L. Salt's Blog, page 15
October 10, 2020
[Guest Post]: Writing “Starfighter Rising” by Daniel Seegmiller
Today on my blog, I’m hosting a science fiction author, Daniel Seegmiller.
Daniel is talking about his debut novel “Starfighter Rising” and the important lessons he’s learned, writing it.
Guest Post
“Hey Babe,” I said to my wife four years ago. “I’m going to write a book called ‘Starfighter’.”
Thus started an adventure which culminated in my self-publishing Starfighter Rising last month, my first novel.
While Starfighter Rising wasn’t the first book I began writing, it was the first book I finished. Like so many authors, I have bits and pieces of many books already written, just waiting to be finished.
With Starfighter Rising, I committed I would finish it no matter how long it took. This is Lesson 1: Commit.
I utterly love the ideation part of writing. I can ride the excitement of initial ideation to 30,000 words for almost any book. It just flows.
Then reality hits.
What comes next? How do I make this into a complete story?
My first attempt at novel writing was a fantasy novel. I woke up with a vivid image in my mind—the full moon shining through the trees upon a woodsman, an ethereal king poised to strike the killing blow above him. That morning, I took a half day off work and rewrote that scene until I was satisfied. Full of passion for the story, I kept writing until I hit 30,000 words. The reality of “oh my goodness, how many words am I planning to write for this book?” set in, and I stopped. I tried to start again multiple times, but the weight of the work to be done was too heavy.
Then Starfighter Rising struck me. Learning from my past experience, I planned in advance. I worked out details. I crafted plots. I thought through my characters.
Once again, right around 30,000 words, I got stuck. Good thing I had committed.
Lesson 2: Write 500 words every day. I realized I couldn’t consistently fit 2,000 words into every day. But if I compiled enough 500 word days, I was guaranteed to have a novel someday. Then I learned this: consistency breeds the compound effect. As momentum built, I averaged more and more words per day until I pounded out more than 12,000 in a few days. And boom—Starfighter Rising was done.
Lesson 3: Storyboard. I write 10 times faster if I slow down and storyboard first. I divide a piece of paper into a 3 x 4 grid of boxes and fill in the boxes with chronological scene sketches. My storyboard lets my focus on writing rather than creating.
Lesson 4: Find something external that inspires your book. For Starfighter Rising, a song by my brother-in-law’s old band painted the story for me. I listened to that song hundreds of times, closing my eyes and envisioning the emotion, the action, the feeling. I turned to that song every time I needed a boost of inspiration. Starfighter Rising’s climatic scene maps directly to the song’s final verses. I have many more stories to write, and all of these are connected to something external—something that keeps the inspiration fresh.
About the Book
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Genre: Science Fiction
Date Published: 17th September 2020
The enemy wanted him. The galaxy needed him.
Sixty years ago Nolvarics nearly conquered the solar system. They were defeated by starfighters.
Konran dreamed of becoming a starfighter, but he blew his one shot five years ago. Now his life is stuck in neutral as a glorified rock hauler.
He didn’t expect to find Nolvarics lurking within the solar system. They didn’t expect him to survive the confrontation.
Now all eyes are on Konran as he is plunged into a whirlwind of space battles, peril, and conspiracy. The Nolvarics will stop at nothing to catch him, dead or alive.
Can Konran rise up and claim his destiny, or will the galaxy fall?
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About the Author
Daniel Seegmiller grew up loving Star Wars, Mech Warriors, and all things sports. He started out as an English major before switching to his other love, science. He has an MS in mechanical engineering and has worked on everything from biomechanics, to machine learning, to defense technology.
Daniel loves dreaming up awesome adventures…like, literally, he wakes up in the middle of the night with the best ideas. Most of the stories he writes are for his kids. Starfighter Rising is his debut novel.
He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife and three squirrelly children.
Contact Links
Website: www.danielseegmiller.com
Facebook: Daniel Seegmiller Author
Twitter: @DanSeegWrites
Goodreads: Daniel Seegmiller
Purchase Link
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ZkVwJU
Giveaway
Amazon gift card: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/408264011187/
October 9, 2020
[Guest Post]: 10 Things You Didn’t Know about “Newark Minutemen by Leslie K. Barry, the author of “Newark Minutemen”
A couple of days ago, I featured this amazing author and her historical fiction “Newark Minutemen” on my blog. Today, Leslie is talking about her new release and ten things readers didn’t know about it.
10 Things You Didn’t Know about “Newark Minutemen”
by Leslie K. Barry
The cadence of Chapter 1 in Newark Minutemen is modelled after the greatest opening of all movies, “Inglorious Bastards.” Young Yael lies hiding in his father’s boat with nail-biting suspense as German American Nazis threaten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M86ow9Me5iU&feature=emb_logo
2. The hero Yael Newman is based on newsman John Metcalfe and his FBI brother Jim. The details of the American-German Nazi Bund were adapted from John’s real life diaries. The brothers went undercover in 1937 for the Chicago Daily Times for six months, went through Storm Trooper initiation, brushed shoulders with the inner circle and then published a 14 day series for the paper that cost them machine gun attacks on their lives.
3. Ancestry.com was an invaluable resource for building the timeline and character details of several characters.
4. The boxing fight scene between Joe Lewis vs Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium, NY, was a symbolic fight of the times. While Schmeling was Hitler’s pride, Joe represented the fight against discrimination. Joe’s victory is symbolic for the Newark Minutemen.
5. The use of Yiddish, German and 1930 idioms add authenticity to maximize the connections to characters and transport the reader back in time.
6. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the balance of powers in the country were polarized and opened up many questions about democracy. You were either a Fascist or a Communist. The Newark Minutemen served as resistance group against the extreme right.
WATCH i23news interview: https://youtu.be/eFp9FDxv-yE
7. During the timing of Newark Minutemen, the FBI in the 1930s was just beginning to formalize. J. Edgar Hoover was at the helm and had begun a fingerprinting program. But their power was still being defined. Some government officials tapped the mafia for help in stopping extremist activities. READ NJ.com
8. Heroine Krista Brecht is based on real life Nineteen-year old Helen Vooros who testified in front of the House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities that the Bund Youth movement and the Nazi camps in America used intensive efforts to convert young German-Americans and were raping young girls.
9. Crusaders Radio-personality Walter Winchell and newswomen Dorothy Thompson are featured in Newark Minutemen to add media perspective to the story.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/583332/dorothy-thompson-journalist-who-warned-world-hitler
10. The 1939 movie “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” was the first anti-Nazi film. It features the same backdrop and some characters of Newark Minutemen and shows how much America knew about the intentions of Nazi Germany.
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About the Book
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Genre: Historical Fiction
Date Published: 6th October 2020
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Based on a true story about fighting fascism in 1930s New Jersey, Newark Minutemen tells an unforgettable tale about forbidden love, intrigue and a courageous man’s search for avenge….
During the Great Depression, Jewish boxer Yael Newman meets Krista Brecht, daughter of the German-American Nazi high command. When his affections turn real, his friends warn him against crossing the line. When Krista leaves for American Nazi summer camp in Long Island, New York, he swears to rescue her. But his mission becomes much more when he’s recruited into the Newark Minutemen by the Jewish mob and FBI to go undercover and fight the American Nazis who are taking over America.
Newark Minutemen Optioned first film
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/newark-minutemen-james-corden-1234755361/
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About the Author
[image error]Amazon best-selling author, Leslie K. Barry is most recently a screenwriter, author, and executive producer. Her previous professional work includes executive positions with major entertainment companies including Turner Broadcasting, Hasbro/Parker Brothers, Mattel, and Mindscape Video Games. Other areas of business include executive for the first e-shopping platform called eShop and marketing for Lotus Development, the US Post Office, and AOL. She was an Alpha Sigma Tau at JMU (James Madison University) in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley and attended a grad program at Harvard. She has spent the last twenty-five years with her husband, Doug Barry, in Tiburon, CA raising their four kids, Zachary, Brittany, Shaya, and Jackson, and their dog, Kona. On the side, she’s devoted to genealogy where she has uncovered many ideas for developing untold stories that help us appreciate the context of history, preserve lessons of the past, and honor memories through family storybooks. For fun, she likes to travel, ski in Sun Valley, Idaho, play tennis, and visit her family in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina, where she most enjoys Maryland hard crabs and hush puppies, Ledo’s pizza, and chocolate horns.
Contact Links
Website: Newarkminutemen.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Newarkminutemen/?view_public_for=105088431047063
Twitter: @NMinutemen
Blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20201224.Leslie_K_Barry
Purchase Links
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195072X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/newark-minutemen-leslie-k-barry/1136792434?ean=9781631950728
[Book Blitz]: Death on the Danube by Steven M. Moore
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Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series, Book 3
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Date Published: September 2020
Publisher: Carrick Publishing
Esther Brookstone, ex-MI6 agent in East Berlin in the Cold War and ex-Scotland Yard Inspector in the Art and Antiques Division, is on her honeymoon with Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden. Their idyllic cruise down the Danube is interrupted when a reclusive and mysterious passenger is murdered. Why was the victim alone on that riverboat filled with couples, in a stateroom by himself? And who killed him? Esther and Bastiann were often called Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot by wags at the Yard, and this addition to the series might remind readers of Christie’s Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, but this mystery/thriller is very much a story set in the twenty-first century. So tour the Danube with Esther and Bastiann…and enjoy the ride!
Praise for Death on the Danube:
“Death on the Danube is the third book in the Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series by Steven M. Moore, and it is a wonderful blend of mystery and murder; a story that will be loved by fans of sleuth novels. Esther Brookstone served in East Berlin during the Cold War as an MI6 agent and she has also been a Scotland Yard Inspector. She is on honeymoon with her husband, Bastiann van Coevorden, an Interpol agent. On the Danube, they are alerted to the murder of a mysterious passenger. He occupied the stateroom by himself on a riverboat filled with couples. Who was this man and why would anyone murder him? What follows is an exciting ride to uncover the killer and the motive behind the murder.
I didn’t read the first two books in this series, but Death on the Danube is a thrill ride, a suspenseful story that can be read as a standalone novel. The plot is cleverly written, and it twists as the mystery deepens. It is unpredictable and fun and I was eager to discover who the victim of the murder was, find out why he was murdered, and find out who the killer was. The author doesn’t make it easy for readers, and I enjoyed the twists introduced into the story to sustain the interest of the reader and keep them guessing and turning the pages. Steven M. Moore is a master storyteller who creates characters with depth and thrusts them into complex situations. I loved the way the relationship between Esther and Bastiann is written, the great pacing, and the wonderful writing.”—Gobi Jane, in her Readers’ Favorite 5-star review.
Other Books in the Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series:
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Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series, Book 1
Publisher: Penmore Press
A Neo-Nazi conspiracy threatens Europe . . .
Esther Brookstone’s life is at a crossroads. A Scotland Yard inspector who specializes in stolen art, she’s reluctantly considering retirement. A three-time widow, she can’t quite decide whether paramour and colleague Interpol Agent Bastiann van Coevorden should be husband number four. Decisions are put on hold while she and Bastiann set out to thwart a neo-Nazi conspiracy financed in part by artworks stolen during World War II. Among the stolen art is the masterpiece “An Angel with Titus’ Features,” a work Esther obsesses about recovering.
The case sends the intrepid pair on an international hunt spanning several European countries and the Amazon jungle. Evading capture and thwarting death, Esther and Bastiann prove time and again that adrenaline-spiked adventures aren’t just for the young.
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Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series, Book 2
Publisher: Penmore Press
Esther Brookstone is at it again, this time obsessing about the life and times of St. John the Divine, all triggered by the discovery of a parchment hidden in the frame of a Botticelli painting that she authenticates. As in Rembrandt’s Angel, she soon gets into trouble, and her paramour, Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden, again comes to her aid. A race to find the saint’s tomb results, because Esther has competition. Three centuries of action involving the saint, the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli, and Esther and Bastiann, make this sequel a book of mystery, thrills, and suspense that will keep readers guessing.
A deftly crafted and consistently riveting read from beginning to end. Rembrandt’s Angel showcases author Steven Moore’s genuine flair for originality and his impressive mastery of the Mystery/Suspense genre.
—Midwest Book Review
About the Author
[image error]Steven M. Moore was born in California and has lived in various parts of the US and Colombia, South America. He always wanted to be a storyteller but postponed that dream to work in academia and R&D as a physicist. His travels around Europe, South America, and the US, for work or pleasure, taught him a lot about the human condition and our wonderful human diversity, a learning process that started during his childhood in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Contact Links
Website: https://stevenmmoore.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StevenMMoore4
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorStevenMMoore
LinkedIn Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-moore-8779532b/
Promo Link: http://bookbuzz.net/blog/mystery-death-on-the-danube-by-steven-m-moore/
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Purchase Links
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-on-the-danube-steven-m-moore/1137666695?ean=2940164249144
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/death-on-the-danube
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1043047
October 6, 2020
[Release Blitz]: Newark Minutemen by Leslie K. Barry
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Genre: Historical Fiction
Date Published: 6th October 2020
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Based on a true story about fighting fascism in 1930s New Jersey, Newark Minutemen tells an unforgettable tale about forbidden love, intrigue and a courageous man’s search for avenge….
During the Great Depression, Jewish boxer Yael Newman meets Krista Brecht, daughter of the German-American Nazi high command. When his affections turn real, his friends warn him against crossing the line. When Krista leaves for American Nazi summer camp in Long Island, New York, he swears to rescue her. But his mission becomes much more when he’s recruited into the Newark Minutemen by the Jewish mob and FBI to go undercover and fight the American Nazis who are taking over America.
Newark Minutemen Optioned first film
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/newark-minutemen-james-corden-1234755361/
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Excerpt
Preface
All my life, my mom and her family told us stories about growing up in Newark, NJ through the Depression and War years. We indulged them so many times that the images felt familiar yet foreign at the same time. But it wasn’t until her ninetieth birthday reunion, that the stories became vivid, especially one in particular.
At the party, I gulped as she told the story about her older brother Harry, a prize-fighting boxer. I had long read the newspaper article and seen the picture of my uncle winning the Golden Glove at Madison Square Garden in 1936. But the questions she answered that night about him beating up Nazis who were taking over America during the Depression caught me off guard. The family exchanged tales about the secret militia he belonged to, which had been set up between the FBI and the Jewish mob to stop the rise of fascism. She called my Uncle Harry a Newark Minuteman and said all the boxers were Minutemen fighting under the Jewish Mob Boss Longie Zwillman. For the first time, I really listened. Hitler’s party in America? During the Depression? Before World War II? My first reaction was the story could not have been true. We had never learned about this in school.
I was determined to understand. I spent hours and hours asking her to describe her life during this time—her brothers, the house, where they bought food, how they took out the trash, how they talked to relatives overseas. I transported myself back to the Great Depression, well before World War II, to understand who, what and why. My mom remembered everything, some things like it was yesterday, and others took clearing the cobwebs. She laughed, she cried, and she sighed through the months we spent unpacking the story. She talked about her brothers running numbers for Longie in his hideout behind the candy store, how Longie was adored like a Robin Hood, and how she wrote up the power of attorney for his trial. She explained that during the Depression, the mob took care of the neighborhood when the government couldn’t. I started to unpuzzle the role of the mob, their relationship with the FBI, and the unorthodox systems of rules and power propping up America during this teetering decade.
Reconnecting her big family brought forward a whole new life for my mom. They were part of a generation that gave up everything to come to America. She was part of a family that was connected to horrors, escaped concentration camps, and worked for the Underground. They were survivors and fighters. So it made perfect sense that the family was also a part of saving America from the same threats. Around the same time, I reconnected with my oldest cousin, Bruce Levine, who is very close to my mom. He became fascinated with the family stories and started researching with me. He found videos about President’s Day in 1939 at Madison Square Garden when the Nazi leader, Führer Fritz Kuhn, filled the Garden with his Nazi uniformed soldiers and twenty-five thousand supporters. Kuhn called out to take over the country and Make America Great. American-Nazis marched and saluted Heil Hitler while 200,000 protested outside. It was then we put the pieces together. My uncle was part of the FBI-mob militia that went out and infiltrated the rising Party that was being ignored by others.
We visited my mom’s family. We corroborated her story. Her four brothers worked with Longie Zwillman. One cousin, Pauline Levine, lived next door to the Mob’s hideout, which was behind the candy shop. Pauline’s father Irving was Longie Zwillman’s barber. She told me how Longie helped relatives and others escape from Europe. We also learned about the Nazi youth camps set up across America to train and indoctrinate German youth and worse. My mom went to Weequahic High School, along with many of the Jews from the area. My cousin, Bruce, went there as well and reached out on their alumnae site to gather stories about the Newark Minutemen. We received many anecdotes.
The story pulled me into a time in our country that has been forgotten. This is NOT another WWII Nazi story, nor a dystopian story where Hitler wins. This is a real-life, forgotten, fictionalized American story about waking up to the enemy sitting on our doorstep. Wherever possible, I have included factual information based on historical first-hand sources, including FBI and Senate hearing documents, interviews, testimonies, archives, diaries, timelines, newsreels, radio announcements, and news articles. However, because of the death of so many characters by the time the story was captured, the overshadowing of the horrors of the second World War and the secretive nature between the mob and the FBI, I have constructed scenes and dialogue where missing pieces arise or where it makes sense to combine characters. I have compressed events to best work for a novel and have dramatized events that were abridged accounts. But much of Newark Minutemen is true.
Führer Fritz Kuhn was the American Führer, the self-professed American Hitler. He managed and unified tens of thousands of American-Nazi Bund members into hundreds of cells and managed twenty-five Nazi youth camps across the U.S. These camps indoctrinated youth with Nazi ideology, culture, and military training. Kuhn’s six-company corporation generated millions. He exploited U.S. resources like the NRA and National Guard to equip his army with guns and training. The FBI tracked millions of dollars in leading banks to Germany, which proved ties between the American Bund and German Nazis. Many of the Nazi Americans became leaders for the German Nazis. Many Germans tied to Camp Siegfried were later tried and found guilty for espionage. Newark Minutemen went to war.
The protagonist, Yael, embodies John C. Metcalfe, Chicago Times undercover reporter who became a Nazi Stormtrooper to uncover the threat of Nazism in America, testified for the Senate hearings and FBI, and consulted on Confessions of a Nazi Spy movie. I had the pleasure of speaking with his son and reading John’s undercover diaries. The heroine, Krista, embodies Helen Vooros, who testified for the Senate hearings and FBI that she was raped in American Hitler Youth camps. In America, Jews were bullied, even hung with swastikas carved into their chests.
The story of Newark Minutemen is a real-life story that is relevant today—racism that embraces dehumanizing language (such as immigrants infesting our country, politicians called animals), normalizes militant Neo-Nazis, and ignores rumors about ISIS cells buried in our soil. Fascism is on the rise globally, and our ground is fertile for its rise. The warning signals include the blurring between real and fake news, the dangers of surveillance, resistance to cede power after losing elections, offering nationalism as a solution to inequality and poverty, and the simmering xenophobia. Newark Minutemen is a message about fighting the greatest threat to freedom of all—complacency.
NEWARKMINUTEMEN.COM provides information, the speeches from 1939 President’s Day, full FBI documents, confiscated videos, photos, diaries, links, and more.
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About the Author
[image error]Amazon best-selling author, Leslie K. Barry is most recently a screenwriter, author, and executive producer. Her previous professional work includes executive positions with major entertainment companies including Turner Broadcasting, Hasbro/Parker Brothers, Mattel, and Mindscape Video Games. Other areas of business include executive for the first e-shopping platform called eShop and marketing for Lotus Development, the US Post Office, and AOL. She was an Alpha Sigma Tau at JMU (James Madison University) in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley and attended a grad program at Harvard. She has spent the last twenty-five years with her husband, Doug Barry, in Tiburon, CA raising their four kids, Zachary, Brittany, Shaya, and Jackson, and their dog, Kona. On the side, she’s devoted to genealogy where she has uncovered many ideas for developing untold stories that help us appreciate the context of history, preserve lessons of the past, and honor memories through family storybooks. For fun, she likes to travel, ski in Sun Valley, Idaho, play tennis, and visit her family in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina, where she most enjoys Maryland hard crabs and hush puppies, Ledo’s pizza, and chocolate horns.
Contact Links
Website: Newarkminutemen.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Newarkminutemen/?view_public_for=105088431047063
Twitter: @NMinutemen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20201224.Leslie_K_Barry
Purchase Links
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195072X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/newark-minutemen-leslie-k-barry/1136792434?ean=9781631950728
October 2, 2020
[Book Review]: Fatherland by Robert Harris
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Genre: Alternative History, Thriller
Published: 1991 (first edition)
It is April 1964, and one week before Hitler’s 75th birthday.
Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, is called out to investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin’s most prestigious suburb. As March discovers the identity of the body, he uncovers signs of a conspiracy that could go to the very top of the German Reich.
And, with the Gestapo just one step behind, March, together with an American journalist, is caught up in a race to discover and reveal the truth – a truth that has already killed, a truth that could topple governments, a truth that will change history.
About the Author
[image error]Robert Harris is the author of nine best-selling novels: Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, The Ghost Writer, Conspirata, The Fear Index, and An Officer and a Spy. Several of his books have been adapted to film, most recently The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. He lives in the village of Kintbury, England, with his wife, Gill Hornby.
Contact Links
Website: http://www.robert-harris.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/575.Robert_Harris
My review (3*)
A fast-paced murder mystery, set in the alternative Universe in 1964, where Germany and the Axis have won the war, has caught my attention straight away.
Xavier March, a Kriminalpolizei investigator and a former U-boat’s commander, is sent to investigate a murder of a high-ranking Nazi bureaucrat just a few days before the Fuhrertag, Hitler’s 75th birthday. As the investigation unfolds, March finds himself emerged into a conspiracy that spreads its roots to the very top of the Reich. Teamed up with a seductive American journalist, Charlotte Maguire, March stars a crazy race against the clock to reveal the truth to the entire world.
Harris has done a great job, blending historical facts and fiction. The author poured enormous efforts and lots of time into his research. His description of Hitler’s Berlin is mesmerising and sinister at the same time. The atmosphere of paranoia and fear, which rules the city, described in the finest details.
March is a great example of a good guy–cool, detached, and determined–going against the system. His dedication to his work, his obsession with it costs him his family life. His ex-wife reports on him to the Gestapo, his ten-year-old son Pili despises and betrays him in the end. His love affair with Charlotte makes the matter even worse. March hates his black SS uniform, yet he continues to do his job with fanatical dedication. He isn’t a member of the Nazi party, and been on the Gestapo’s watch list for a while.
So, why did I give this book only three stars?
“Building” a great picture of the Third Reich and its evil government, the author seems like he completely forgets about his characters. Apart from March, there’s nobody to relate to. Charlotte Maguire, being too clever and sassy, seems like falls in love with March far too quickly. Odilo Globocnik, the Gestapo high-ranking officer who determined to stop March at any cost, has no personality as such. All we know about him is that he enjoys to torture and kill people just for the sake of doing it and can’t take a step without Reinhard Heydrich’s permission. Not enough for a good antagonist.
The Kriminalpolizei is overwhelmed by crimes and terrorist attacks, which happens every day on the streets of Berlin, yet March seems like he has nothing else to do but to investigate this particular case. His determination and curiosity keep him going even when he and his colleague and good friend are interrogated and threatened by Globocnik and his men. March’s motivation doesn’t work for me here.
Fast-paced at the beginning of the book, the plot starts to bog down in its second half and becomes too predictable in the end. Harris has done an amazing job, researching and worldbuilding, but failed to develop the plot and the characters.
I recommend this book to everybody who enjoys alterative history. On the mystery/thriller’s side of the story, this novel promises so much, but unfortunately, delivers very little.
October 1, 2020
[Release Blitz]: Wasting Time by Mike Murphey
Book 2 in the Physics, Lust and Greed Series
Genre: Science Fiction
Date Published: 1st October 2020
When time travelers fail test after test to significantly alter the past, most financial backers abandon the Global Research Consortium leaving veteran traveler Marta Hamilton to administer a vastly scaled-down project. She must protect the past from a greedy future, fend off political meddling, and foil a murder plot originating in a parallel universe. She presides over a conspiracy to hide the truth of her best friend’s death while coping with a confusing and discomforting romantic entanglement involving fellow traveler Marshall Grissom.
Marta, who has by professional necessity always distanced herself from emotional commitment, lapsed by allowing herself the luxury of friendship with Sheila Schuler and a night of wild sex with Marshall. Now, Sheila is probably dead, and—according to a genius physicists’ theory—Marshall soon will be. As she assumes her role as administrator of the time travel program, Marta must choose between the risks of loving someone, or the lonely safety of emotional solitude.
(No cats were harmed in the telling of this story)
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About the Author
[image error]Mike Murphey is a native of New Mexico and spent almost thirty years as an award-winning newspaper journalist in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. Following his retirement, he enjoyed a seventeen-year partnership with the late Dave Henderson, all-star Major League outfielder. Their company produced the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners adult baseball Fantasy Camps. Wasting Time is his fourth novel. Mike loves fiction, cats, baseball and sailing. He splits his time between Spokane, Washington, and Phoenix, Arizona.
Contact Links
Website: www.mikemurpheybooks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.murphey.author/manage_jobs/?tab=job_posts&source=manage_jobs_tab
Blog: https://www.mikemurpheybooks.com/blog
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandnmur/
Buy Link
Amazon: amzn.to/2HF7bgH
Giveaway
$5 Amazon Gift Card and an eBook Copy
September 30, 2020
[Guest Post]: Why Book Covers are So Important by Karen Randau, the author of “Mystery Bones Murders”
I have a new guest-author on my blog today. Please, give a warm welcome to Karen Randau, the author of a mystery/thriller “Mystery Bones Murders”. Karen talks about her new release and how a well-designed book cover can catch readers’ attention.
Why Book Covers are So Important
There is more to a well-designed book cover than lovely art. It needs to grab a potential reader’s attention while also convincing them that your book is the one into which they should immerse themselves for the next few hours or days.
Discovery
To sell your book, it must be found among millions of others. The number one way people find books is through recommendations. Lacking that, they search Amazon or Google. Keywords are vital for showing up in search results. That isn’t the subject of this post, but you need to learn about keywords and research those used for your kind of book. Do this before you even start writing in order to use the right keywords throughout, including on your cover. Your marketing that uses these same keywords will help your book get discovered.
Conversion
Once your book is discovered, it competes with a swarm of other books for the sale. Conversion is the job of your cover and description. These need to appeal to the potential reader, not you. And the cover needs to be designed by a professional designer.
The cover should give potential readers the overall message that your book is what they like to read and convince them it will entertain them. To do that, you must understand your market and what those people are looking for. So what are they looking at on a cover?
Title
Image
Reading Line
Your Name
Blurb
Title is a king on a book cover. Despite men and women responding to different kinds of messages, the title is what first gets their attention. Not only must it be searchable (for discovery), it must communicate the mood, genre, and content of your book. And it must be done in a way that appeals to them, not necessarily you. Try not to give it the same title as another novel or movie that isn’t anywhere close to your message.
The image you use should expand on the title. It doesn’t have to show a face or a shirtless man or even have a complex design. It just needs to communicate the mood of your title in a way that appeals to your readers, and it must look professional.
A Reading line—one or two short, snappy sentences that describe your book’s content—greatly contributes to conversion. The book research firm, Codex-Group, study found that many books don’t have these despite their vital role in conversion. Include one to make your book stand out.
Your name also must be prominent, especially if you have established fans. Even if you don’t, be consistent and professional in how you show your name and brand.
Blurbs from famous authors only help if the author writes the same kind of books you write. Otherwise, don’t waste the real estate. Put those above the book’s description on your Amazon sales page and your website. For print books, the back cover description also needs to be engaging and pull a reader in. Keep it short, and don’t give away the ending.
In summary, research, write, and design your cover with the same care you’ve given the pages of your book. Give a lot of attention to keywords. Use the same messaging in all your marketing. Have your cover designed by a professional. Sticking to these rules won’t guarantee sales, but they’ll give you a greater chance at converting more sales.
About the Book
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Notorious Minds Crime Mystery Thriller Boxset
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Date Published: 13th October 2020
Publisher: Fire Quill Publishers
Frankie Shep is still mourning the deaths of her husband and young son when she finds a bone in the far corner of her Wyoming cattle ranch.
Excited to think she may have discovered an ancient Native American village, she takes the bone to a lifelong friend who is now a forensic anthropologist on contract with her county.
After a cursory inspection, he turns a blood-chilling stare at Frankie. The bone isn’t ancient. Worse, the victim could be the remains of Frankie’s mother. She disappeared from her own bed more than a decade ago.
And now her retired father is missing.
As Frankie digs deeper, she discovers the terrifying truth that a serial killer is using her land to bury his victims, all members of her family and inner circle.
And now he’s watching her.
Mystery Bones Murders is a story of love, heart-wrenching deception, and finding redemption.
Available exclusively in the Notorious Minds box set!
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What does it take to commit the perfect crime?
Delve into these dark and twisted tales by twenty USA Today and International Bestselling Authors.
No matter what kind of crime story typically catches your imagination, there’s sure to be something for everyone.
Conspiracies, political plots, and yes, even murder, are just a few of the crimes waiting inside this box set.
Discover a narcissistic grandmother running an underground syndicate, or a support group bent on murder…and even a serial killer who turns his victims into fairytale creatures.
Uncover the passion, jealousy, and fear lingering in every tale.
This box set is packed with thousands of pages that will hold you on the edge of your seat, crying for answers.
About the Author
[image error]Karen Randau authors fast-paced stories with intricate plots and lots of actione. Her debut novel, Deadly Deceit, was the first in her four-book Rim Country Mysteries and has twice reached the #1 slot in Amazon’s amateur sleuth category. The fourth book in the series, Deadly Payload, was a finalist in the 2019 Book Excellence Awards and the 2018 Beverly Hills Book Awards®. She was one of seven authors in the Tawnee Mountain Mystery Series with Deadly Reception and now is joining 19 other others in the Notorious Minds Crime Mystery/Thriller boxset.
A native of the southwestern U.S., Karen has traveled internationally and witnessed famines, violence, and hopeful people working to overcome abject poverty. She draws on both her creativity and personal experience to weave together an interesting cast of characters with rollercoaster-like twists and turns.
Contact Links
Website: http://www.karenrandau.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/karenrandauauthor
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/klrandau
Blog: http://www.karenrandau.com/blog/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/491463.Karen_Randau
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/klrandau/
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Purchase Links
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085S2DYPH
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/za/en/ebook/notorious-minds-boxset-mystery-thriller-crime
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1502417965
Giveaway
Amazon gift card
September 29, 2020
[Book Blitz]: The Price of Safety by Michael C. Bland
Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller
Date Published: 6th April 2020
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
By 2047, no crime in the U.S. goes unsolved. No wrongdoing goes unseen. When Dray Quintero learns his nineteen-year-old daughter Raven committed a heinous act, he covers it up to save her life. This pits him against the police he’s respected since he was a child and places him in the crosshairs of Kieran, a ruthless federal Agent. To survive, Dray must overcome the surveillance system he helped build and the technology implanted in the brains and eyes of the citizens.
Forced to turn to a domestic terrorist group to protect his family, Dray soon realizes the sheer level of control of his adversaries. Hunted and betrayed, with time running out, will Dray choose his family or the near-perfect society he helped create?
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Excerpt
Chapter 1
Igniting a miniature sun was the riskiest thing we’d ever attempted, yet we were doing it in front of the entire planet.
While Nikolai bragged about our innovations to the cameras, reporters, and two hundred VIPs assembled, I stood sixty feet away, facing the control panel of our unlit sustained-fusion reactor, searching for any indication our creation would explode. The seven-foot-long, concave control panel displayed the time remaining until ignition. Forty-five seconds.
I didn’t use the control panel to conduct my search. Instead, I projected our schematics and stress tolerance estimates onto the lenses in my eyes, the data hovering before me like a clear computer screen stretched across my vision. Hidden from everyone.
“…each pod contains the highest concentration of dark matter ever collected,” said Nikolai, the CEO of our company, who’d been my friend once. “Eighteen months’ worth of space harvesting efforts.”
We’d designed not only the pods but the entire ten-acre complex: the energy grid, the fifty-yard-wide containment chamber where we’d try to light the “sun” that would power our reactor, the domed observation room with celestial images on the ceiling and a massive window that revealed the chamber, and Nikolai’s temporary stage in front of the window. We’d also devised the safety protocols, power regulators, and energy-capture systems. The biggest risk was the medicine-ball-sized metal core we hoped to ignite. A single flaw could doom everyone here.
If we succeeded, though, our reactor would provide mankind with cheap, reliable energy—and us a spot in the history books. Nikolai would become richer than ever, with countries begging for our reactor. I’d see my creation come to life, which would tangibly better mankind, fulfilling a promise I’d made.
My personal cell phone buzzed in my pocket, a number I didn’t recognize flashing in the corner of my augmented sight. I ignored the call and reluctantly stopped my search as the countdown neared zero. Years of planning, of calculations and simulations and more money than I cared to contemplate, came down to this moment.
Beside me, Amarjit, my bushy-eyebrowed director of robotics, took a deep breath as I activated the reactor. Four titanium-geared positioning robots, each twenty feet tall, stepped forward in unison inside the solar-cell-lined, circular containment chamber, and lifted the dark matter containment pods to precise spots around the core. Reinforced metal rods moved two additional pods into position, one rod descending from the ceiling and the other rising from the floor.
“Dark matter is the key to our efforts,” Nikolai continued, his sharp chin pointing at the crowd. He wore his graying hair short, his thin frame coated in a pale suit. He also wore his datarings, which was odd, as my team and I were handling the sequence. “This unique substance causes regular matter to draw on itself. The resulting compression, which will occur at the molecular level throughout the core, is what we’re confident will create the fusion spark.”
The robots locked their joints into place.
I hadn’t wanted anyone here but was outvoted by our board, my simulations used against me. But the simulations were distorted with assumptions. I wasn’t sure the core had the right mix of elements, wasn’t sure about the pressure needed. Wasn’t sure about a lot of it.
I took a breath myself—aware of the lives at risk, the stakeholders and VIPs and broadcasting cameras—and powered up the dark matter.
The robots’ hands and the two cradles glowed as they released energy into the pods, activating the matter. Combined reverse-gravitational pressure enveloped the core to five hundred million newtons per square meter, squeezing it from all sides.
There was supposed to be light, the purest imaginable, maybe preceded by a flash. But nothing happened.
Our readouts measured the core’s compression, but showed nothing that indicated an ignition: no fusing of molecular fuels, no sign of liquefaction.
As anxiety crawled up my spine, I increased pressure, but nothing changed other than rising stress levels in the robots’ joints. I maxed the energy to the pods, compressing the core to pressure levels found under the Earth’s crust.
Amarjit shot me a look, his caterpillar-sized eyebrows squeezing together.
I knew the danger.
The pods were made of aluminum, the only metal that could contain energized dark matter without interfering with its reverse-gravitational force. But the dark matter became more volatile the more we assaulted it with energy, and the pods had limits to what they could hold.
With the forces we were manipulating, it felt like depending on a balloon to contain a shotgun blast. If one ruptured, our entire complex would be decimated, along with a portion of Los
Angeles. The city south and west of here should be protected from the blast by the mountainside we’d carved into, but maybe not. The amount of destruction would depend on the energy levels when everything went to shit.
The readouts on my lenses flashed red. We’d reached our thresholds, yet the core remained unchanged.
My personal cell phone buzzed again, the same unknown number.
Ignoring the call, I told Amarjit, “We’re aborting.” I touched the control panel to kill the power to the pods, but the system didn’t respond. “What the hell?”
I waved Nikolai over, but he wasn’t looking at me; he faced the chamber instead, his determined expression one I’d seen countless times. His hands hung at his sides, but his fingers were moving, entering commands. His silver datarings flashed as he typed on his legs, the rings registering his fingers’ movements as keystrokes—tracking where each finger moved as if he was typing on a keyboard—and sending his commands to his neural net, which I realized was now the only access point to the fusion reactor.
Behind him, the crowd became restless.
“Boss,” Amarjit said.
I followed his gaze. Inside the chamber, the robots extended their arms, moving the dark matter closer to the core. First two inches. Then four. Then six.
“I’m not doing it,” he said.
“It’s Nikolai.” I slapped at the digitally-projected controls, but they didn’t react. “He fucking cut us off.”
WARNING flashed red in my vision as alarms sounded.
The faceplate of one of the robots buckled from the reverse-gravitational forces emanating from its pod. The knee joint of another started to twist.
“Dray,” Amarjit said.
“I see it.” My hands skittered across the control panel as I tried to reboot the system but failed, my brow damp with sweat.
A strained sound reverberated inside the chamber, followed by a pop, and a crack stretched across the curved window before us. The air surrounding the robots shimmered like asphalt on a summer day.
I brought up the master settings to search for a power override. “Can you take command of the robots remotely?”
“No,” he said as he jabbed at the panel. “They can only be controlled from here.”
Robot Number Two—with the twisted knee—contorted further as the pressure from the dark matter mounted, sparks flying from its wrists. None of our simulations had covered this, but I knew what would happen. A few more degrees and its joint would shatter. It’d be thrown against the wall, the pod ripped open. We’d be obliterated in the explosion.
I needed to cut Nikolai’s signal.
The control panel rested on a bioplastic-enclosed base connected to a hollow metal railing. The dataring receiver had to be in the base. I hadn’t included one in the panel’s design, but it would’ve been easy for him to add. I wondered what else the self-serving bastard had done.
“You bring any tools?” I asked Amarjit, who shook his head. “Get everyone out of here.”
“There’s no time.”
He was right. “Then save yourself. Go.”
As he hurried away, I squatted below the panel, took my metal ID badge from around my neck, jammed it into the cover’s seam, and tore away the bioplastic to expose the motherboards, quantum cubes, and fiberwires that connected to the panel. I spotted the receiver immediately, an inch-long, fan-shaped device, and ripped it out, severing Nikolai’s connection.
I stood and hit the sequence to reestablish a link to the robots.
As systems came online, I wondered why the core hadn’t sparked. The reaction sequence should’ve initiated, especially with so much pressure. That’s when I noticed the liquefaction gauge. A section of tritium had liquified but was stunted, limited to the second quadrant.
Closest to Robot Number Two.
Where the pressure was angled.
I’d approached this wrong. I’d directed pressure uniformly around the core.
Regaining control, I linked with the robots to pull them back, but first shifted Robot Number Three—the least-damaged one—to the right, angling the pressure from its pod—
The core ignited.
Throughout the tritium veins that threaded the core, protons added to atoms in a domino effect, the veins turning into contained plasma, and brilliant light burst forth, painting the chamber. No explosion threatened us, no pressure, unlike the destructive effect of nuclear fission. Instead, warmth from the molten metal reached me through the glass, the chain reaction spreading over the core’s surface to begin consuming the denser, solid metals that would feed it for the next twenty years.
The warnings in my lenses, thrown in stark relief by the star we’d created, turned green as I pulled the robots back to reduce the pressure to acceptable levels, though one regarding the robots’ structural integrity remained red.
The chamber’s window tinted, returning our vision to us.
Nikolai threw up his arms to the crowd. “As promised, nuclear fusion! The first of many Gen Omega plants we’ll build across the country to address America’s energy needs.”
Applause washed over us.
“Bastard,” I murmured, shaking with adrenaline.
I reduced the dark matter’s energy to the minimum amount needed to keep our newborn sun suspended in position, while Amarjit, who’d rushed back to help, ran diagnostics on his robots, two of which no longer stood straight.
A phone number flashed on my lenses, the same one as before. This time it was calling my work cell. Possibly one of my employees. “Dray here.”
“Dad, I need help,” my nineteen-year-old daughter said.
I was caught off-guard, not only because it was Raven’s voice, but because of the fear in it. I’d never heard her so afraid.
Concerned, I moved away from Amarjit. “What happened?”
“You’ve got to come.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Not me. It’s….” Someone else. Trever Hoyt, her boyfriend, who Raven had gone out with tonight. He was a decent kid, though opinionated and a little snobbish. I had hoped she wouldn’t get serious with him, but they’d dated for almost a year. “Do you remember the time in
New Trabuco when I hit that rock? It’s worse than that.”
She meant there was a lot of blood. His blood, presumably. “You need to call the po—”
“I would, except it’s me.”
I didn’t understand, then did. She’d caused the bleeding.
I started to ask if they’d been in an accident, but she was being cagey for a reason.
Normally talkative and bright, she was avoiding saying certain words, aware that spiders patrolled the airwaves.
Watching what she said. Trever bleeding. The way she was acting, it could only mean one thing: she’d done something illegal, as hard as it was to believe.
Though I was still sweating, I felt a chill. No one got away with a crime. Not in 2047.
The people around me, the media and VIPs and shining fusion core, Nikolai waving at me to join him on stage as he said my name and proclaimed this was the start of “more wonders to come.” None of it mattered now.
I squeezed my finger-thin phone. “Where are you?”
“His parents’ place. Their work. There’s a spot we made where you can get in. I’m in a small building just past a maintenance road.”
My concern increased. She meant Trever’s parents’ facility. I’d never been there and didn’t know what they did, but I’d heard visitors required a security clearance due to the sensitive nature of government contracts the Hoyts had. It was a place she never should’ve been.
“On my way.”
* * *
I exited the 605 at Beverly and raced through Whittier, passing countless neighborhoods, most of which were dark this time of night. I closed my data streams to reduce my digital trail, and tried to avoid the surveillance that existed even in this sleepy part of Los Angeles, the cameras and traffic scanners and microphones that monitored most of the country. I wanted to take side streets to further reduce my history, but needed to get to Raven. She wasn’t the type to ask for help. Strong and resourceful, she helped others, cared about the neglected and abused—otters, immigrants, the homeless—and debated fiercely, but never with a mean spirit. She would become a force as an adult—though with the way she’d sounded, I worried for her future.
My thoughts flickered to my son Adem, who’d died before he learned to talk. Even with how safe I’d helped make our world, I couldn’t protect him. Couldn’t save him. I feared I wouldn’t be able to save Raven, either.
I passed the guarded entrance to Hoyt Enterprises and followed the fortified, ten-foot-high wall for blocks until I located Trever’s red-and-black McLaren. I tried to tamp down my fear as I parked my Chrysler E-650 sedan beside the metal wall. I had to be level headed and calm, though I didn’t feel either.
Spotting the hole Trever and Raven had created, two of the vertical panels pried apart, I went to it. I’d maintained my weight over the years, but I’d always been thick. As a result, I had to squeeze my way through the gap.
Multi-story buildings occupied most of the compound’s interior—production, office, warehouse—though they stood back from the wall, the structures dark, the only light in the complex coming from the entrance far to my left. Closer to me, one-story storage structures stretched in long rows, the nearest five yards away. Straight ahead was an empty space followed by an asphalt road and a cluster of residence-type buildings barely visible in the darkness. To my right, a flat-topped building sat on top of an unlit hill adjacent to the facility. The property was fenced, and the two parcels shared a wall.
I started toward the residence-type buildings, sticking close to the nearest storage structure, followed the structure to the far end, and found a security camera staring at me. I froze, but my image had already been captured.
My apprehension growing, I continued forward and crossed the road.
The buildings were old, possibly the property’s original development. Three could have been homes, another a garage, a fifth some kind of lab. I hesitated, unsure which one she might be in, heard a sound to my left, and cautiously proceeded toward the residence in that direction.
“Raven?”
She appeared in the shadowed doorway, pulled me inside, and hugged me, trembling.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“It was Trever’s idea. Dad, he attacked me. He tried to rape me.”
I stepped back. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw the swelling in her face, her bloody lip. Her shirt was torn.
A primal rage began to grow. “Did he…?”
“No.” Her composure, thin as it was, cracked. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
Her words tempered my anger and fear, though not by much. “Whatever you did was
self-defense. You were justified. The police will see the truth.”
“I can’t.”
“They’ll listen.”
She grabbed my arm. “His implant. I ripped it out.”
His neural net, the implanted technology that linked our brains to the web, work, and every other digital source. Federal law required that every citizen have one, and tampering with them was punishable by death, regardless of the circumstances. There had been complaints about the law’s extremity, even demonstrations, but nothing had changed, and most people didn’t care, too enamored with the access their implants granted.
My lips felt numb. “Is he alive?”
“I don’t think so.”
She led me to the next room, where Trever lay in a pool of blood, his body contorted, his implant nearby.
I’d never seen an implant outside of a person’s head. The part that was usually visible, the silver-dollar-sized reflective end, stuck out no more than a quarter-inch from a person’s temple. However, the entire implant was over an inch and a half long, with two curved leads that jutted deeper into the brain: one about two inches long and the other about five inches.
“He grabbed me and tore at my clothes,” she said. “I tried to crawl away, but when he grabbed me, I kicked him as hard as I could, and he rolled off. That’s when I saw the pipe.”
She indicated a rusted drainage pipe, one end curled back where it had broken off.
I squatted beside it, careful not to touch it. “You hit him with this?”
She nodded.
“How many times?”
“Just once. When I swung, the pipe caught the edge of his implant. I didn’t mean to.”
Trever wasn’t the first corpse I’d seen, but he was the first born of violence, which made me unsettled. His right temple was caved in where his implant had been. The metal ring that had secured his implant in place was missing, along with a chunk of his skull. Raven’s years of playing softball had saved her from a heinous act—but at a terrible price.
A fierce protectiveness rose inside me, joining my fear. The police would be methodical. I had to anticipate what they’d find.
The building we were in was being renovated. The floor had been reduced to a concrete slab and the walls gutted, with spools of wire stacked in a corner and construction supplies strewn about. A nearby wall had blood splattered in an arc.
Nothing contradicted her story, though doubt nagged at me. “Ripping out his implant was a fluke,” I told her. “It was self-defense. A jury won’t convict you.”
“He didn’t rape me. I stopped him. If people could’ve seen his face, how he lunged at me, what he said, they would understand, but there aren’t cameras in here. No one will believe me.”
A prosecutor could claim her injuries were self-inflicted. Say she’d torn her own clothes. Without hard evidence, she was in danger.
She didn’t have to add that Trever’s parents were politically well-connected. Mina frequently interacted with them as chief of staff for the mayor of Los Angeles. Jesus, Mina. She was going to be horrified.
“What do we do?” Raven asked.
“I don’t know. Who knows how many cameras I passed getting here, not to mention the GPS in my car?”
When I left the reactor, I’d shielded my face from the cameras I knew about, but dozens of others had probably nailed me, including the one inside the facility. Hell, our phone call could be used against us. My work cell had a built-in scrambler, so the cops would only get one side of our conversation, but with the other evidence, it’d be enough.
She didn’t plead, didn’t back away. “I’ll turn myself in.”
I started for her, careful not to step on Trever’s implant, but paused.
The implant.
If she hadn’t ripped it out, hadn’t killed him, I would’ve wanted her to confess to the police. But if she did, she would pay the ultimate price.
She couldn’t just leave. Not only had she been caught on camera, she was leaving DNA: blood, hair, dead skin. I was, too.
We had to do this a different way and hope it worked, because I couldn’t lose her. She and her sister were my world.
“I have an idea. You’re not going to like it,” I told her. “I’ve heard rumors about people stealing implants. Cops don’t want to admit it happens, because it’s one of the only crimes they struggle to solve.”
“Why would people steal…? Oh. To become someone else.”
I nodded. “Each has a unique code cops can use to identify us if they get a warrant. A criminal who wants to hide from authorities can’t unless they obtain a new code, which means a new implant—one that’s been stolen, wiped, and recoded.”
“You want to blame Trever’s death on implant thieves.”
“To do that, I’ll have to take yours.”
Her eyes grew big. “What?”
“If yours isn’t stolen, the authorities won’t believe you.” I held out my hands. “I’ll take it out straight, minimal damage. You can tell the police you two were here hiding out or whatever when men jumped you. Trever tried to defend you, but they overwhelmed him and ripped out his implant. They were easier on you, as you didn’t fight, using the same pipe—”
“The same pipe? Dad, I don’t want to die.” She looked panicked.
I took her in my arms. “You won’t. I promise. Tell the cops the men were masked and didn’t say anything.”
When I let go, she wiped her cheeks. “How do the police find me?”
“As soon as I take your implant, I’ll call 911.”
She paled further, eyes darting, but nodded.
I had her lay near Trever, yet far enough away that she didn’t touch his blood.
“I’m scared,” she said.
I wasn’t a father. I was a monster for suggesting this. But I had to keep her safe.
I touched her cheek. “I’ll make it as clean as possible. With the right amount of force, it’ll pop out.” I had the strength. I’d manhandled the robots we’d used in the reactor. “This is the only way.”
As she rolled onto her side, I picked up the pipe. I placed my hand on her head, my calloused fingers nearly palming it. “I love you.”
I gently slid the hooked lip of the pipe under the edge of her implant, wincing when the pipe touched her skin. After seeing Trever’s neural net, I knew Raven’s had been implanted straight into her skull. If I pulled up, like removing a nail, it’d minimize the damage. I didn’t want to do this, and would probably never forgive myself, but it needed to look like a criminal stole her neural net.
I had an image of her in prison garb, curled on a metal cot. Another of her strapped to a gurney, getting a lethal injection.
I couldn’t let that happen, whatever the cost.
I held her in place with my free hand and pulled on the pipe, at first gently and then as hard as I could. For the briefest of moments, the ring held—she screamed—then gave way with a wet sound. The implant tumbled to the ground as I fell back, the pipe nearly flying from my hand.
She started to shake and gasp. Sparks flickered in her eyes, and blood welled up in the hole I’d opened in the side of her head.
A panic unlike anything I’d ever felt seized me.
What had I done?
About the Author
[image error]Michael C. Bland is a founding member and the secretary of BookPod: an invitation-only, online group of professional writers. He pens the monthly BookPod newsletter where he celebrates the success of their members, which include award-winning writers, filmmakers, journalists, and bestselling authors. One of Michael’s short stories, “Elizabeth,” won Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest 2015 Popular Fiction Awards contest. Three short stories he edited have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Another was adapted into an award-winning film. Michael also had three superhero-themed poems published in The Daily Palette. He currently lives in Denver with his wife Janelle and their dog Nobu. His novel, The Price of Safety, is the first in a planned trilogy, and has been recognized as a finalist in both the National Indie Excellence awards and the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Contact Links
Website: www.mcbland.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mcblandwriter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcblandwriter
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51062587-the-price-of-safety
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcbland107/
Purchase Links
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Safety-Michael-C-Bland/dp/1950890805
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-price-of-safety-michael-c-bland/1133768415
Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781950890804
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/the-price-of-safety/9781950890804
September 28, 2020
[Release Blitz]: Moon in Bastet by E S Danon
Genre: Magical Realism, Jewish Fiction
Date Published: 29th September 2020
Publisher: Hurn Publications
A memoir turned into thrilling fiction; Moon in Bastet is based on the life of author E. S. Danon. The story follows a fourteen-year-old girl named Eva, an orphan living in the Negev desert of Israel who is working as a custodian of Cirque Du Christianisme. Her life is controlled by a volatile drunk named Bella who favors a group of equally volatile teenage bullies over her and her own safety or sanity.
Bullied, neglected, and alone – Eva’s only friends are an odd, thirteen–year–old Sephardic boy named Jack and a small cohort of Bedouin sister-wives. On the brink of giving up on life, Eva stumbles upon a mysterious cat in the middle of the desert. Or really, did the cat stumble upon her?
Together they must fight to stay alive, win the battles thrown at them, and Eva must learn to not only lean on others but to trust in herself.
Filled with mystery, magic, and symbolism – Moon in Bastet is a story of resilience, survivorship, forgiveness, and women empowerment. This is a work filled with Jewish mysticism that can be enjoyed by people of all races, ages, and religions everywhere.
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About the Author
[image error]Elizabeth Danon received her B.S. in Marine Science from Stony Brook University before working as a Marine Biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service. She traveled the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and Gulf of Mexico, collecting data aboard commercial fishing vessels and dredges.
When that didn’t pan out to be the glorified job that she expected, finding herself covered in shark snot and fish scales daily, Elizabeth became a technical writer. In her spare time, she began doing stand-up comedy after taking comedy bootcamp with the Armed Services Arts Partnership. At this time, she married the most wonderful man who also provides most of her joke writing material. Unfortunately, because he’s Indian he has also enabled her Maggi addiction… Like she needed that on top of her already long-standing iced coffee issues.
Her favorite show is Schitt’s Creek, as she feels a special bond to her fellow comedians – and Sephardic brethren. Growing up half-Jewish herself, Elizabeth eventually converted to being full-Jewish with Temple Israel as a student of Rabbi Panitz.
Her enriched, but complicated, heritage has been an inspiration for most of her creative writing. Being an Aries, she has always felt like a leader and has therefore integrated her feminist beliefs into her work, albeit dropping every women’s studies course that she ever elected in college. Additionally, her writing has an unmistakable international presence. Elizabeth wanted to discover as much as she could about her Sephardic Heritage and went on Birthright, followed by her independent travels to over ten other countries… carrying nothing but a red bookbag.
Author’s Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads | Twitter | LinkedIn |Amazon
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Buy Links:
Giveaway
$10 Amazon Gift Card
September 25, 2020
[Guest Post]: How to sell your First Fiction Book by Roger L. Liles, the author of “The Cold War Begins”
Today, I’m pleased to introduce you Roger L. Liles, the author of The Cold War Begins, which was just released in September 2020. Roger talks about benefits and downfalls of finding a traditional publisher.
How to sell your First Fiction Book
Only a tiny fraction of first-time writer’s fiction submittals to the big five publishers or even to other smaller firms ever get into print. But you’re the exception. Your manuscript and a cover letter got the attention of the individual who is tasked with separating the wheat from the chaff at every publisher. You’re really good or have had your manuscript professionally edited and formatted. You’re cover letter really got their attention. Perhaps you are so good that you’ve got an agent interested in your book and he/she is pitching it to one or more publishers.
Your first chapter is a real attention grabber. The editor who is assigned the manuscript gives it to one on the new college graduates in the firm to read all the way through. That individual is bowled-over by your book. Your editor reads it and is soon pitches it to the editorial staff in their weekly meeting—all the editors agree that your book must be published. You’re being touted as a part of this publishing firm’s future.
Your agent gets a low six-figure advance (say $100,000), but there are catches. The publishers are in business to make money. First and foremost, it’s a three-book deal, and it will take you at least 18 months to finish the manuscript your working on and write another whole book. You have to give your agent his/her 15%. Are eighty-five thousand dollars enough to support you and your family for perhaps two more years? That $25 an hour job at Home Depot may pay more per hour than you are going to make since you’ve already invested two years of your life in your first book.
Next, you’re told you must give up all rights to the story and characters. You know that Michael Connely was forced to pay $6.8 million to buy back his Hermanus Bosch character, but you don’t care your riding high. The publisher will take care of promoting your book and you’ll sell enough copies to get rich. Then you’re told that about a dollar for each paperback and ebook copy sold will be applied to reducing your advance balance and that your advance must be paid back in full before you will receive any royalties. Since few writers sell 100,000 copies of their first book, you may not receive any royalties until the second or third book comes out. You’re told that audiobooks are selling big, and you will receive several dollars in royalties for each audiobook sold. Your agent says, “It’ll take them almost a year to publish your book in all forms. But don’t worry in less than two years, you’ll start receiving regular monthly royalty checks—they may be small, but they’ll be something.”
There are two viable alternatives. One is Hybrid Self-Publishing which essentially involved you paying an experienced third party to serve as the publisher. You learn what is required to get your book published and pay for everything including advertising which can be expensive and also not as effective as you might desire. You’ll learn a lot and may even be able to publish as many books as you want for little money after that.
The second is total self-publishing (there is no room to explore that minefield here). Both of these alternatives involved untold man-hours and your success will depend on a little bit of luck and a lot of diligent effort on your part.
Having a well-written manuscript that is expertly edited and formatted on a topic of interest to a lot of people is the key to success no matter which publishing path you select. If you’re young, the traditional publishers may take a chance on you with a one book offer of $20,000 to $30,000. If that book is a flop, your dead in the publishing field. You’ll have to change your name before trying again.
When your 79 years old like me, no one is going to take a chance that you’ll even be around to write your next book. We write because it is a compulsion and we love it. Good Luck in your writing endeavors.
About the Book
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Second Volume of the Berlin Tunnel Trilogy
Genre: Historical Fiction
Date Published: September 8, 2020
From Amazon bestsellers list author Roger L. Liles comes the second volume of his Cold War trilogy—THE COLD WAR BEGINS. The setting is war-ravaged Berlin in late 1946. Spies from both sides begin to move with relative ease throughout a Germany occupied by British, French, American and Russian military forces. Kurt Altschuler, our hero, soon becomes one of them.
While working behind enemy lines as an OSS agent in France during World War II, Kurt learns that intelligence collection involves both exhilarating and dangerous encounters with the enemy. He relished every moment he spent as part of the vanguard confronting the Nazis.
That war has been over for 18 months when he is offered a job as a CIA deep-cover agent in the devastated and divided city of Berlin. He jumps at the opportunity, but is concerned that his guise as an Associated Press News Agency reporter will offer little action. He need not worry. Soon, he is working undercover, deep inside of Russian-controlled south-eastern Germany. Eventually, KGB agents waylay him and tear his car and luggage apart. His chauffeur is beaten. He is threatened with prison, torture and death.
Enter Erica Hoffmann, a very attractive, aspiring East German archaeology student. Any relationship between an undercover CIA agent and an East German woman is strictly forbidden; she might be a KGB or Stasi agent or operative. But he cannot help himself—he has fallen hard for her. Kurt strives assiduously to maintain their tempestuous, star-crossed relationship.
Eventually, Kurt works to counter the efforts of Russian and East German spies, especially a mole who is devastating Western Intelligence assets throughout Europe. He also must work to identify and expose enemy spies who have penetrated the very fabric of the West German government and society. He frequently observes to others that: “the spy business is like knife fighting in a dark closet; you know you’re going to be cut up, you just don’t know how bad.”
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About the Author
[image error]Roger L. Liles decided he had to earn a living after a BA and graduate studies in Modern European History. He went back to school and eventually earned an MS in Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1970.
In the 1960s, he served as an Air Force Signals Intelligence Officer in Turkey and Germany and eventually lived in Europe for a total of eight years. He worked in the military electronics field for forty years—his main function was to translate engineering jargon into understandable English and communicate it to senior decision-makers in the government.
Now retired after working for forty years as a senior engineering manager and consultant with a number of aerospace companies, he spends his days writing. His first novel, which was published in late 2018 was titled The Berlin Tunnel—A Cold War Thriller . His second novel The Cold War Begins was published in late 2020 and is the second volume in his planned The Cold War Trilogy. This trilogy is based on extensive research into Berlin during the spy-versus-spy era which followed World War II and his personal experience while living and working in Europe. He is in the process of writing its third volume of the trilogy which will be titled The Berlin Tunnel—Another Crisis and takes the story into 1962 and the era of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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Contact Link
Website: RogerLLiles.com
Giveaway
$5 Amazon Gift Card & eBook Copy
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/408264011182
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Add to your Goodreads Shelf
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54819275-the-cold-war-begins
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