneschal and principal advisor to the Duke of Taverno, Blake’s current and most illustrious title.

“Sit down, Colin.” Blake tapped a piece of parchment sitting on the table in front of him. “What do you make of this?”

Gingerly, Colin picked up the parchment, quickly scanned it, frowned, and then read it again. “Unfortunate,” Colin said.

Yes, the sudden death of Blake’s principal factor in the city of Mitre was “unfortunate.” Natural causes, supposedly. An elderly fellow, he went to sleep one night and didn’t wake up. Elderly, and fat, but he had been vigorous and had displayed no prior symptoms before suddenly dropping dead.

Unfortunate.

Mitre was a small city but strategically placed, at the confluence of two rivers providing excellent access to the sea and both isolated and partially defended by a range of encircling mountains. Three large passes cut through the mountains, all surrounded by steep cliffs. Easy enough to rain arrows, boulders or boiling oil down onto an invader. It would take a large and determined force to break through. Unfortunately for Mitre, a small but rich city with a tiny military of its own, at least three such armies were currently considering an invasion.

In years past, Mitre’s small military, combined with the difficulty of reaching the city, had been sufficient to keep them independent, but that was in the days when the King of Venecia aided in keeping the peace. The King was long dead and times had changed.

At least four different poisons could have killed silently in the night. Probably more. Blake was not an expert on poisons but as a sometime agent of the Viceroy, he knew the basics.

“Suggestions?” Blake asked.

Colin puffed up his cheeks and tapped a finger on the arm of his chair while his eyes wandered to the harbor outside the Castle windows. “This changes nothing. We’re offering Mitre protection and an alliance. Prudence would dictate their acceptance.”

“And yet it appears that a message has been delivered, one that the Elders of Mitre cannot fail to understand. They deal with us at their peril.”

Colin shrugged. “If they refuse to deal with us, they will suffer the fate of a thousand other conquered cities. That message, too, will be clearly understood.”

Blake sighed. “We shall see. It is up to them to decide.”

“And,” Colin added, “it is entirely possible that he did die from natural causes.”

Blake reluctantly grinned. “Make certain that an autopsy is performed, and that the results are made public. I expect that his heart has been weak for several years. His courage in performing his duties, suffering as he must have been, is an inspiration to us all.”

“Indeed,” Colin said.

“And give him a nice funeral.”

“Of course.”

 

Abel Barker knew a thousand ways to kill, but only a few of these left no distinguishing marks upon the body. Of these, poison was the least obvious but was often the most difficult to administer. Poison, to be effective, must be delivered to the body of one’s victim, which means that the assassin must have access to that victim, or must suborn someone in the victim’s circle.

Poison itself might leave no trace, but the method of delivery all too often left a trail.

Almost always better to mix violence with misdirection. Strangle a man, for instance, and then throw him off a tall building, or have him stumble at the edge of a cliff or leave him in the desert for the sand lizards to devour. Anything to destroy the evidence.

And if you don’t mind leaving questions behind, the body can simply disappear.

Poison, though, did have its uses. Sometimes, nothing else would do.

Abel Barker, for most of his life, had served the Viceroy. He had been recruited as a boy, having been discovered in his parent’s small village by a Finder team searching for children with the ability to weave soul-stuff. He had been brought to the Viceroy’s city, Varanisi, educated in the Viceroy’s scholium and been sworn to the Viceroy’s service. In this, he had not been given a choice. Abel Barker would, if necessary, die for the Viceroy. All of his classmates would.

In theory, change could be good, for the individual and for the society in which the individual lived, but more often than not, change brought instability, and the Viceroy prized stability. The Viceroy suffered no challenge to his own rule. After more than two thousand years, the Viceroy had managed to arrange things pretty much the way he wanted them.

Blake Pierce, or Terence Sergei Allen as he had once been known, had started a revolution. The Viceroy had reluctantly allowed that revolution to proceed. Blake Pierce had not been the first to mix the uses of phrygium with the ancient remnants of technology but in theory the innovations he had introduced would advance the Viceroy’s own goals upon this world.

Now, ten years later, the wasteland was filled with searchers, looking for they knew not what, hoping to strike it rich and ignoring the first lesson they had been taught as children, which was to avoid the dead cities.

Abel Barker crept among the trees. It was a dark, quiet night, warm with a light breeze. Somewhere, not far away, an owl hooted.

Seven men slept in the clearing. An eighth stood watch, sitting on a fallen log facing the woods. The sentry yawned, straightened his back and re-filled a ceramic mug with coffee from a pot simmering over a small fire.

Abel Barker’s night vision goggles gave him a clear view of the clearing. His hazmat suit protected him from residual radiation.

The ruins began less than a hundred meters from the clearing. A small city had once stood here. The city had not been physically destroyed. Neutron bombs, followed by radioactive dust, had killed off the population. Centuries later, most of the buildings had crumbled into rubble, but the rubble, and the dirt beneath the rubble, was still filled with both treasures and lingering poisons.

These men were digging for treasure. Unknown to themselves, they were finding poison. Idiots.

In the past ten years, hundreds of small teams, almost all of them poorly equipped and ignorant of the real risks, had decided to try their luck. The majority returned with little of value or did not return at all.

These men had already ingested sufficient ambient radiation to kill them, but it would kill them slowly, over months, perhaps even years. Slowly was not good enough for the Viceroy’s purpose.

Whistling under his breath, Abel Barker opened a small box, pressed a button and quickly retreated. Silently, odorless and invisible, a volatilized gas sprayed upward and then, blown by the breeze, drifted toward the campsite. The gas inhibited the action of acetylcholinesterase on neuromuscular junctions, preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine, the body’s principal neurotransmitter. The gas was readily absorbed, either through the lungs or the skin. The first symptoms of exposure included a runny nose, nausea, then, a few minutes later, difficulty breathing. Convulsions and death by asphyxiation would soon follow.

Not a pleasant way to die, but necessary. If any of their comrades came looking for them, the decomposing bodies of these men would serve to reinforce the lessons that they had been taught as children and foolishly chosen to ignore.

An hour later, it was done. Three of the seven had awakened after exposure. They had stumbled out of their tents, vomiting, hoarsely gasping for breath that would not come. They had tried to run but had fallen, twitched a few times, groaned, cried out, struggled and then died.

Abel Barker, a compassionate man (when allowed to be), regretted the actions that circumstances had forced him to take, but knew that good men are often compelled to unpleasant and otherwise regrettable deeds, for the greater good of us all.

Sad, Able Barker thought, but necessary.

 

An adversary is someone who wants the same things that you want. Nothing personal. It’s competition. You win some and you lose some. An enemy, on the other hand, wants you dead…because he hates you.

Benedetto Corsi was an adversary, not an enemy. Blake was happy about that. Corsi and Blake Pierce had struggled against one another for many years, and to some extent, each had enjoyed the rivalry. Blake had, at least, and he was fairly certain that Corsi had as well.

The same could not be said for Johannes Stryker, and even more so for Saverio Narcena.

Stryker was Corsi’s spymaster, a man whose emotions ran cold, at best, but Stryker, from what little Blake knew of him, took pride in his own intellect, in his objective evaluation of the world around him. Blake, by besting Corsi all those years ago with tactics that neither Corsi nor Stryker had foreseen, and thereby establishing himself as Corsi’s principal rival, had offended Stryker.

Narcena had other reasons to hate Blake. His reasons, in Blake’s estimation, were childish. Years ago, Blake had defeated him in battle, making him look foolish. Corsi had relieved him of command and placed him under Stryker’s tutelage—to learn wisdom. Narcena, in Blake’s estimation, should be thanking Blake for having shown him the error of his ways and setting him upon a path more in keeping with his talents. Narcena, or so Blake’s spies told him, saw things differently.

Blake stood on the highest balcony of Castle Taverno, looking up at the stars from which his ancestors had come, thousands of years ago, and brooded. Mitre was not the first small setback he had suffered. A message had indeed been delivered to the city fathers of Mitre. A similar message had been delivered to Blake. Those messages had been coming more often, their unmistakable sub-text growing louder and louder.

Stop.

Blake sighed. For many years, Blake had served as an agent of that stability the Viceroy so prized. He knew how things worked. He had never grown so complacent, however, as to think that he himself, and the others like him, represented the limits of the Viceroy’s reach.

Blake well remembered the meeting he had with the Viceroy, when blood feud had first been declared against him by Thierry Jorge Garcia. The Viceroy had gently and sadly explained to him that in the world outside Varanisi, his commands meant little. The Kings and Queens and leaders of the various nations paid lip service to the Viceroy’s primacy but had no hesitation in ignoring him when they felt like doing so.

The Viceroy had seemed so regretful at his inability to help, so sincere. Blake, being young and naïve, had believed him.

Each year, the Viceroy sent the finders abroad, looking for children with the talent to weave phrygium, soul-stuff as it was often called. The parents of such children were handsomely rewarded, the children taken to be educated and raised in the Viceroy’s palace, and once in the Viceroy’s palace, a worm was planted in their brains, a worm which grew and bored deep, doing no harm, but enforcing the Viceroy’s will. A neural web it used to be called, in the far-off and long vanished Empire of Mankind, a tool to control the victim’s behavior.

Tindall and Eliza, whose services the Viceroy had loaned him, were once such children. They had helped Blake achieve hegemony over half of Venecia but Blake had never taken their services or their loyalty for granted. Tindall and Eliza were loyal to the Viceroy. They had to be. They had been given no choice.

There were rumors of agents deeply planted in the bureaucracy of all seven nations, of secret assassination squads. Blake did not know for certain, but he suspected those rumors to be true.

Ambition had come slowly to Blake Pierce, once a satisfied, indolent young man named Terence Sergei Allen, but it had come. Seven men and women before him had discovered that phrygium could be used to power the technology of the ancients, something that the Viceroy in theory approved of and encouraged, but then, succumbing to pride and ambition, all seven had then set themselves against the Viceroy. That, at least, was the story. All seven were now dead and long since forgotten.

When you play a game that you cannot win, Blake thought, stop playing…or change the rules. Thousands of years ago, the commander of what was then the greatest military force ever assembled had said, “If you have a problem that you cannot solve, then make it a bigger problem.”

Blake had done his best to make the problem bigger. It remained to be seen what the Viceroy would do about it.

Cover of The Towering Flame, Book 1 of the Survivors Series by Robert I. Katz

Cover of The Towering Flame, Book 1 of the Survivors Series by Robert I. Katz

Synopsis of The Towering Flame, Book 1 of the Survivors Series 

From USA Today bestselling author, Robert I. Katz, comes The Towering Flame, the first book in a brand new series, The Survivors.

Once, long ago, the Empire of Mankind spread among the stars, but the Empire fell into civil war and anarchy, leaving every human inhabited world across the galaxy to go its own way.

Today, after two thousand years of isolation, the Viceroy rules over seven nations on one long-abandoned planet. He alone possesses any vestige of the technology left behind by the vanished Empire and he uses it to rule with an iron fist in a velvet glove.

But below the surface, ambitious men are struggling for power and rebellion is simmering.

Terence Allen is the third son of a wealthy father. Terence is satisfied with his life. He has few responsibilities, fewer challenges and little desire to change.

Terence Allen is an unlikely catalyst for rebellion, but Terence’s destiny changes the moment he sees Thierry Jorge Garcia striding toward him one night at the Summer Fair in Varanisi, the Viceroy’s city. Thierry, the heir to a long-standing military tradition, will let nothing keep him from pursuing Irina Archer, the woman he had known and loved as a young man in far-off Cathay, the woman who is now Terence Allen’s fiancée.

The feud that results will have repercussions far beyond the borders of the city, as the seven nations seethe with conspiracies, rumors and strife. A war that has been brewing for over a century is coming, a war that will upend the foundations of both men’s world.

Cover of The Antiquarians Guild, Book 2 of the Survivors Series by Robert I. Katz

Cover of The Antiquarians Guild, Book 2 of the Survivors Series by Robert I. Katz

Synopsis of The Antiquarians Guild, Book 2 of the Survivors Series

Twenty years ago, Terence Allen left his father’s home in the city of the Viceroy, and under the assumed name of Blake Pierce, has gained both fame and fortune, first as a wandering ronin, then as a mercenary commander.

Since the king’s death, ten long years before, the nation of Venecia has fallen into chaos, as the smaller city-states strive to maintain independence and the stronger states try to conquer all the rest.

Blake Pierce’s company, Pierce’s Marauders, has entered into a contract to provide security for the city-state of Taverno, which is beset by numerous enemies, the most serious of which is Benedetto Corsi, the Duke of Siena.

But Blake is facing other challenges, some that he knows about, others that he merely suspects.

In far away Fomaut, the Primate and the leader of his armies, Alejandro Garcia, are digging in the ruins of dead cities, seeking the lost technology of the Ancients and preparing for war against their neighbors, while Davida Montoya, the woman Blake loves above all others, is still living in her father’s castle, refusing to join him until his wars are over…which, the way his career is going, may be never.

For Corsi, and his shadowy spymaster, Johannes Stryker, the Kingship of Venecia represents the culmination of their ambitions. For Blake Pierce, rule of Venecia is only one step toward his own secret goal: to free the world of Gault from the heavy-handed tyranny of the Viceroy, who has ruled the world for over 2000 years.

Picture of Robert I. Katz, author of The Tribesmen of Juno

Picture of Robert I. Katz, author of The Tribesmen of Juno

About Robert I. Katz


I grew up on Long Island, in a pleasant, suburban town about 30 miles from New York City. I loved to read from a very early age and graduated from Columbia in 1974 with a degree in English. Not encouraged by the job prospects for English majors at the time, I went on to medical school at Northwestern, where in addition to my medical degree, I acquired a life-long love of deep dish pizza. I did a residency in Anesthesiology at Columbia Presbyterian and spent most of my career at Stony Brook, where I ultimately attained the academic rank of Professor and Vice-Chairman for Administration, Department of Anesthesiology.

When I was a child, I generally read five or more books per week, and even then, I had a dim sense that I could do at least as well as many of the stories that I was reading. Finally, around 1985, with a job and a family and my first personal computer, I began writing. I quickly discovered that it was not as easy as I had imagined, and like most beginning writers, it took me many years to produce a publishable work of fiction. My first novel, Edward Maret: A Novel of the Future, came out in 2001. It won the ASA Literary Prize for 2001 and received excellent reviews from Science Fiction Chronicle, InfinityPlus, Scavenger's Newsletter and many others.

My agent at the time urged me to write mysteries, as mysteries are supposed to have a larger readership and be easier to publish than science fiction. Since I have read almost as many mysteries as science fiction and fantasy, and since I enjoy them just as much, I had no objection to this plan. The Kurtz and Barent mystery series, Surgical Risk, The Anatomy Lesson and Seizure followed between 2002 and 2009. Reviewers have compared them favorably to Patricia Cornwell and Robin Cook and they've received positive reviews from The Midwest Book Review, Mystery Review Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Lady M's Mystery International, Mystery Scene Magazine, Library Journal and many others.

In 2014, I published a science fiction short story, "To the Ends of the Earth in the Deep Blue Sea" on Kindle for Amazon. Since then, I have made all of my previously published novels available for purchase on Kindle and now, in June, 2017 I am about to embark on a new venture. I will be publishing new novels on Kindle, the first of which is entitled The Cannibal's Feast. It's a science fiction story of corporate warfare in space. The next, coming out in early 2018, will be another science fiction novel tentatively entitled The City of Dust, a tale set on an abandoned world after the collapse of the First Interstellar Empire of Mankind. 

 

Author Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-I-Katz/e/B001K7T7D8 

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/robert-i-katz

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

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/robertikatz

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/133780.Robert_I_Katz

Website: https://www.robertikatz.com/ 

Book Spotlight: Technopaladin: Clarity's Edge by Elizabeth Corrigan

Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge by Elizabeth Corrigan comes out today, May 17, 2021! Check out some excerpts and find a great giveaway for the book here!

About the Book

Clarity’s paladin order forbids her from entering the Azure District, the one location in her high tech city that refuses paladin rule and technology. When she receives an illicit invitation to violate the prohibition, spurred on by rumors of suffering in the district, she passes through the crumbling brick entryway into no-man’s land. Within, she finds the residents lack not only the ocular implants and three dimensional computers she takes for granted, but also medicine to fight a disease infecting the children.

Clarity knows her order isn’t perfect—after all, they stole her from her parents when she was a small child to raise her with their values—but she cannot believe they know what’s going on in the Azure District. When she confronts the head of the order, he refuses to aid people who have rejected his help in the past, even the children. Unwilling to take no for an answer, Clarity enlists the help of the leader’s son Cass and takes matters into her own hands.

Clarity engages in increasingly questionable behavior—deleting official records, lying to her friends, and manipulating people who can help her. As the nefarious nature of her actions tarnishes the purity of her cause, she must determine what it truly means to be a paladin, in both name and action.

Cover of Techopaladin: Clarity’s Edge by Elizabeth Corrigan

Cover of Techopaladin: Clarity’s Edge by Elizabeth Corrigan

Excerpt from Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge

“Come on, Clarity!” Hope grabbed Clarity’s hand and dragged her down Londigium’s main thoroughfare. The bright glare of the morning sun glinted off the silver skyscrapers and made some of the light-up signs in the storefronts difficult to read. Nonetheless, Clarity could make out the image of a dress on the digital placard of Hope’s destination.

Clarity dodged to avoid running into some people going in the opposite direction from her. She tried to wrench her hand free of Hope’s grasp to give herself better maneuverability, figuring she could follow her friend’s gleaming, red-gold hair through the crowd, but Hope held tight. “Remind me again why we’re doing this? I don’t care about going to the gala, and I don’t see why I can’t just wear my official paladin armor.”

“I swear, for someone so invested in her career, you can be dense about the things you need to do to advance it.” Clarity’s other friend Zeal tossed her black braids over her shoulder as she gave Clarity a scathing glance. “You have two weeks left until the gala, and Hope has convinced Steady Threads to make an exception to their usual deadlines and take an order for your dress. Try to be a little grateful.”

“I’m a warrior.” Clarity cringed at the petulant tone in her voice but continued her line of argument anyway. “My job at the moment is just conducting training for the non-warrior paladins, but if and when I get promoted, I’m going to be a Citadel guard or a peacekeeper in the city. None of this has anything to do with looking pretty at a gala.”

“Do I have to remind you why you put that ‘if’ in there?” Zeal asked. “You beat out the Grand Conductor’s son during graduation trials for a position at the Citadel.” Zeal was right. Steadfastness Hughes ran the Order of the Amethyst Star, and he hated Clarity. “You need to go to the gala and do some networking among the other warriors to make yourself popular in other circles. Or at least look appropriate so as not to give him an excuse to send you off to the boondocks and install his son in your place.”

“I know, I know. You’re right.” Clarity stumbled as Hope came to a sudden stop in front of the tailor’s shop. “I just feel more comfortable in my armor. The paladins already spent a lot of money getting us high-tech, retractable armor. I don’t see why they’re bothering to pay for dresses and tuxedos as well.”

“Because it would be ridiculous to try dancing at a ball with your armor clanking everywhere, and the purple microfiber bodysuits underneath are not nearly as flattering as you all think they are,” Hope said, her voice containing an uncharacteristic tartness. “Besides, don’t you want to look amazing enough that Valor regrets breaking up with you just because you beat him in that silly contest?”

“Don’t say that so loud.” Clarity glanced up and down the street, but no one she knew was nearby. “You guys are the only ones who know we broke up. Besides, I don’t think---”

Before Clarity could finish her sentence, a man ran into her, practically shoving her into the store’s forcefield window. She and her friends turned in sync to watch a man in a fine suit run past them, knocking the crowd aside to get through. Behind him came a pair of men in armor as shiny as Clarity’s own, sufficiently far behind that the recovering throng on the street would be an impediment. By the time the paladin peacekeeper she recognized as Diligence noticed her and called, “Stop that man!” Clarity was already racing after him as best she could.

The pursuant looked behind him and noticed a much closer paladin. With a curse, he tried to pick up speed, and when that failed, he turned a corner into what looked like a small alley. He must not know the city very well, Clarity thought. There’s an open air market on the other side of that building. He’s going to be easy to spot there.

Indeed, as she chased him between the skyscrapers, she could easily see his head bobbing amid the stalls. Realizing his mistake, he pushed over a table full of crates of apples, sending the green fruit rolling across the ground. Clarity didn’t miss a beat, leaping into the air above the overturned boxes and landing on her quarry in a tackle. 

The crowd had erupted into shocked gasps at the chase, but as Clarity pulled the man to his feet and twisted his arms behind his back, the crowd burst into applause. She heard the word “Azurite” murmured a few times, so she glanced down at his chest and saw that he in fact wore the telltale diamond-shaped, blue patch that marked him as a resident of the city’s Azure District. Everyone knew the Azurites hated paladins and the order they represented so much that they refused paladin technology rather than follow paladin laws. Clarity had heard rumors that people in the walled-off part of the city lived in abject poverty, but the man standing in front of her looked well-fed and clothed.

Diligence and his partner jogged up behind Clarity. “Thanks for the assist,” Diligence said as he handcuffed the criminal. “We caught him trying to buy a slew of weapons on the black market. The dealer was smart enough to try to make a deal, but this idiot ran.” 

Wow. Clarity had known she was chasing down a criminal, but she’d had no idea he was such a dangerous one. 

“If you want paladin tech, all you have to do is submit to the laws of the city,” Diligence said to his prisoner. Then he turned to the farmer whose apple crates remained upside down on the ground. “If you file a report with the Citadel, the order will reimburse you for your damaged merchandise. We apologize for interfering with your business.”

Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge Banner! Find the book on Kindle Unlimited!

Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge Banner! Find the book on Kindle Unlimited!

Another Excerpt from Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge

“You broke the girl’s leg, Al!” Cass said as soon as the door to his room shut. He’d been waiting half the day to unload on the owl, and the barracks seemed the best place to do that where no one would overhear. My going home has nothing to with what Tenacity said. I needed to talk to Al, and I didn’t have any urgent work, and I wanted to work on my personal projects. Most paladins kept their living spaces sparse and utilitarian, but Cass surrounded himself with broken gadgets, half-constructed gizmos, and spare parts for both.

“Hoo.” Al perched on top of Cass’s closet door, his glassy eyes innocent.

“Don’t you ‘Hoo’ me!” Cass threw his jacket on the bed, then flopped down after it. He scowled at the bird.

Meg sauntered past him and jumped onto his desk. “What do you care? You don’t like her anyway." She stretched, knocking a part---Cass couldn’t see which one but felt certain he would need it later---onto the floor.

“Just because I don’t like her doesn’t mean I want her to suffer bodily harm!” Cass said. “We’re paladins! We have certain ethical standards to uphold!”

“Oh, so you’ve been thinking about her body, then,” Meg said as she curled up and closed her eyes.

Cass opened his mouth to form a retort he was sure would be quite cutting---not that Meg would care---when Al spoke. “Uphold ethical standards like Valor does?”

Cass clenched his fists. The sound of his brother’s name was enough to put him into a headache inducing rage. “Just because Valor is the world’s worst paladin doesn’t mean I have to be. I don’t have morals because it impresses my father and the Council. I have them because it’s the right thing to do.”

Al flew down next to him. “I’m sorry, Cass,” the owl said. “It was just supposed to be a few pranks. I didn’t mean to injure her.”

Cass stroked the top of Al’s head, and the robot closed his eyes and preened as if he could feel it. “I know, buddy. But let’s leave the pranks alone for a while, shall we? I don’t want to have to change your programming.” Cass could never explain to Tenacity why it would be a violation to modify the AI’s algorithms, especially since they weren’t sentient, just complex. Maybe Tenacity was right about him needing some human friends.

“I don’t think the girl’s so bad.” A purr reverberated through Meg’s words.

“That’s because you don’t know her,” Cass said, sitting up. He’d wasted enough time moping. He needed to get some work done on his fetching drone. He pulled his magnifying goggles out of his shirt pocket and put them on.

“Do you know her?” Al asked, flying alongside Cass as he moved to the desk and looked for his micro-screwdriver. It wasn’t where he’d left it, so he had to assume it had been Meg’s victim. 

“I inadvertently went to dinner with my parents a few times when she was there,” Cass said, dropping into a crouch to look for the device. “She was horrid. Always deferential to my father about everything.” From the silence that followed, Cass could imagine what was going through at least Meg’s mind. He was always deferential to his father, too. Total obedience was the only way to deal with Steadfastness Hughes. “Besides, she’s dating Valor.”

Even to his own ears, that argument was starting to sound weak.

Picture of Elizabeth Corrigan, author of Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge

Picture of Elizabeth Corrigan, author of Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge

About Elizabeth Corrigan, Author of Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge

Elizabeth Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare industry. When she’s not hard at work on her next novel, Elizabeth enjoys playing tabletop role-playing games and cooperative card games. She refuses to watch most internet videos and is pathologically afraid of bees. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a very active iphone.

Website: https://elizabethcorriganauthor.com/

Social Media: Twitter and Facebook

Giveaway: Raffecopter

What have you been reading? My latest book reviews!

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately, so I thought I’d talk about some of them here!

The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Power is a very intense, exciting, and sometimes disturbing book by Naomi Alderman. The premise of the book is that women all over the world, in particular teenage girls, start developing the ability to shoot electricity through their hands. There’s huge variabilities in their abilities, but even a little of this power makes women able to overpower most men. Alderman’s book depicts the violent, chaotic, but perhaps just reckoning between men and women that occurs in the aftermath of this development, which upends the power balance between men and women. In the process, she hilariously satirizes the egocentric navel gazing of evolutionary psychology, anthropology, and many other fields that spend a shocking amount of time convincing themselves that women are naturally peaceful, gentle, and power-adverse.

This is one of the most startling and powerful books I’ve read recently. Alderman’s vision of a society where women rule is an unsentimental look at the corrupting effects of power and the devastating impacts of powerless on people worldwide. Fair warning: the scenes of violence in this book are not for the faint-hearted. The level of savagery and darkness that Alderman depicts feels like reading reports of human rights atrocities from third world countries. There’s a lot of visceral horror in this book, though unlike in most books, part of the horror is in recognizing the humanity of the victims of these abuses.

Overall, I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in exploring gender roles, undermining hierarchies, and more speculative science fiction. Just be warned this is not a book for anyone easily triggered.

Cover of “The Power” by Naomi Alderman

Cover of “The Power” by Naomi Alderman

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

I loved The Last Unicorn movie as a kid! It inspired in me a very intense love and devotion for unicorns (who I was absolutely convinced were real). What I didn’t realize until years later was that the movie was based on a book, one of the great fantasy classics by Peter Beagle. So of course, I had to buy the book.

It’s a very interesting and profound book in many ways. While the plot is very similar to the movie, the book does add depth to many of my favorite characters, including Schmendrick the Magician and the Unicorn herself. The Unicorn, who I loved in the movie, is still an amazing character. She often struggles to really understand mortals in the same way that they struggle to understand her, and yet her friendships with Molly and Schmendrick, and her later love for Lir, form the emotional core of the story.

I will say that I felt the book sort of loses its way once the unlikely trio arrive at King Haggard’s castle. Perhaps because Amalthea feels like such an uncertain character compared to the Unicorn, who feels completely herself. Still, I think the story has so many profound implications. If the Unicorn had never become Amalthea, she would have never learned to love Lir, and it was her love that gave her the strength to defeat the Red Bull.

Overall, I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and unicorns! I’d also recommend the movie, too, which I think really holds up. I watched it with my children and they were entranced.

Cover of Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn

Cover of Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

I got this book in a local comics shop, and I was very curious. I’d known that George Takei had been imprisoned as a child during the Japanese internments, and I wanted to know more about his story. “They Called Us Enemy” is a profound book that looks at a very traumatic event in American History from the point of view of a child. As a parent, it’s both haunting and uplifting. The depictions of his mother holding his sick baby sister, packing a bag in the middle of the night and being forced to live in a horse stall, just broke my heart. The deep fear that you have for your children’s safety and their health under those horrible circumstances really spoke to me. Yet, George’s perspective (of a child on an adventure), gives the book so much uplift and even some comedy. As the mother of a young boy, I could one hundred percent believe that my son would be incredibly excited to ride a train or see the American West even under those circumstances.

Overall, this is an incredible real-life story that’s well written and beautifully illustrated. I’d recommend it to anyone, especially teachers. As a graphic novel that depicts a part of American History many students don’t know enough about, this could be a great book to have in History and English classes.

Cover of George Takai’s They Called Us Enemy

Cover of George Takai’s They Called Us Enemy

Leon Stevens Interviews Leon Stevens, Sci-Fi Author and Poet

Leon Stevens interviews Leon Stevens for Lunarian Press!

Hello. I’m Leon Stevens, and I’m here with the author Leon Stevens. 

  - So, we are doing this again?

Do you have somewhere to be?

  - No, not really, unless you forgot something. Who is this for this time?

Lunarian Press.

  - Ahh, yes. Fine folks. OK, go ahead.

What would you like readers to know about you?

 - That I’m out there, not philosophically, but I am a writer. One of the hardest things about being a new indie author is getting the word out. 

Do you want to let them know what books you have written?

 - My first book, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures, is a collection of—

Poems, Prose, and Pictures?

 - Exactly. My second book is a book of classical guitar music called Journeys, and my latest book, The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories, has both science fiction and post-apocalyptic stories, along with a few poems.

Cover of The Knot at the End of the Rope by Leon Stevens!

Cover of The Knot at the End of the Rope by Leon Stevens!

I’ve asked this before—

 - And you’ll ask it again?


[silence]

Can I finish?

 - Go ahead.

As I was saying, you write in many different styles. Do you think that limits your appeal by segmenting your readership?

 - I’ve thought about that. But if I am inspired to write something, I don’t want to limit myself. I still write poetry. It took me four years to publish my first book of poetry—I’m not going to be able to put out another right away. I hope my readership will embrace my eclectic writing.  It is about entertaining and keeping readers engaged. Writing poetry served its purpose. It was therapy for me. Once I discovered my enjoyment of writing, I turned to science fiction because that was my first love.

Cover of Lines by Leon, a collection of poems, pose, and pictures by Leon Stevens

Cover of Lines by Leon, a collection of poems, pose, and pictures by Leon Stevens





What book or books have most influenced you as a writer?

 - My father, who wasn’t a writer, would make up space stories at bedtime, so I credit him for introducing me to that genre. I like to think that Kurt Vonnegut had a role in how I write. His writing is part science fiction—without the hard science—mixed with humor, satire, and cynicism. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury turned me on to short stories.


What are some tropes of fiction in your genre that you love/hate? Why?

 - I don’t think there are any I wouldn’t touch or dislike reading. They are used for a reason—because they work. I wouldn’t say there are bad ones, just ones that are used badly. 


Used badly…Is that proper grammar?

 - Excuse me, did I put the adverb in the wrong place?



I’m not sure. It just sounds…odd? I see that you are redesigning your science fiction book cover. Why?

 - It was my initial design—and I liked it—however, it seemed to not have the appeal that I hoped for. After a few self-publishing courses, I decided it was a good change to make. 


I like #5, by the way.

  - That seems to be the consensus.


Feel like doing the lightning round?

 - Sure, Why not!

Favorite—

 - Chocolate!

I wasn’t done.

 - Sorry

Favorite T.V. show

 - Star Trek

What’s your favorite animal?

It’s not the same as yours? Let’s say it at the same time. One…two…three.

Platypus/Armadillo

Really? Huh. Go figure.

When was the last time you played a video game?

 - Wow. That’s a while ago. I think it was Fallout—the third one.

So, not a fan?

 - Apparently not.

Do you remember when we used to play D & D in university? 

 - We played more games than we studied, didn’t we. How about Shadowrun?

Wow, I haven’t thought of that one for a while.

 - And lots of board games.

Risk

 - Stratego

Supremacy

 - Axis and Allies

Good times.

- Indeed!


Let’s end off with a final writing question. What advice do you have for other writers or people just getting started in writing?

 - Write about what you love. I would say—others may not—that you should write for yourself first, then as you hone your craft, you can decide if you want to write what people are buying. 


Well then, I think that’s about it. Anything else to add?

 - Just this column of expenditures. Tax time, remember?



[silence]



Find Out More About Leon Stevens!


Leon’s Social Media and Website: Website  / Goodreads / Twitter  / Instagram

Book Links: The Knot at the End of the Rope    Lines by Leon   Journeys