C.A. Milson's Blog, page 226
May 12, 2015
Cover Reveal ~ Forbidden Darkness
About The Book
Title: Forbidden Darkness
Author: Alec John Belle
Genre: YA Paranormal
Being a sixteen year old Monster Hunter sucks.
That’s what Heather Hawkins learns just days before her sixteenth birthday. After dealing with her best friend, Kristen’s, attempted suicide, the last thing Heather wants is any more drama. When the realistic dreams of Heather being haunted by a guy named Kadin begin, she learns the truth. She is a Monster Hunter, and on her birthday, she will undergo a change that will make her stronger, more powerful, and nearly invincible to Monsters. Along with having a hot new trainer named Philip, she believes that this will be a new beginning for herself.
Unfortunately, Monsters aren’t the only thing Heather needs to worry about. With someone stalking her dreams, she realizes there may be more than just Monsters in the world, and that Kadin will do anything to stop her from helping the Monster Hunters. Even if that means unleashing an entity that was locked away by his people thousands of years ago.
In this all-new paranormal young adult series, romances will be formed, evil becomes unleashed, and everyone Heather loves will soon be at risk. Because in a world where Monsters walk the earth, anything is possible.
Author Bio
Alec John Belle is an online high school student that resides in the state of Massachusetts. At the age of 16 he wrote his first novel, Before I Break. His hobbies include reading, writing and obsessing over Pretty Little Liars. He writes about tough topics that many are too afraid to talk about, like suicide, homosexuality, self-harm, cyberbullying, anxiety disorders, addiction, among other teenage issues, and he often blends these ideas with the paranormal.
Links
https://alecjohnbelle.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/alecbellefanpage
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: Alec John Belle, Before I Break, book reveal, Cover Reveal, Enchanted book promotions, Forbidden Darkness, YA Paranormal
Cover Reveal ~ Ghost For Sale by Sandra Cox
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Ghost For Sale
Author: Sandra Cox
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Caitlin King can’t believe that her shopaholic cousin actually bought two ghosts off of eBay. But she can’t ignore the truth when she starts seeing sexy Liam O’Reilly, who’s been dead for over a hundred years. He’s a fascinating specter, and the more time Caitlin spends with him, the closer they become—sending them both spiraling into a star-crossed tailspin. No matter how desperately they long for each other, there’s just no future with a guy who’s already stopped breathing.
In order to help Liam and his twin sister, Anna, leave their earthly limbo and cross over into the light, Caitlin must find the ghost of Anna’s fiancé. But a malevolent spirit is dead set against Anna moving on. Now Caitlin will have to unravel the mystery surrounding the twins’ past lives in order to keep Liam’s spirit safe—even if it means sacrificing her heart in the process.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Multi-published author Sandra Cox writes YA fantasy, historic and paranormal romance and metaphysical nonfiction. Sandra lives with her husband, a menagerie of pets, and an occasional foster cat in sunny North Carolina. To see the brood go to her website www.sandracox1.com and click on the cat tab.
Ghost for Sale is available for pre-order at Apple, Amazon, B&N, Kobo and Google Play
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: @Sandra_Cox, Book Tour, Cover Reveal, Ghost For Sale, PUYB, Sandra Cox
May 11, 2015
THE SOUL RETRIEVAL by Ann W. Jarvie
THE SOUL RETRIEVAL by Ann W. Jarvie
BLURB: Inspired by a true story, The Soul Retrieval is a suspenseful tale of love, loss and healing which follows traumatized southern beauty Henrietta Clayborn as she moves between her home in a small South Carolina town and the New Mexico Native American reservation whose spontaneous healings keep drawing her physician husband back. Tortured by her awful secrets, Henrietta struggles to thrive in either locale, but it is her unlikely friendship with Joe Loco––an eccentric Native American mystic with an Elvis fetish and a gift for healing––that shows her the way to be whole again.
Set in the late 1950s, The Soul Retrieval is richly woven with spiritual insights but also deadly secrets, forbidden healings, a murder mystery, stunning scenery and an unforgettable cast of characters.
A story of transcendent and inspiring power that is both entertaining and enlightening, readers will be cheering for the uptight woman from South Carolina to push through her fears of the forbidden as she searches for truth and healing, faces great obstacles on the frontier of self and ultimately becomes more than she ever thought possible.
Excerpt
After finishing the second nocturne, he looked up at her. “You know that I’ve been researching the high incidence of spontaneous healings here, right?” Jeff was both a lead physician and medical researcher at the Medichero Indian Hospital. He reached for a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his short-sleeved white shirt.
“Uh-huh,” Henrietta said. She barely heard what he said. How am I going to get into it? How am I going to tell him? She had asked herself these questions at least a million times. She picked up a pen and notebook from the coffee table, trying to keep her hands busy.
Jeff smoked in silence a moment before continuing. “There’s more to it than even I imagined.”
“More to what?” she asked. She absently doodled on the page without looking up. How am I going to tell him?
Jeff blew smoke. “The spontaneous healings that I’m so interested in … the medicine men here seem to be doing something real to affect the recoveries.”
Now he had her attention. “They are?” She looked at him. “Like what?”
Instead of answering, Jeff got up and turned toward the bay windows that cradled the piano in a small alcove off the living room of the doctor’s cottage. His silhouette against the bright morning light was a man-shaped eclipse, his muscled edges luminous and blurred by the smoldering tobacco. It gave him an unworldly appearance, and Henrietta was reminded about how often she felt like an outsider here, and even back home.
AUTHOR BIO
Ann W. Jarvie has a B.A. in journalism and more than twenty-five years’ experience as an award-winning writer in advertising and public relations agencies, both in South Carolina and Chicago. She now lives near Phoenix, Arizona, where she spends part of her time as a freelance copywriter and the rest writing fiction.
The Soul Retrieval was inspired by Jarvie’s maternal grandmother’s fascinating life on Indian reservations, where she lived with her physician husband until his mysterious and untimely death.
Author Links
Website
Twitter
Google
Facebook
Get the book FREE on Amazon today ONLY.
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION: The author will award a $75 Amazon/BN gift certificate to a randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter.
Enter to win a $75 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: #annjarvie1, Amazon Gift Card, Ann W. Jarvie, BN Gift Card, GoddessFishPromotions, Rafflecopter giveaway, THE SOUL RETRIEVAL 
May 10, 2015
LOVE, LOSS, AND LONGING IN THE AGE OF REAGAN: DIARY OF A MAD CLUB GIRL by Iris Dorbian
LOVE, LOSS, AND LONGING IN THE AGE OF REAGAN: DIARY OF A MAD CLUB GIRL
by Iris Dorbian
AUTHOR BIO
Iris Dorbian is a former actress turned business journalist/blogger. Her articles have appeared in a wide number of outlets that include the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Venture Capital Journal, DMNews, Playbill, Backstage, Theatermania, Live Design, Media Industry Newsletter and PR News.
From 1999 to 2007, Iris was the editor-in-chief of Stage Directions. She is the author of Great Producers: Visionaries of the American Theater, which was published by Allworth Press in August 2008. Her personal essays have been published in Blue Lyra Review, B O D Y, Embodied Effigies, Jewish Literary Journal, Skirt! Diverse Voices Quarterly and Gothesque Magazine.
GIVEAWAY
Iris Dorbian will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
BOOK BLURB
It’s the early 1980s, MTV is in its infancy, the Internet does not exist, Ronald Reagan is president and yuppies are ruling Wall Street. Edie is a naïve NYU student desperate to lose her virginity and to experience adventure that will finally make her worldly, setting her further apart from her bland suburban roots. But in her quest to mold herself into an ideal of urban sophistication, the New Jersey-born co-ed gets more than she bargained for, triggering a chain of events that will have lasting repercussions.
Excerpt
Although the music underwhelmed me, what was unfolding outside, the cascading sensory overload, transfixed my 15-year-old self. The streets of Greenwich Village were ablaze with an inferno of activity and electricity. Everywhere you turned was a kaleidoscope of memorable images: daredevil roller-bladers zigzagging through the labyrinthine corners and alleys; musicians plying their wares; artists selling their crudely daubed but oddly alluring paintings; young people converging in excited knots of conversation, craning their necks to find the next stimulus; and bohemians displaying their home-made jewelry and crafts on tables to rubbernecking tourists.
The pulse of the area was so vibrantly alive it sent the blood rushing through my adolescent veins. I needed to be here. I needed to experience the rest of my youth here. Forget Fair Lawn. Forget the insular, homogenous comfort of Bergen County. Forget the malls. I have to be here. I MUST get here.
Get the book on Amazon
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: #irisdorbian, Allworth Press, Amazon Gift Card, BN Gift Card, Great Producers: Visionaries of the American Theater, Iris Dorbian, LOVE LOSS AND LONGING IN THE AGE OF REAGAN: DIARY OF A MAD CLUB GIRL, Rafflecopter giveaway
May 8, 2015
The Walking Dead – Season One Review
https://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2015/05/07/the-walking-dead-season-one-review/
The Walking Dead: Season One��Review
Original Review over at HorrorAddicts.net
There are zombie movies and TV shows, and then there is��The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead��tells the story of Rick, his wife Lori, their son Carl, and a band of survivors who are trapped in a world gone to shit, and they will do anything to survive.
The series kicks off with Rick and Shane. Both of them are cops, and damn good ones at that. Although from the get-go, it is obvious that Shane is not as peachy clean as he makes out :) (more of that later).
Early on into the piece, a high speed chase takes place down the Interstate. Rick and Shane barrel off in the cruiser and help set up the blockade to catch the crims. As luck would have it (or fate), Rick gets shot during the gun-fight and ends up in hospital in a coma.
Fate has a way to deal a harsh blow. And in this series, no one is innocent as a virus is released, killing all but a handful of people. But it doesn���t stop there. The virus not only takes the lives of millions, but brings them back from the dead, and the dead are hungry for one thing ��� blood!
Rick ��� Rick awakens from his coma, sometime after the epidemic has done its damage, and he stumbles out of the hospital to see what is left of humanity��� The dead are everywhere, littering the sidewalks and streets like common trash. As he struggles to find his family in a world gone to hell, he must come to terms with the Dead been risen from the grave, and make choices he wouldn���t otherwise consider.
Rick has a chance meeting with Morgan. A street-wise survivor who will do anything to keep him and his son safe from the Walkers. He forms a fast friendship with Rick, and they agree to keep each other���s backs, even if it is by CB Radio.
In his journey to find his family, he has an unlikely meeting with one character who will become a regular on the show ��� Glenn. Glenn���s knowledge of the streets of Atlanta turns out to be a valuable asset, and it inevitably saves Rick from what would otherwise be his very short-lived appearance. Glenn navigates Rick to safety and after some run-ins with a horde of Walkers, (and of course hot-head Merle), Glenn takes Rick back to base camp.
When he does find his beloved family in the middle of the bush (but close enough to Atlanta), the reunion is not euphoric. Lori ��� thinking that Rick had died ��� had been sleeping with Shane (for some time apparently), and Shane thinks he is the one destined to keep Lori and Carl safe.
If the group is to survive, they will need to band together, set aside their old-world prejudices and do whatever they can to survive one day after another. For tomorrow, the Dead may just have their fill.
Along for the ride in Season One are:
Merle����� Merle is the original hot-headed, trouble making SOB. A former criminal, he is extremely racist, spiteful and very cynical about everybody and everything which causes nothing but trouble between him and anyone else that he comes into close contact with.
Daryl����� Daryl is the younger brother of Merle. Unlike his hot-headed brother, Daryl does have some redeeming qualities, even if he acts like a hillbilly and eats road-kill. Daryl is a survivalist, and a skilled tracker and hunter. He is also an expert with his favorite weapon of choice, a crossbow.
Dale����� Dale is the ever present voice of reason in this post-apocalyptic world, even when it is not asked for. His biggest flaw is his compassion for humanity and his over-protectiveness for Andrea. Dale serves as the father-figure of the group, even if his thoughts and morals are not exactly shared by anyone else, especially Shane.
Shane����� There is a lot that can be said about Shane. Unfortunately, not any of it is good :) Shane is a man of action, which for him, is not always a good move. (Shoot first ask questions later). He was a Sheriff before the outbreak happened, and a good friend to Rick. Since the outbreak, he convinced Lori that Rick was dead and set-up home (in a tent) with his new family. Shane is aggressive, single minded, narrow minded and quick to pass judgment on anyone who doesn���t agree with his opinion.
Carol����� Carol the meek��� Carol the silent��� Carol the schemer. :) There is something that can be said about the quiet ones.. They are often the most dangerous.. But, I am not going to spoil anything for you here. Let���s just say that in Season One, we meet Carol, who is frequently abused by her idiot husband, Ed. Carol���s world revolves around Ed and their daughter, Sophia. What Carol lacks in confidence and self-esteem, she certainly makes up for with her empathy. As mild as she is in Season One, just wait til you see her in later seasons.
Andrea����� In her former life, she was a civil rights lawyer. It is no wonder that she doesn���t take BS from anyone, not even her father figure, Dale. Andrea is more comfortable with a gun than being in the kitchen ���playing house���. Andrea is opinionated, head-strong and although a rank amateur with a gun, she soon becomes a great sharp-shooter, thanks to Shane���s teaching.
Lori����� Wife to Rick and mother to Carl. In this Walker-infested world, she is determined to shield Carl from the harsh realities that surround them constantly. Self-critical and always trying to find a solution to her family issues.
Carl����� Son of Rick and Lori. When we first meet Carl, he is a young boy, and already eager to be an adult. The Walkers he finds more curious than a menace, and his curiosity does land him into trouble on more than one occasion.
Glenn����� As I said before, Glenn is street-smart and for the most part, quiet. He is the one most favored to gather supplies for the group. Even if his actions do land him in trouble of his own at times.
Season One lasted for six episodes, and ended with Rick and his group of survivors gaining access to the C.D.C., only to find out that the building is on a countdown to self-destruct.
Unlike other Zombie shows,��The Walking Dead��certainly has raised the bar on survival horror themed entertainment. The characters, they grow on you���Even the ones who are annoying and deserve to be killed off.
There are other shows that have tried to cash in on the phenomenon that is��TWD, but not one of them comes close to this one.
In my next TWD review, I will focus on Season Two,��Life On The Farm
**********
Filed under: TV Show Reviews Tagged: HorrorAddicts.net, the walking dead, TWD, Zombies
May 6, 2015
Interview With…. David T. Pennington, author of Peer Through Time
Today folks is a double feature from author, David T. Pennington.
David, thanks for being my guest today. Please tell us about you.
Laughter is among my favorite things in life, though I have yet to dabble in humorous writing. I leave that up to others for now. I make my living as a data analyst in the biopharmaceutical industry, but my long-term goal is to write full-time. If it takes twenty years, then this might end up being my retirement plan.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
With regard to writing, I���m at my most productive for the first two hours of my day, and that inspires me to get out of bed.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
I���ll say comedian Kathy Griffin, to see if some of her energy, or her publicity/marketing genius, might rub off on me.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
It emerged between 2011 and 2014, as a sequel to a novel I had written previously. In that novel, a minor character was transported into the future and couldn���t return to her own time. For the new book, I promoted her to the main character and started writing about her life twenty years later. That story became Peer Through Time.
Tell us your writing process.
I do some brainstorming, write a loose outline, and start writing. When the first draft is done, I put it away for at least a week, then re-read it, taking notes on inconsistencies, awkward phrasings, nonsensical character motivations, etc. I revise as many times as it takes until I���m comfortable sharing it with others. I get feedback, preferably as specific as possible, and revise some more. After hiring an editor, I revise further, and then repeat those last two steps. I remind myself that while revision is key, I must not get caught up in endless revision. Release it to the world and start writing the next book.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
When I sat down to write Peer Through Time, I was looking back at having taken many, many years to complete my first book. If I wanted to be serious about this one, I had to have a plan. That���s when I realized I wanted to be a writer, as opposed to someone who writes occasionally.
Tell us about your main character.
Carmela always feels out of place, but she always manages to fit in. She���s motivated by her sense of justice. She has a deep desire to reunite with her biological family, and later, with her adoptive family. She���s a victim of time travel, so she refuses to be a victim in any other way.
What are you working on next?
I���m working on the sequel to Peer Through Time, which I plan to release in 2016.
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
None that come to mind. Perseverance is ultimately what led to my becoming a published author, but I don���t consider that an extraordinary talent.
Who are your favorite authors?
Robert J. Sawyer, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Ray Kurzweil, Michio Kaku, Paul Davies, Richard Dawkins, Harlan Coben, Robert Charles Wilson, Erica Spindler, Scott Sigler, David Sedaris, Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, Greg Iles, Dan Brown, Gregg Hurwitz, James Scott Bell, and many more.
What do you like to do with your free time?
I like to hike the hills of San Francisco, go to comedy shows, eat with friends, and spend time at home with my partner and our pets.
Tell us about your plans for upcoming books.
After Peer Through Time���s sequel, I���ll complete the final book in the trilogy���which is actually the first book I started writing���and then I���ll start a new, standalone novel.
Any final thoughts?
Thank you for the interview, and to the readers, thanks for reading!
About the Author
David T. Pennington grew up in a small northern California town called Paradise, but his home is in San Francisco. While his associate’s degree in computer programming has helped pay the bills, his bachelor’s degree in psychology has informed his writing. His love of fiction–mainly mysteries, science fiction, and thrillers–is balanced by his fascination with books on futurism, theoretical physics, and cosmology. Peer Through Time is his debut novel.
For More Information
Visit David T. Pennington���s website.
Connect with David on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about David at Goodreads.
Visit David���s blog.
Contact David.
About the Book:
Title: Peer Through Time
Author: David T. Pennington
Publisher: Quantaj Publishing
Pages: 371
Genre: Science Fiction
Format: Paperback/Kindle
In 2079, a time travel experiment sends physicist Carmela Akronfleck further back in time than she���d intended. Though she���s still in her small northern California town, the year is 1936 and she must learn to live without the technology she���s come to rely on. Her neurological implants should be dormant, but she receives a cryptic message, periodically accompanied by an audio transmission from the future. It���s the voice of her former psychotherapist, an android named Kass, stating his innocence in a series of murders occurring in 2079.
When Carmela deciphers the code as a hit list, she���s shocked to discover her mother and sister are among the intended targets. Further evidence reveals the killer���s true identity, but the inoperative time portal prevents her from returning to save her family and vindicate Kass.
She considers another option: hunt down the killer���s ancestors and avert his existence without radically changing history. She devises a plan to protect her family, haunted by doubts that she���s becoming the kind of person she���s always loathed���one willing to take another���s life.
For More Information
Peer Through Time is available at Amazon.
Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Book Excerpt
September 19, 2079
Prowling around in an empty office late at night may have been a bad idea, particularly in high heels. Sara Drake stopped and leaned against the wall to remove her shoes. She dropped the left one, its heel clattering alarmingly loud on the corridor floor. Sara froze when she sensed something … a presence. She���d never believed in disembodied spirits, nor had she ever experienced an awareness of someone watching her���but someone, or something, was here.
���Hello?��� she said, leaning slightly toward the end of the hallway. ���Kass? I got a message to come here. Are you in there?���
She heard a soft, electronic click���like when the security system had granted her access into the luminous, vacant lobby of Peer Therapies. She had looked back at the darkness outside, wishing she���d asked QUINT to leave its headlights on. She could just make out the driverless vehicle���s silhouette through the fog creeping up from the canyon. The car waited for her in the soundless, somber night.
A shiver ran through Sara just before she turned her attention away from the window and toward the bright antechamber, sparsely furnished with but a few cushioned chairs and side tables. In the two times she���d been here, she���d never seen more than one other patient in this room, so there was no tangible reason for her apprehension. But the reception desk was abandoned, too. The message she���d received earlier had led her to believe someone would be here to receive her���so where were they?
���This is what happens when you try to automate everything,��� she muttered. ���Robot psychologists. What next?��� She reviewed the message with her cybernetic optical implant:
Mrs. Drake, please return to your local branch of Peer Therapies. Earlier today you left behind an important item. Our apologies for the late hour, but we must return it to you right away.
It wasn���t that late���quarter to eleven���and Sara Drake wasn���t tired. She was bored and ready to try new things, venture into the unknown. Seeking psychological counseling had been a giant step into the unknown. Her son���s recent suicide had sparked something in her: a will to delve deeper than she���d ever allowed, a will to try and understand why she���d abandoned her own flesh and blood.
Eric was a killer. A failure. A piece of garbage that should have been incinerated instead of being allowed to rot and become fetid.
That had been her perspective for the past seven decades���until Eric took his own life. After that, all the other reasons faded away and she was left staring at herself in the mirror, as if reading her own mind for the first time. What she saw said that Eric was an embarrassment. That was the sole reason she had cut him out of her life. It was all about how his actions reflected on her.
She only knew one therapist employed here, a male named Kass. No last name. Employed and male may not be appropriate terms, because Kass was a machine. Not that it was polite to call them that���synthetic humans or androids were the more acceptable terms���but in the relative privacy of their own home, she and Phil referred to Kass and his kind as robots.
Did they have homes or did they sleep here in the office? Did they even need sleep? Probably not. Kass was likely here, in his office, powered down. Sara had walked past the reception desk and into a corridor illuminated by a soft glow. Now she picked her shoe up off the floor and held both shoes in one hand.
���Hello?��� she called again, raising her voice.
The doorway to her therapist���s office was at the end of the corridor. She should march right up to it and announce herself. But something inside her made her hesitate. She couldn���t think of any items she was missing, and even if she���d left something here, she could retrieve it in the morning. There was no reason for her to be here an hour before midnight. Her boredom, along with her desire to momentarily escape from Phil, had brought her here.
That, and the message���and her own agenda.
One hundred ten years of life. So many things she���d forgotten���and others she���d like to forget. She���d heard rumors that such a thing might be possible���nanobots fiddling around in your brain, modifying or eradicating only certain memories���but all her connections to the scientific research community had denied anything like that was available. Her ex-husband���s company, Wakeup Technologies, hadn���t invented anything new in years, but Peer Industries had���and Sara suspected it was no coincidence that the previous therapist, the predecessor to Kass, had lost all its memories. If anyone could help her snoop around and find out more, it would be someone from Peer. Maybe her therapist, if it���if he���could be persuaded.
She heard the electronic click again.
The physical shock coming up from the floorboards overtook her instantly. With a jolt, her knees buckled and she lost control of her entire body. She couldn���t breathe. All her muscles clenched. In the instant before death took Sara Drake in its merciful arms, it was as though her every organ, her every blood cell, had burst into flames, searing her from the inside out.
Filed under: Guest Authors, Interviews Tagged: #davidtaj68, David T. Pennington, Goodreads author, Peer Through Time, PUYB, Quantaj Publishing, Virtual Book Club
May 5, 2015
Quantum Level Zero by Ted Grosch
Title: Quantum Level Zero
Author: Ted Grosch
Publisher: Double Dragon eBooks
Pages: 287
Genre: SciFi
Format: Kindle/Nook
Winston Churchill stated that history is written by the victors. Germany terrorized Britain���s civilian population with V1 and V2 rockets. The Nazi historians would have a legitimate rational for that had they won the war. Quantum Level Zero takes place in a dystopian society of the near future Earth, where fanatics are about to win the war on terror for the good for the people and the good of society.
Their leader, Matteen Al-Rama has outgrown his fanatical roots. Once an ambassador and secretary General of the United Nations, he now leads a fundamentalist revolution that uses cloud computing, holographic CGI recruitment rallies, computer worms, rootkits and Trojans, advanced communications, and cybernetic enhancements to spread apocalyptic chaos across the globe. If that weren���t enough, rumor of an alien race wanting to begin diplomatic relations with Earth threatens to solidify Al-Rama���s global stranglehold.
Quantum Level Zero follows three people at the pivot point in the war on terror, one who has knowledge, one who has great need, and one who has the courage to make a difference. Elijah Baraki is a scientist and former official of Al-Rama���s revolution. Eight years ago he lost his wife and three children in a suicide bombing meant to show the world that nobody leaves Al-Rama���s organization. Since that bombing, Eli has concentrated on research and radial technology with the intention to wage war on the revolutionaries. In a world where reasonable people become dissidents, Eli is joined by two-hundred other scientists, engineers and soldiers, all of whom have their own reasons to leave their former lives and battle the growing chaos.
Trevor Hadley sabotaged his own laboratory to prevent the authorities from confiscating his zero-point energy research. Now wanted as a terrorist, Trevor has been working on Eli���s secret project for the past few years as a lab assistant. Eli sends him to reconnoiter an Al-Rama outpost and is almost killed. He teams up with his brother, Eli���s former boss, and Sharon Murphy, a former army helicopter pilot also on the run, in a race to report back to Eli and join the fight to free Earth.
Forces of reason have the edge in the war, but will that remain the case if First Contact goes to the revolutionaries? Quantum Level Zero opens as the world awaits the arrival of Al-Rama���s latest ally, an advanced alien race offering anti-gravity, zero-point energy, and faster-than-light travel. Al-Rama won���t be satisfied with anything less than world domination. Eli won���t be satisfied with anything less than total destruction of Al-Rama���s empire.
Ted Grosch is an American science fiction the author of the novel Quantum Level Zero and other published short stories. Ted has a Ph.D. and teaches electrical engineering. He has published over 25 works of fiction and non-fiction. He lives in Georgia where he works with wood and trains dogs.
Read prologue here
For More Information
Quantum Level Zero is available at��Amazon.
Pick up your copy at��Barnes & Noble.
Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at��Goodreads.
Interview with Ted Grosch
Ted, thanks for being here today. Tell our followers about you.
I grew up in a coal-mining town in western Pennsylvania, only a few blocks from Jimmy Stewart��� childhood home. I always wanted to write, but I must have been a dopey kid because I didn���t know people made a living writing fiction. All of my friends��� dads had jobs, except for a couple whose fathers were insurance agents. My focus growing up was to go to college, get a good job, and earn a pension. That was how one got out of town.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
I like to write in the morning before I go to work. I���m an electronics engineer by trade, and my brain is pretty much empty by the time I get home. Unless I am in the middle of a great scene, I can���t scrape together enough brain cells to write until about 10 p.m.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
Richard Feinman. He was smart and fun to be with. I want to spend the day drinking beer and discussing quantum mechanic and where he thinks the field is headed.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
My last book, Quantum Level Zero, in a story about three people in the near future who all have nothing left to lose. The west has lost the war on terror and the winners are rewriting history. It���s a scenario where, after surviving the threat of nuclear holocaust caused by the collective superpowers, the world as we know it is being destroyed by an army of individuals, each with a bomb or poison. A leader of this radial fringe, Al-Rama, a former Secretary of the United Nations, calls for peace and love while inciting his loyal followers to win the war on terror. The story opens not long after Al-Rama announces he���s been in contact with extraterrestrial visitors who sides with him. A wonderful alien presence is about to ally with Al-Rama against the greed and depravity of western culture and he will be Earth���s first ruler.
Tell us your writing process.
When I get an idea I���ll write it down and explore it for a while to determine if it has good characters, what length is would be and if it���s too much like something else out there. I���ll often write the first couple pages in longhand. If I���m still excited about it, I���ll type it up and continue for a while. If it���s a novel, I���ll stop after a chapter or two and put it away until my schedule opens up. If it���s a short story, I���ll try to finish it and let it sit for a few months in a process I call letting it fester.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I was 10 or 11 when I got hooked on reading. I read all the adventure fiction in my elementary school library by sixth grade. The public library was only two blocks from my house and I started going there one or twice a week. I was 14 before I tried writing something on my own. I am such a bad speller, there was no spell checker back then, that I never showed it to anyone.
Tell us about your main character:
QLZ has three main characters. A suicide bomber killed Eli���s family, the United Nations confiscated Trevor���s greatest invention, and Sharon���s came back from the war to no family and a ruined economy. These three people come together in their own way to try and save their world and their future.
What are you working on next?
I am working on two more novels. One is a present day sci-fi story about a scientist who discovers he may have invented time travel in another timeline, but somebody or something caused history to change and steal that distinction from him. The second is a near future story at a time when a medical breakthrough extends lives of only one gender. This is a society becoming dystopian where the battle of the sexes takes center stage.
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
I train my dogs to run obstacle courses. The sport is called ���agility��� by the canine community. I run them on timed courses of jumps, tunnels, A-frames, teeter-totters, weave poles and a pause table. Two of my dogs hold titles from the AKC. Both are retired now and I���m training a new pup, who has just turned two years old. You can watch tow of my runs by searching for my name, Theodore Grosch, on YouTube. I have a run there with my pug and with my Australian shepherd.
Who are your favorite authors?
Arthur C Clarke, Philip Roth, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Alistair McLean, George R.R. Martian, and others, to many to give a shout-out here.
What do you like to do with your free time?
I play EVE Online. EVE is an MMORPG with on average 30,000 players online at any one time. We use Team Speak for corporate operations like training and running missions. I fly frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and battleships through star systems and star gates. I have an alt that mines and generates cash, another who does research and manufacturing, and my main character that blows things up.
Tell us about your plans for upcoming books.
I am working on two more novels. One is a present day sci-fi story about a scientist who discovers he may have invented time travel in another timeline but somebody or something changed history and stole that distinction from him. The second is a near future story at a time when a medical breakthrough extends lives of only one gender. This is a society becoming dystopian where the battle of the sexes takes center stage.
Where can people find you on the web?
You can find me at www.tedgrosch.com. My twitter handle is @tedgrosch and you can write about the novel with #QLZ and #QuantumLevelZero.
Any final thoughts?
Thank you for the opportunity to get the word out. Read the preview inside at amazon.com. You can read the prologue and see if you would like it.
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: #bookexcerpt, #QLZ, #QuantumLevelZero, #scifi, #tedgrosch, Quantum Level Zero, Ted Grosch
Goodreads Contest Winners – Blindsight
Thank you to everyone who entered the contest on Goodreads for the giveaway of Blind Sight by Marc Douglas.
With 686 entries, 6 people were selected.
Winners are:
Celeste G from Allentown PA
Kathryn R from Surrey UK
Laura M from Ontario Canada
Chelle R from Essex UK
Tareha T from Quebec Canada
Susan R from San Antonio Tx
Congratulations everyone. Copies will be out to you shortly.
Filed under: Events Tagged: #marcdouglas, Blind Sight, Free books, Goodreads giveaway, Goodreads Winner, Marc Douglas
Goodreads Giveaway – The Chosen Series by C.A.Milson
Triple Treat for followers of C.A.Milson. Three giveaways on Goodreads. Enter to be in the running to win copies of Rise Of The Darkness, Bloodline Of Darkness��and She’s Not So Ordinary.
Enter Now��
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/136199-the-chosen-the-rise-of-the-darkness
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/136198-bloodline-of-darkness
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/132266-she-s-not-so-ordinary
Filed under: Events Tagged: #C.A.Milson, Bloodline of Darkness, Darkness, Giveaway, goodreads, Goodreads giveaway, Horror, Rise of the Darkness, Writer
May 4, 2015
Book Release, Bai Tide by Erika Mitchell
Erika Mitchell was born in Orange County, California to a published author and an Anarchist’s Cookbook aficionado. She moved to Seattle, Washington as a freshman in high school, where she promptly realized she owned just one pair of pants and that was going to be a problem in a place with an actual winter.
She graduated from Northwest University in 2003 with a degree in Psychology, which she has yet to use. After a brief foray into technical recruiting (a disaster), she found her calling as a writer and, wonder of wonders, was actually able to find a job where someone paid her to do just that as a blogger.
Blogging turned into writing novels, where Erika has found her niche in the espionage and thriller genre.
Erika currently resides in a small suburb outside Seattle with her husband and two children.
Author Links
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About the Book
Title: Bai Tide
Author: Erika Mitchell
Genre: Espionage Thriller
After the events of Blood Money, CIA case officer Bai Hsu is assigned to a high-security private school for what he���s told is an easy assignment. Just a few months after he arrives, a hostile operative with ties to North Korea tries to break in to a school event, with motives unknown.
As his investigation progresses, he unravels a plot that, if not stopped, will result in the untimely and murderous deaths of tens of millions of people.
Bai Tide is Bai���s greatest challenge yet. A mission that will take him from the windswept beaches of San Diego to a whiteout blizzard in the foothills of Pyongyang, and make him question everything he thought he knew about working in the field���and about himself.
Excerpt
I put on a burst of speed and kept my eyes on the troublemaker who���d ruined what had been, up until ten minutes ago, a tedious evening of guarding teenage girls at a school-sanctioned Welcome Formal. Of course, when the girls you���re getting paid to protect are the daughters of the wealthiest and most influential people in America, you can���t afford to stop paying attention for even a minute lest you miss something. Something like an intruder dressed in black trying to break in through a window along an unused service corridor. Maybe it sounds weird, but I was actually pretty grateful to get out of there and put my training to use. If not for the man in black, my post at the school would have run the risk of being the most boring assignment of all time. I didn���t sign up to be a case officer for the CIA so I could listen to girls whine about corsages and hair spray.
Without dress shoes slowing me down, my long legs ate up the gap between me and the troublemaker in short order. By the time I could hear his labored breathing and the staccato, panicked sounds he made as he ran, I knew I had him. All I had to do was tackle, disarm, and subdue him and I���d be free to find out what the heck he was doing trying to sneak into a high school formal. He wasn���t at that dance to make friends, and there were a lot of people who would need to know who he���d been targeting and why.
The darkest, farthest corner of the public parking lot materialized in the darkness ahead. It was empty but for five cars scattered throughout the spaces. I didn���t have time to note the makes and models present because my quarry stopped up short, clutching his side as though he had a stitch.
In retrospect, I should have realized it was a trap. If I���d known who I was dealing with at the time, I would have handled it differently. Maybe I would have kept my distance, maybe I would have run away, screaming, as fast as possible. What I definitely would not have done is try to tackle him.
Which, of course, is exactly what I did.
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: #ParsingNonsense, Bai Tide, Blood Money, Enchanted book promotions, Erika Mitchell, Espionage Thriller
