Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 67

Book Blast: JOURNEY TO THE DARK GALAXY by Hannah D. State

 

JOURNEY TO THE DARK GALAXY

Hannah D. State

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE:  Science Fiction

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

Amysterious signal from deep space. Mischief and murder at a military base.

 

Earth’sleaders are given an ultimatum: deliver Sam Sanderson to Logom, a planet knownto house a hostile AI civilization, or face interplanetary war.

 

WhenSam receives a strange letter drafting her into the Great Alliance forInterplanetary Affairs as a matter of international security, she expects toget answers. But instead of receiving a warm welcome, she finds that mostpeople under the surface are distant, cold, and have built walls of silence.While grappling with her unique power and the consequences of her actions, shelearns that the organization she’s supposed to serve has a chilling past andguards a dark secret.

 

WhileEarth’s scientists scramble to defend their world and the planetary alliancefrom the AI threat, Sam is forced on a mission to the Dark Galaxy. A placewhere dangers lurk, tensions run high, and things are never what they seem.

 

Butwill the journey change her forever?

 

AsSam desperately navigates a maze of lies, dark secrets, and finds herself atthe heart of a dangerous journey, she discovers that it will take much morethan her courage and power to save humanity.

 

Time’srunning out, and there’s no turning back now…

 

Fromthe award-winning author of Journey to the Hopewell Star comes the highlyanticipated sequel that’s sure to be a thrilling ride!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

ExcerptThree:

 

Sam’s throat tightened. Tears collected in her eyes, but shewiped them away before the others saw. She couldn’t let them see her like that,vulnerable and fragile. She didn’t want them to worry about her.

 

She instead focused on the people they passed in thehallways. Joyful and welcoming and…

 

Wait. No, that’s not right.

 

She slowed down and tried to take in every detail abouttheir features and body language.

 

When they looked at Rian and her friends, their expressionswere easy to read—relaxed, carefree. Delighted to see them. Yet, when theireyes traveled to Sam…

 

Their expressions changed, if only by a fraction. Nothinganyone would notice. Except she noticed. She sensed…discomfort, fear. Theireyes shifted, and within them, an apprehension lingered. They tensed upslightly, too; a tightened jaw, a rigid stance. Hesitation. They seemed to beholding back, nervous about something.

 

Sam smiled, trying to elicit a similar response from them.

 

But they didn’t smile. Or if they did, it was forced.

 

It was like they were all hiding a deep, dark, terriblesecret.

 

And it was about her.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

HannahD. State is an award-winning Canadian author. She graduated from McGillUniversity with a BA and earned her MPL from Queen’s University. Hannah isbothered by inequality, violence, greed, complacency, snakes, entering a darkroom, and not getting enough sleep. She enjoys writing about strong-willedcharacters who don’t fit the norm and who overcome great obstacles withperseverance, self-discovery, and help from others. Sometimes Hannah can’t keepup with her characters’ ideas and plans, so she takes breaks, drinks coffee,does yoga and tai chi, and takes nature walks to calm her mind and reallylisten. Journey to the Dark Galaxy is her second novel. You can find her authorpage on Facebook.

 

Links:

 

https://www.facebook.com/hannahdstate/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20560327.Hannah_D_State

https://www.instagram.com/hannahdstate/

https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Dark-Galaxy-Book-ebook/dp/B0CPB1ZM2P/

Readfor free on Kindle Unlimited

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GIVEAWAY

Theauthor will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: PROVEN INNOCENCE by Mary J. Rocco

PROVEN INNOCENCE

Mary J. Rocco

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE:  Suspense/murder

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

CynthiaEvans wakes up in the trunk of a car, no idea how she got there, only todiscover she’s wanted for the murder of her husband and children. With nomemory of life prior, Cynthia is sure she did not commit the crime.

 

Onlyproblem is-how does she convince anyone she’s not a murderer when she is notsure who she is?

 

Withthe help of a downtrodden diner waitress, Gabrielle, Cynthia fights to proveher innocence.

 

Onething is clear: Rick Evans is dead. But who is the real killer?

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

ExcerptThree:

 

Toomany possibilities. To concentrate on survival, I must assure myself that thisperson driving knows I am here and plans to release me from the dark layer uponreaching his destination.

Secondsseem like minutes, minutes like hours, leaving it nearly impossible to estimatehow long I have been lying here. My best guess is about thirty minutes, notincluding how long I lay there unconscious in the sealed compartment. No senseof day or night. No idea if it is dark or light outside, what day it is, orwhere I am in the world. I keep straining to listen for faint conversation, butstill no luck. The blood on my head is drying and forming the beginning of athin, crusty layer on top of my skin. My head itches, but I will not move amuscle to scratch it as the pain has not been numbed.

 

Suddenly,I feel the car turn around a ramp. The curvy road throws my body to the backpart of the trunk. Gravity and cen¬trifugal force are not kind to my achingailments as we exit the major highway. A series of turns are made after theexit, each a few minutes apart. I need to remember how many turns it takes tomake a quick getaway back to the interstate, though, at this point, I have noforeseeable idea how that will happen. If my calculations are correct, the carproceeded off the high¬way as follows: it turned left at the end of the exitramp; then it proceeded for about three minutes and made another left, a quickright, then another left. The ride begins to feel bump¬ier as the road beneaththe wheels is no longer smooth pave¬ment. From the sound of the gravel below, Ideduce the road is not paved. The location is too remote for paved roads––not agood sign.

 

Everythingslows to a stop, and the roar of the engine fades. We have arrived at ourdestination. Sheer panic ensues.

 

Whatam I going to do? Is it best to pretend as if I am still knocked out? Thisperson obviously wants me alive, or he would have finished the job earlier.

 

Click.

 

Thedriver popped open the trunk. It is slightly ajar, just enough to let in asmall beam of light but not enough for me to see outside. Muted sunlight breaksthrough the space between the trunk and the car.

 

Boththe driver’s side and the passenger’s side doors slam shut simultaneously,causing me to rock back and forth slightly.

 

Thereare two people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Review: 

It all begins when a woman wakesup in the trunk of a car with no memory of how she got there and no idea whoshe was. She doesn’t know much, but she knows that she still might be in dangerwith possible killers that still might be after her. The story quickly grabsyour attention with this odd situation. Then we discover that she could be thesuspected murderer of her husband and 2 sons. What!? How can that be? There wasno way the kind and compassionate person she was displaying could coincide withthe cold-blooded and ruthless killer everyone was making her out to be.

With the help of a diner waitress,this complex journey becomes a mission of proven innocence. But how can youprove your innocence when you don’t remember? Even worse yet, how can you proveyour innocence when you fall into a coma?

Suddenly, it was up to the poorwaitress to find the puzzle pieces and figure out how they all fit together.

This was a scintillating read witha captivating premise! Well-crafted and gripping all the way! Look forward tomore from this author.

Rating:5 stars

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

I have dreamed of being an author since the age of ten. I havebeen writing and crafting stories for the last twenty years, mostly because,well you know, life… and I got in my own way. After finishing law school,graduate school, travelling the world, getting married and starting a family Ifigured now was the time.

 

I was born and raised on Long Island, New York and spent ten yearsin my early adulthood living carefree in New York City. I currently reside withmy husband and two beautiful children in the western suburbs of Chicago,Illinois, where I am a practicing attorney.

 

I hope to continue to publish many more novels that entertain andthrill readers.

 

Amazon Author Page:https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mary-J.-Rocco/author/B0CX13KN4Y

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GIVEAWAY 

Theauthor will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: THE LONELY AUSTRALIAN OF THE ASIAN NIGHT by Gregory Pakis

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. Please click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Hookers and hawkers.
Mosques and mosquitos.
Paul has had enough of Southeast Asia.
He's only here ‘cos it's cheap.
He's on the run from police after leaving Australia.
No, that place wasn't much better either.
Well, it was when he was young.
When his life was full of promise. An up-and-coming boxer. And he had friends. And fun.
Then a bit of bad luck later and he found himself on the run in outback Australia. Paranoid. Hiding from shadows. The heat. The dust. The sweat.

Next stop, Southeast Asia.

Read an Excerpt

Cigarette in mouth, Paul stood on the hotel balcony and stared nervously out into the hot Cambodian night. He hated Asia. He didn’t know why so many loved it. Of course deep down he knew - cheap holidays. But to Paul, Asia was hell - hot, dangerous and always just a bit of bad luck away from some sort of disaster.

Not much could be seen from his balcony. His hotel was down a small street off the main road that led to the tourist centre of Siem Riep. He could see people drifting down the main road, mostly tourists clutching dollar beers. Directly across from him was the construction site of a new hotel.

Paul took another drag from his cigarette, grabbed his beer off the balcony railing and walked back into the hotel room. He looked at his boots next to his duffel bag. He was sick of those stinky boots. He looked at the grime on the duffel bag. That grime was from India. Indian grime was unique. Black. Oily. Nowhere else that he had been in Asia left that kind of grime. It came mostly off the train floors. As he stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray, he remembered what his feet looked like in thongs at the end of those long train trips - black.


About the Author: Gregory Pakis is an Australian author, film-maker, actor and wacky vlogger.He has written the short story, The Lonely Australian of the Asian Night; the soon to be released horror-suspense novellas, The Regressor and He., and Memoir of a Suburban Hoe-Bo, which is partly an account of when he lived out of a van for ten years in Melbourne.

Gregory Pakis is also the writer / director of the feature films, The Garth Method (2005) and The Joe Manifesto (2013), which have won national and international awards and been distributed through Accent Entertainment, Label, Vanguard Cinema.

Gregory's more informal video projects are the feature documentaries, Garth Goes Hitch-Hiking (2007) and Garth Lives in a Van (2011) which have screened at film festivals in Australia.

More recently, he has created the comedy series, suBURPieS and his Wacky Vlog which can found on his socials.

Gregory has been featured in articles in newspapers, The Age, The Herald Sun, Beat Magazine, Inpress, FILMINK, and the Neos Kosmos. He has been interviewed on radio by the ABC, 3RRR, SYN FM, 3CR.

THE LONELY AUSTRALIAN OF THE ASIAN NIGHT - LINKS

AMAZON SALES LINK: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01N36UWYK
BOOK TRAILER: https://youtu.be/ZE0JH1EdGfc?si=-zroVl6rV8Sd3OyH
AUTHOR CHAT TO CAMERA VIDEO: https://youtu.be/uTd0-Y_FT7Y?si=dz0NzUnpoYUYoNmw
WEB PAGE (WITH MEDIA KIT): https://www.gpak.org/books/thelonelyaustralianoftheasiannight
WEBSITES
BOOKS https://www.gpak.org/
FILMS https://guerillafilmnite.com/

SOCIALSInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregorypakis/
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gregorypakis
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gpakis
Twitter: https://x.com/GPakis

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: THE CASE OF THE MISSING MONEY by Kathleen Pennell

 

There was a rumor that an old ladykept loads of money hidden in her house. Now, the old lady was in the hospitaland her house was empty. Money can make people do some dangerous things. So,what will happen when the lady gets home and needs some outside help? Now,there was a handyman, a maid, and a physical therapist around all the time.Could there be a thief among them? It was up to two pony-riding 12-year-oldgirls to find out. Can they find the money and the thief?

 

This was a fascinating, littlemystery with two smart and witty girls. It’s a quick mystery that you candevour in one sitting. Curious to check out the other books by this author.

 

Rating:4 stars

Review: THE WRONG NUMBER by R.L. Stine

 

It all began with a few crankphone calls. Then a random number to some place on Fear Street shakes thingsup. A dead woman. A masked maniac. And a murder charge. Talk about dialing thewrong number.

 

Now two teenage girls were on atrail to find the real killer. But are they way over their heads?

 

A good, scary read!

 

Rating:4 stars

Review: THE ADVENTURES OF SHRINK MAN by R.L. Stine

 

A superhero that shrinks to thesize of a bug sounded kind of dumb. Not if you’re a fan like Danny. Soon, Dannystars to have his own Shrink-Man adventure. And what an adventure it becomes!He becomes a dog chew toy, gets into a fight with a grasshopper, and rides asneaker like a Bronco. A good read!

 

Rating:4 stars

Review: ZOMBIETOWN by R.L. Stine

 

There’s no such thing aszombies…right? That is until the zombies from a movie come out of the screenand set their hungry eyes on you. It’s a wild zombie adventure! Another greatread by one of my favorite all-time authors.

 

Rating:4 stars

Review: ONION SKIN by Edgar Camacho

 

The drawings were pretty cool, butthere was much going on that it’s a little hard to get the story. A food truckbeing chased by bikers? Why? But I must say it was kind of funny seeing thebiker fall off a cliff.

 

The text was too small to read.You can only try to get the story through the pictures. I liked the motion inthe drawings. That made the pictures fun to look at. As far as the story goes,I just didn’t get it. My rating is really based on the illustrations.

 

Rating:3 stars

Blog Tour: DARK WALKER series by Shelly Campbell

DARK WALKER SERIES

Shelly Campbell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE:   SpeculativeFiction/Horror/ Dark Sci-fi

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

BLURB:

 

Series Blurb:

 

Whenwe were children, they told us monsters weren't real. They were dead wrong.

 

It’sjust a closet door with a skeleton key, but when David opens it, he unlocks agateway to a sinister world that’s bent on destroying everything and everyonehe loves. Some doors are better left closed.

 

Embarkon a thrilling journey with the Dark Walker Series, and be transported into aninterdimensional tale of monsters, lies and self-discovery. Where the terror ofdarkness is real and the line between ally and enemy is as thin as a blade.

 

"Equalparts coming of age story and otherworldly horror, Gulf probes the depths ofloneliness, loss of identity and childhood trauma. It is a true treat for fansof the genre and had me clutched in its razor-clawed hands from the first wordto the last.” -C.M. Forest author of Infested

 

Book One Blurb:

 

Seventeen-year-oldDavid is fading from his world, like a Polaroid picture in reverse. He longs tofeel connected to something bigger.

 

Whenhis brothers discover the new extension at the rental cottage comes with alocked door, David finds the key first. Expecting to claim a bedroom, he opensa dimensional gateway instead, exploring abandoned versions of his world indifferent timelines, 1960s muscle cars alternating with crumbling cottages.

 

Exceptnow the dimensional bridge won’t close, and something hungry claws the door atnight. David scours for clues to break the bridge, but each trip to the otherside makes him fade more on his. Even if he succeeds, he risks severing hisconnection to his own world, and dying on the wrong side, forgotten.

 

Book Two Blurb:

 

Thereare doors that open to other worlds, but it’s no fairytale on the other side.

 

Ithought otherworldly monsters bent on devouring my whole world starting with myfamily trumped everything. Turns out, I was wrong. My world's only one ofthousands facing annihilation from the maneaters that tried to eat me alive.Charlie saved me, rolled into my life on a motorcycle, and rescued me.

 

Problemis, I’m the Embassy’s property now. They’re the interdimensional agency taskedwith stemming the flow of ravenous aliens into our universe, but they seem moreinterested in studying me. I crashed a gateway in a way they’ve never seen. TheEmbassy wants to replicate that. I think they want to use me as a war weapon.

 

IfI don’t convince Charlie to help me escape, I’ll be an Embassy scienceexperiment for the rest of my short life, or worse, eternally trapped in thedark hell that fills the spaces between worlds.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Excerpt One from GULF:

 

Certain myfamily is gone, I cross to the five-panel in two strides, twist the key intothe lock, and push the door.

 

It doesn’topen.

 

Of course itdoesn’t, idiot. It’s still hung like a closet door. It opens out, not in.

 

I pull.

 

Mirror.

 

That’s thefirst thought that strikes me as I take in the exact duplicate of the livingroom I’m standing in. Same green, crushed velvet sofa bed sagging behind me.Identical chipped melamine cabinets. Same painted windmills on the porcelaintile backsplash—wait.

 

No me.

 

No reflectionof me. Tentative as Alice in bloody Wonderland, I pull the black skeleton keyfrom its hole and crane my head through the doorway. No dirty breakfast dishes,but when I look over my shoulder, there’s still stacks of egg-yolk spackled tinplates beside our sink. Crumpled under one arm of the hide-a-bed is my plaidblanket, but the one in front of me is empty. Looks dusty.

 

“What the hell,Everett?” This is creepy.

 

The olebugger’s built an exact mirror image of the room next door. Where on earth didhe find the twin to that green monster of a couch? There’s even a springbeckoning through the same spot in the back cushion.

 

Got an eye fordetail, hasn’t he?

 

Same woodstovetoo, only this one has a cold, crusty frying pan on it. I can still feel theheat on my back from ours across the wall.

 

The pineplanking creaks under my next step, and I jump and then smile, but I’m prettysure it ends up as a snarl. An odd feeling consumes me whole, the one I hadjust before Sam Ren and his gorilla wingmen beat the piss out of me behind theDairy Queen. A curdled sense of approaching doom slithers through my lungs.

 

Get out.

 

Primal instinctpresses me back a step toward the door, but I hold fast there, like a dumbass,like I waited while Sam Ren eased toward me in the Dairy Queen parking lot.

 

Shaking out myhands and hissing through my teeth, I scan the room trying to identify what’swrong, because something is. Something is very wrong, and it’s not just theduplicate room, or the draft emanating from here at night. It takes a fewseconds to pin it down. The out-of-place thing. My throat spasms when I see it.I swallow and shift to the balls of my feet.

 

“Window,” Iwhisper.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

At a young age, Shelly Campbell wanted to be an air show pilot ora pirate, possibly a dragon and definitely a writer and artist. She’s piloted aCessna 172 through spins and stalls, and sailed up the east coast on a tallship barque—mostly without projectile vomiting. In the end, Shelly foundwriting and drawing dragons to be so much easier on the stomach. Shelly writesspeculative fiction ranging from grimdark fantasy, to sci-fi and horror. She’dlove to hear from you.

 

http://www.shellycampbellauthorandart.com

https://twitter.com/ShellyCFineArt

https://www.instagram.com/shellycampbellfineart

https://www.facebook.com/shellycampbellauthorandart

https://www.tiktok.com/@shellycampbellauthor

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GIVEAWAY

The author willbe awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blast: DISHING LOVE DAILY by Susanne Clark

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotion. The author will award a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Dishing Love Daily and Other Secret Ingredients (trademarked in Canada and the US) is more than a cookbook. Chef Suzy shares her collection of cherished recipes that focus on healthy, fresh, easy-to-find ingredients, appealing to both the novice and experienced cook. She will also guide you to and through a revolutionary, adaptable approach to bringing mindfulness and positivity into the kitchen. It's a timely, relevant and original concept in food craft that weaves our energetic imprint into a meal and into the hearts of those who sit at our table. It's a powerful, creative concept in awareness that will transform the everyday endeavour of nourishing our bodies into a life-changing act of nourishing our souls. Come on, let's get dishing!

Read an Excerpt

Choice

At the heart of this cookbook and my life, is one word: choice. It’s also at the heart of yours. This one word has all the power, purpose and potential to create an intention for nourishment and positivity. Ask yourself: What do I bring to the table? What is my purpose? What am I going to cook today? Who am I cooking for? How can I make a difference? Why is this important? Be curious, joyful and open to the inspiration and answers that are on their way. And remember, sweet, beautiful reader, you are an alchemist . . . in your kitchen and beyond. Trust me when I tell you that there is a tangible shift which can be tasted and felt as you learn to trust your power of intention. Honour time, your choices, and their consequences. You are the question and the answer, to what’s cooking in your kitchen and who sits at your table. I’m offering you a new foundation in food-craft that weaves your energetic imprint into the meal and the hearts of those who sit at your table. Come on, let’s dish some love.

Chef Suzy xo

About the Author: Susanne Clark, a.k.a. Chef Suzy, earned her Red Seal in Culinary Arts in 2009 at SAIT in Calgary, Canada, apprenticing at Hotel Arts under the talented supervision of Duncan Ly and Karine Moulin. Upon graduation, Chef Suzy established Magnifique Cuisine, a successful catering business in the Calgary area. She also worked full time as the in-house executive chef for one of Canada's original Dragons' Den entrepreneurs, W. Brett Wilson, cooking for his Home Office team and a global circle of business and community leaders, artists and celebrities.

Suzy's first and continuing career as a mother of four empowered and vibrant daughters formed her vision of food as an expression of love and a foundation for healing and sustaining our most important relationships. Suzy loves to travel and seeks out every opportunity to enjoy culinary experiences around the world. She has been married to the love of her life, Richard, for 36 years.

Book Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dishing.love.daily
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chefsuzyclark
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dishing.love.daily
Twitter: https://x.com/chefsuzyclark
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanne-clark-04a73157

a Rafflecopter giveaway