feel free to explore the Flight Deck and check out my books and website.
Then fasten your seatbelts, sip a glass of something sparkling and let's chat awhile!
I hope you'll stop by again for guest authors and spotlights from time to time.
Beloved Enemy joined Starquest and Children of the Mistto continue the DestinyTrilogy and I'm thrilled to announce was shortlisted for the R.N.A. RoNAAwards 2017, awarded 2nd Runner up in the RONE Awards 2017 and was the winner in the SF/Fantasy category of the 'Best Banter Contest'.
It's always a pleasure to be able to help other authors share the word about their books and new releases, never more so than when they're fellow SF or Fantasy authors. It's great to welcome Emma L Adams to the flight deck today. Happy Release Day, Emma!
On an alternative 21st-century Earth in which our world is one of many in the Multiverse, the Inter-World Alliance exists to keep the peace between the worlds, and keep the monsters out.
Ada Fletcher is twenty-one, keeps a collection of knives in her room, and is more interested in fighting than her day job as a cashier. She also risks her life on a daily basis, helping refugees from a devastating magical war on her homeworld hide on the low-magic Earth. But when she’s taken into custody by the Alliance, her unusual magic makes her a prime suspect for a supervisor’s suspicious death.
For Kay Walker, whose family founded the organization, there has never been any doubt that his future is with the Alliance – even if it means dealing with sarcastic centaurs and dangerous monsters in the dark Passages between worlds. But when his supervisor is murdered, Kay discovers that a research project might have been the reason, and faces the choice of whether to ignore his instincts or risk becoming the next target, not to mention digging into the Alliance’s history and memories he’d rather keep buried. And there’s something not quite right about the strange, fierce girl he arrested as a suspect.
The last thing Ada wants is to help the infuriating Alliance guard who arrested her, but it soon becomes clear that the Alliance knows too much about Ada’s offworld origins. More, in fact, than she knows herself. Now she has to choose between loyalty to her family, and helping the Alliance save the Earth – and the Multiverse – from a deadly enemy.
BIO
Emma spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing speculative fiction. She was born in Birmingham, UK, which she fled at the first opportunity to study English Literature at Lancaster University. In her three years at Lancaster, she hiked up mountains, skydived in Australia, and endured a traumatic episode involving a swarm of bees in the Costa Rican jungle. She also entertained her creative writing group and baffled her tutors by submitting strange fantasy tales featuring dragons and supernatural monsters to workshops. These included her first publication, a rather bleak dystopian piece, and a disturbing story about a homicidal duck (which she hopes will never see the ight of day).
Now a reluctant graduate, Emma refuses to settle down and be normal. When not embarking on wild excursions and writing fantasy novels, she edits and proofreads novels for various publishing houses and reads an improbable number of books. Emma is currently working on the Alliance series, a multiple-universe adult fantasy featuring magic, monsters, cool gadgets and sarcasm. Her upper-YA urban fantasy Darkworld series is published by Curiosity Quills Press.
I'm always happy to welcome a fellow SF/Fantasy writer to the Flight Deck. I'm delighted to be part of Emerson Fray's Virtual Book Tour for The Argent Star. Happy Release Day Emerson, wishing you many sales.
(Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter contest at the end of the post)
BLURB:
What happens when your decisions affect an entire universe?
Ren Argent wanted to be an archeologist and spend her life exploring the lost cities of Earth. But
when a new planet is discovered and her father is appointed King, she
has to leave behind everything she knows to rule over a place she’s only
heard of in legends.
Not long after her arrival she discovers there are insurgents hiding in the darkened forests and the planet is on the brink of civil war. It won’t be long until the Monarchy steps in to “neutralize” the threat.
Will she be able to stop the hostile takeover? Or will her actions ignite a rebellion across the universe?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EXCERPT
“He wants you to marry soon, but I think he’ll be happier if you’re dead.”
Ren knew Garret was trying to get her to marry someone on Novae but she hadn’t thought he’d be happier if she was dead. She didn’t think her death would benefit him in any way, actually. Or anyone, for that matter.
“Garret might be a snake, but he would be happier if I just married someone,” Ren argued.
“He’d be happier if Elian was on the throne.”
That caught Ren by surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Maks cannot be controlled,” Sheridan cut in, her voice low. “He does what he believes is right and best for the people, not the Monarchy. Elian is not as strong as Maks; he’d fold under their pressure.”
“Elian is plenty strong,” Ren said. “And if he were the King then he would be great. He would--”
“Be easily controlled,” Abetha interrupted, “at least Garret thinks so.”
Ren bit down on her bottom lip. “No he wouldn’t.” It was true though, and Elian had plenty of weaknesses they could exploit. All they had to do was threaten to take away his machines and he would crumble. But Ren wanted to think her brother had more integrity than that and shook her head.
“He would compared to Maks,” Abetha said carefully. “The Monarchy is having trouble keeping Maks under their thumb. He isn’t doing what they want here.”
“And what is it they want?” Ren whispered. It was what she’d been trying to figure out ever since she’d left Earth.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Emerson Fray currently resides in Hamilton, Ontario. While most of her stories happen on other planets, she remains on Earth 24/7 hunting down hawks and bugs to photograph, as well as chasing her mother’s dog to reclaim stolen shoes. A self taught Pokemon trainer and coffee lover, she spends most of her valuable time pinning recipes she will never make on boards she will forget about. Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrayEmerson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emersonfray
Blog: https://emersonfray.wordpress.com
Make sure you enter the rafflecopter contest below and don't forget to follow the tour HERE - the more times you enter, the better your chances!
In an age of knights and sorcery, a good king must raise a monster
to protect his people from thedemon unleashed by a dark-hearted enemy
determined to claim his kingdom. But once called forth upon
blood-drenched fields, can such evil ever be truly laid to rest?
To a present day community held hostage by fear, a serial killer
will soon be the least of its worries after two off-duty firefighters
enter a forest and find a grave. What they dig up isn’t a victim or
family pet. When they race from the woods, they bring a timeless hell
with them . . .
Based upon the original horror screenplay IN THE WOODS by Lynn Drzick, now an independent
motion picture.
MY REVIEW
This starts off almost as high fantasy. I became really absorbed in the battle against good and evil and the conclusion of that section came as something of a shock - but then everything has its price and the powerful climax to this part is completely credible.
The setting changes to the present day and becomes a fast-paced edge of the seat thriller, with killing following upon killing leaving the reader wondering who will be next. As the tension increases on every page, the stakes grow even higher and it's not just the hero's marriage which is at stake, but his very life and the lives of those he cares most about. The exciting climax and bone chilling events which conclude the story make for a nail biting read.
If you enjoy a fast moving adventure, with a fearsome and deadly evil, plenty of bloody killings together with relationship issues and a protagonist desperately trying to save his marriage, you will certainly enjoy this story.
With over 60 sales since her first publication in 1987, which was written in long hand then typed up on a manual Smith Corolla, Portage, Michigan author Nancy Gideon’s writing encompasses romance genres from historicals and regencies to contemporary suspense and the paranormal.
Under her own name, she’s a bestseller in contemporary romantic suspense, has written an award-winning vampire romance series, and has a six book shape-shifter series with Pocket Books. Also listed on the International Movie Database (IMDB), she collaborated on Indie horror films In the Woodsand Savage with screenwriting and ADR script credits, and even played a small role, that of “bar extra.”
Writing historical romance as Dana Ransom, she’s a “Career Achievement for Historical Adventure” and “K.I.S.S.” award winner with books published in Romanian, Italian, Russian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, French, German, Icelandic and Chinese.
As Rosalyn West, she’s a HOLT Medallion winner with nominations for “Best North American Historical Romance” and “Best Historical Book in a Series.”
A prolific writer, Nancy attributes her creative output, which once peaked at seven novels in one year, to her love of history and a gift for storytelling. She also credits the discipline learned through a background in journalism and OCD. The due date for her third book and her second son were on the same day . . . and both were early! When on deadline, she turns on the laptop between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. to get a chapter in before heading in to her full time job as a legal assistant. She’s a member of GDRWA, MMRWA, FF&P and dotes on her critique group.
A botched
investigation into the past triggers a domino effect, thrusting T.I. Agent
Amanda West into a race to get home to the man she loves in a future that may
no
“Let’s
go, rookie.” I set my blaster on stun. “I want to be home in time for dinner.”
Corporal
Winger nodded and drew his gun.
I
noticed his hand shake. That should have been my first cue something was wrong.
He clutched his gun so tense his knuckles turned white. This was his first op,
and it already went way far south way too soon. This was just supposed to be a
routine run: bring back a fugitive who had bolted through an unauthorized time
portal. We were the closest ship to it. He was just one guy, but he had a gun.
Who would have thought things could’ve gone so wrong?
I
kissed the scar on my right hand before we chased him through Central Park in
the year 2014. It was a silly ritual, but when I found myself far from home, I
started to get superstitious. On cold nights, when time, space, and a universe
kept me away, I’d look at that scar and think about Parker.
Winger
was a hair faster than me catching up with our time jumper. Maybe if I’d been
there a second or two sooner I could have stopped him, but I arrived just in
time to watch him aim his gun. I was just within view when our jumper pulled in
a hostage, a little girl, something that would’ve made any experienced agent
hold his fire.
Winger
was just reacting on instinct.He didn’t
pull back in time, and the guy held the kid in front of him. The scene played
out in slow motion. Maybe Winger thought he could make a head-shot on the perp,
or maybe he just fired in the heat of the moment; we were both tired. All I
knew was, as the girl and our jumper fell to the ground, the look of horror on
Winger’s face didn’t last long.
I’d
never seen a person fade from existence before, not until that moment. The
theory, according to Temporal Investigations, was that one dies before actually
disappearing completely. Sheer shock and horror was the killer, like falling
off a tall building. But Winger looked me in the eyes the entire time, silently
pleading for help as he faded right in front of me. I reached out to grab his
hand, but it vanished, and that’s when I noticed my scar begin to ghost.
I
didn’t know who that little girl was. Maybe she had invented something that
made the Galactic Conferences possible, or maybe she was the grandmother of the
grandmother of someone who assigned cores in the Academy, and because she no
longer existed in the future, Parker and I may have ended up in different
course plans. Or maybe she did something at just the right moment, a move in
one direction or another, a decade from now, and things just fell into place
for us. It was impossible to tell what could happen without her influence, but
I feared something was wrong. I could have lost Parker already without even
knowing it.
When
I saw that scar on my hand ghost, I knew it was a sign that the time stream was
starting to realign. We were briefed on ghosting at the Academy. They told us
to run; they said always run back to the ship, flat out as fast as we could.
But we all knew the truth. We couldn’t outrun a time realignment. It would be
like outrunning the hand of the universe.
The
moment I saw that scar flicker, I took off in a dead sprint back to the ship
and leaped into the captain’s chair. As the controls came on around me I felt
the hum of the hyperspace time bubble curling around the ship like a warm
blanket. Then, when I tried to catch my breath, I felt a hot sting in my gut.
Our jumper had managed to get off a shot, and as luck would have it, his
blaster charge went straight through Winger’s ghosting body and hit me in the
stomach. I did my best to breathe slowly, but each inhale felt like razor
blades slicing through my chest. I winced and put pressure on the singed and
bloody wound then throttled up the engines.
“Well
today just sucked, didn’t it.” I looked at the picture of Parker I kept on my
dashboard. We had our pictures taken when we were assigned to The Bartlett.
Knowing this meant I hadn’t forgotten about him...at least not yet. Then I
looked to make sure the hyperspace time bubble had restored the scar on my
hand. Yes. I gave it another kiss for luck. Just lifting my arm sent shooting
pains through my stomach, but I figured I needed a fair amount of luck right
about then, so the pain was worth the effort.
“Just
make it home for dinner.” I clutched the steering yoke tightly. “Just one more
trip.” I forced a breath. “Let me see that everything is all right with Parker.
Then let whatever changes I’ve made to the future do what they will to me.”
“Some
time cop I turned out to be.”
I
slammed on the thrusters hard and gunned the engine boosters through the time
jump, but the inertia field didn’t have time to boot up, so I felt my ribs
crack as my chest slammed against the crash belt and the back of my head
bounced off the top of my chair.
I
screamed in pain.
In
flight school I had experienced what happened without an inertia field. Senior
cadets would watch Parker and I train in the flight deck sim. We’d shoot to
hyperspace without any problems. But every once in a while the cadets would
program in an inertia field glitch just to see how we’d respond to the stress,
at least that’s what they told the instructors. It was really a rite of passage
made worse by the fact that the simulator didn’t have crash belts, so the only
way to go was flying backwards. If it wasn’t for the crash helmets, our brains
would’ve splattered against the cold metal exit door.
“Stupid
prank,” I said, spitting blood. I was bleeding internally. The scar on my hand
ghosted again. The time bubble was weakening already, so I started going over
my past, wondering just how much of it I would forget.
I
decide to listen to my personal logs and make sure everything was just as I
remembered. Hopefully that last ghosting wasn’t a sign that I was too late. The
computer accessed my files, starting with my first week studying for the
Academy mid-terms.
I
remembered that day by the lake on the Academy grounds, fresh in my mind no
matter what time jump I was in. The lake was clear blue enough that I could see
the incoming spaceships reflected in the surface. I had sat there so often over
that first month I could tell how low the ships were flying by the ripples
their wakes made in the water.
I sat
near a tree, hoping to keep my mind on my introductory engineering midterm
studies. Sometimes the Academy felt like a monster looking to swallow cadets
whole, but out there, under the shuttles flying by and the transport ships
jumping to hyperspace like little daylight shooting stars, the Academy grounds
felt peaceful. That day the transports lit up the clouds like purple and red
lightning. I listened to the low rumble of the shuttles as I skipped a rock
across the water. Then I cracked open a book.
About
the Author:
Josh Sinason
grew up in DeKalb, Illinois, and has been featured in the Two With Water
reading series and at DIY-Film.com.
In addition he
has won the Creativity in Media award for his work on
On an alternative 21st-century Earth in which our world is one of many in the Multiverse, the Inter-World Alliance exists to keep the peace between the worlds, and keep the monsters out.
