Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 143

New Book Trailer: THE PIRATES OF SORENDAAL, from the Commonwealth Universe

Within the Commonwealth Universe are several series, following different planets, colonies, and even families through several generations. With the release of NOVA VENDETTA 1: THE INJUSTICE and NOVA VENDETTA 2: THE TRUCE last year, 3 of the books dealing with the pirates (or if you will, rebels, revolutionaries, or colonists) of Sorendaal are now available. Several years ago, the first story was released: THE PIRATE AND THE PROFESSOR, a novella SF/romance featuring -- don't be confused now -- the daughter of the heroes of the Nova Vendetta books.

Hey, that's the way I sometimes write. As I'm writing one story, I realize their parents or other ancestors have stories of their own, and write those stories afterward. Sometimes years afterwards. If you waited for me to write a series of books in specific chronological order, you might never see them in print, and I'd have a huge backlog of books waiting to "finish" before sending them to my publisher.

Now, for your pleasure, edification and hopefully temptation: THE PIRATES OF SORENDAAL. A series within the Commonwealth Universe.

In the Spotlight: QUARTET, The Hunt Book 2

Today's book is the 2nd in the Hunt series of YA fantasy from Writer's Exchange.

QUARTET

Cinden Lai is a firstborn, a member of the Hunt. She found sanctuary with a reclusive old woman when the Hounds of Hamin brought her to Earth, but now her dreams and the increasing storms make her think it is time to leave her safe haven and seek out members of the Hunt.
When a rich old man claims she is his missing granddaughter, Cinden knows he is lying, but she can't prove it -- not without endangering the Hunt. He knows too much about her, and claims he has her brothers and sister. That is reason enough for her to investigate. Are the other three part of a trap, or in need of rescue?


When four members of the Hunt come together, amazing things can happen...but they also discover a traitor among them, and learn a countdown has started: Time is running out for the Hunt, and life on Earth can be fatal for them in more ways than one.

Off the Bookshelf: ALIEN HUNTERS, by David Arenson

This was another book I got from Nook on a Free Book Friday. It looked ... interesting. I mean, besides the fact that it was SF, it had a cool ship on the cover, and it was Free!!

Some kinds of humor just aren't my style or taste. For instance, some people think the Three Stooges and Jerry Lewis are the pinnacle of humor, while I think they can fall way over the side too often into obnoxious, moronic, and immature, with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer the size of the Empire State Building. I like subtle humor. I like humor that makes you stop and think, and you chuckle and read faster, rather than laughing out loud and falling off your chair. Disc World. Make sense?

So the humor in this book escapes me, but that doesn't mean it's wrong or it doesn't work -- it just isn't mine.

Too many things didn't work for me -- but then, I admit I'm really, really picky. Comes with the territory, being an editor. And I don't like being promised one thing, and then being disappointed. For instance, the "aliens" that this ragtag group of misfits hunts ... are essentially the space-age version of rats, termites, squirrels in the attic, and other vermin, but on the sometimes gigantic and really disgusting scale. Kind of a let-down when that was revealed.

On the other hand, the characters the author has created to populate the ship that not only is named after a dragon but is shaped like a dragon? Unique individuals, cleverly and expertly drawn. Each with so much to offer the story, each consistent within themselves. So that tells me this is a matter of taste, not talent. The author has got the talent. It's me, not him.

I know there are many people who will like this story as the characters go haring off across the galaxy, pursued by really disgusting characters out to rule the universe, spraying blood and gore wherever they go (even among themselves), on a quest to find possibly the last member of a magical race, while they bicker among themselves and try to keep the demon member of the crew from drinking the really expensive fuel for their ship. Try it, you might just like it!

In the Spotlight: DAWN MEMORIES, The Hunt Book 1

This weekend, we're starting on the Hunt series, YA fantasy published by Writer's Exchange.

DAWN MEMORIES

It was a blast in more ways than one. The explosion that could have killed Dawn actually ignited a fiery trail of long forgotten memories, all leading to the point where it all began.
Yes, she remembered.
She was not from Earth at all. She was the daughter of one of the ruling families from another world in another dimension, sent to Earth by her parents to protect her from a galactic despot who wanted all the rulers' children as hostages.

She was from The Hunt, branded as such by two thin white lines on her wrist caused by the Hounds of Hamin: interdimensional guardian beasts that held the children's wrists in their mouths as they pulled them through the vortex from their world to Earth.
But Dawn remembered something else. Someone else. Stayn, her best friend and her betrothed.

Where was he? Could he rescue her from the 'safe' house where she was currently guarded by Federal Agents? And could they rekindle what time and distance had torn apart?

Off the Bookshelf: A HOBBIT, A WARDROBE AND A GREAT WAR, by Joseph Loconte

Writing books, by/about writers, about the process of writing -- specifically, their process of writing, how they became writers, the things that shaped them and their viewpoint -- I find fascinating and educational. Anyone interested in becoming a writer or refining their own process and "voice" should try to find books on the process by or about their favorite writers. Such insights will help them understand a little more clearly what goes on in their own heads.

This book, as you can tell from the title, is about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien -- and the "great war" refers to WWI. Specifically, how the war changed the world's attitudes and philosophies, and how their experiences in the war helped to shape these two writers' viewpoints and attitudes and values. I find it interesting and encouraging that they basically turned away from the pessimistic, humanistic trends of their day, in reaction to the devastation, cruelty, disillusionment and hypocrisy of WWI, the justification for the brutality and slaughter -- and they held to higher ideals and hope in their writing.

The two were friends, meeting in the academic community around Oxford years after the war. They supported each other's literary endeavors and helped shape each other's mindset, and later credited each other for their successes. This book is a keeper, not just because I adore Lewis and Tolkien, but for all the insights and growth and encouragement included in this little-known chapter in the story of their friendship and writing.

Read it. Re-read it. Loan it to your Hobbit and Free Narnian friends. They'll thank you for it.

Off the Bookshelf: WIND AND SHADOW, by Kathy Tyers

Whew! Done. Book 1 of the one-book-a-week commitment for the year. I even went so far this year to list the first 10 books or so of what I plan to read on Goodreads, so you can hold me accountable.

What's nice is that it's a book I've wanted to read for a long time. Honestly, I've had this and the next book in the series sitting on my nightstand for at least 2 years, giving me the evil eye, whining in my sleep, demanding to know when I'll get to them. It's a rough life, having so many books waiting to be read that the riches turn into a burden.

I'm only partially joking.

WIND AND SHADOW is the 4th book in the series Kathy Tyers started many years ago with her landmark novel, FIREBIRD. The first three books have gone through quite a few shifts and changes and publishing houses, and now she's written two more books, following through on the promises and prophecies mentioned in the previous three. This series is set in a far future where conflicts familiar in recent movies are prevalent -- basically the tension between ordinary Humans and augmented Humans with talents. Can the changed Humans be trusted? Can the unchanged Humans be trusted? Who is going to make the first strike against the other? In the middle of all this are the gifted Sentinels with their Code, their devotion to the prophecies and to the guardian of their souls, and the Caldwell family, with their gifts and problems and the heavy burden of figuring in those prophecies .......

I think the sign of a really good series is that even with a break of at least 10 years since reading the last book, it didn't take long to pick up on who is who, what's going on, and remember the events of the previous books and what's at stake. If you're lucky (or maybe not so, because why did you wait so long?) you're on the verge of starting the series, with the waiting thrill of discovery and being drawn into the universe of Firebird and Brennan Caldwell and now, their descendants. ENJOY!

Off the Bookshelf: THE EYE OF MINDS by James Dashner

This was a featured book on Nook a few weeks ago. It caught my attention because it's the first in a new series by the author of the Maze Runner book and its sequels. A chance to see what all the fuss is about!

Okay .... this one is a mind-bender. Fun, but kind of gritty.

Essentially, everybody is into playing in a virtual reality world of multiple games. Kind of telling that the box you get into to enter the VR world is referred to as a coffin. Full immersion, senses and mind, and you feel what happens to you in the VR world. Including hunger, bruises, torture ... Fortunately, when you "die" in VR, you just re-set.

At least, until a guy called Kaine shows up and starts taking over, and people deliberately suicide, destroying their own safeguards as a last resort to escape.

Our hero, Michael, is a high school kid who is a pretty talented gamer. A government agency recruits him and his two very talented friends to investigate, figure out what Kaine is doing, where he is, and try to open up a doorway so the authorities can get in there and stop him. This is a government you can't say no to -- because they'll stop all your access to the VR world if you don't cooperate. So what else can Michael and his friends do? They put their virtual lives on the line, and things get pretty grim by the time Michael makes it to the end of the trail -- and then the answers turn his entire world upside down. Didn't see it coming -- and yet the clues were all there.

Doggone it, I'm gonna have to read the rest of the books! Hooked. Even if you're not into VR-type stories and the computer world and programming and evil sentient programs and such ... you'll enjoy this.

In the Spotlight: LONDON HOLIDAY

Today's spotlight goes backwards in time a little bit in Neighborlee's history.

Years before the events that have taken place at Divine's Emporium, an orphan girl comes home to Neighborlee, to live with her grandparents and her cousin, Athena. London Halliday's arrival changes her family's life ... and brings her into the battle to defend Neighborlee, and help Neighborlee defend the entire world from inimical, unimaginable things in other worlds and dimensions...


The Internet + an unusual camera + a college project + Divine's Emporium = London Holiday. But who--or what--is London Holiday?  It started with an overnight stay at Divine's Emporium and a high school computer programming assignment. Athena found an unusual video camera, hooked it up to her computer, and video taped her cousin, London, whom everyone called Doni. She thought nothing of it, after all the other odd events of that night.

After all, Neighborlee, Ohio was the weirdness capital of the United States, and Divine's Emporium was the caretaker, the way to control all that weirdness and keep the magic tamed. At least, that was what everyone who saw the strange things and people and events chose to believe.
Three years later, in an experimental computer class in college, Athena and her teammates chose to create a social media site as their project. The site, called FlopDrop, needed a hostess. Doni agreed to be the foundation for all the images of the hostess, whom they named London Holiday.To the surprise of the team and the class -- and the disgust of their rivals and enemies -- FlopDrop took off. London Holiday and her CGI friends became overnight Internet sensations. London seemed to take on a life of her own.
By the time Athena and Doni realized that their artificial person had become a self-aware Artificial Intelligence, they weren't quite sure what that harmless experimentation three years ago had created. Were they midwives at the birth of a new lifeform … or repeating Dr. Frankenstein's mistakes on an even bigger scale?

Fortunately, all this was happening in Neighborlee, where outsiders didn't seem to notice the background weirdness, and residents either shrugged it off as, "So what else is new?" or had a good idea what to do to fix the problem.
From Uncial Press/

The BARROO Report

Happy New Year!

16 hours from now -- at least in my time zone -- 2016 will be upon us. More than 1/4 of the world will already be in the new year.

Pray for peace, for rain where there has been drought, for clear skies where there has been flooding, for warmth in the cold and light in the darkness and for the weather to settle down to what it should be at this time of the year -- and for people's hearts and minds to be more generous and respectful.

Lots of people make resolutions for the new year -- health, productivity, and overall change in their lives are usually at the top of the list.

Here's what definitely WILL happen in 2016 -- if the Lord doesn't return soon. And honestly, with everything happening around the globe, I add my prayers: COME QUICKLY, LORD!

But in 2016, book-wise:

Quarry Hall: NIKKI'S TEST will release in February. I am working on SOPHIE and SU-MA.
Faxinor: I am working on book #4, THE SWORD OF FAXINOR.
Wildvine: ISTORICA, FELIN-RU, OLD SOLAR'S SHOPPE, and APPRENTICE SOLAR. I am currently polishing up TAKSEARHE.
The Commonwealth Universe: The next book in Age I will be SLIPPING THE WEAVE, following the transition from Khybors to Leapers, followed by FIRST LAW. Gotta write those books ... soon!
Neighborlee: HERO BLUES will be out in February. The next book to be written will be stepping further into the "past" of Neighborlee, with GROWING UP NEIGHBORLEE, about Lanie Zephyr and her friends in the Neighborlee Children's Home.
Guardians of the Time Stream: A new Steampunk series coming from Desert Breeze Publishing, will launch with ODESSA FREMONT, followed by THE BLUE LOTUS SOCIETY.
Yesterday, I turned in the next book of the series that started with BITTER SWEET. THE WICKED QUEEN follows the misadventures of wicked Queen Sorcha as she tries to free herself from the curse put on her by the seeress, Kalista, at the end of THE WOLF THAT WAS. Anyone for fractured faerie tales?

Hmm, looks like 2016 is going to be pretty busy. Anyone interested in being my "ground crew" and helping me promote my books? I can't pay much ... except ARCs, eternal gratitude, shout-outs, maybe team t-shirts .... oh, and definitely chocolate!

Remember to check Goodreads -- www.Goodreads.com -- for the book giveaways they have EVERY DAY. I have a few more giveaways scheduled, and will be posting more books in the near future. It's a great place to get a taste of an author's style and series -- for free!

In the Spotlight: DIVINE KNIGHT

Today's Spotlight is on Angela, proprietress of Divine's Emporium, the magical shop at the center of Neighborlee, Ohio.

Everyone turns to Angela when they need help. But who does Angela turn to when enemies seem to be gathering around, and her mysterious, shadowy past finally seems to be rising up against her?

~Enemies converge on Divine's Emporium. The question of whether they succeed rests in the secrets of Angela's forgotten past.~
Equinox: Maurice has a day of full-size freedom to spend with his true love, Holly. Their day of fun ends in panic, when Angela is attacked and the defenses of Divine's Emporium are breached. In the search to find out who hired thieves to steal books full of inimical magic from the shop and provided them with magic charms to do it, Angela's memories are stirred. Strange dreams disturb her sleep and she asks questions she hasn't thought of in decades.


Ethan Jarrod, a particularly gifted P.I. with some mysteries of his own, joins forces with local P.I. John Stanzer to identify Angela's enemies. Is Jarrod the knight from her dreams, or the final weapon of her enemies, to destroy all the magic of Divine's Emporium and Angela herself?