Lorijo Metz's Blog: ScifiWritermom, page 10

Across the Universe, by Beth Revis

 

This book has about 3 or 4 different covers, as far as I can tell!

From Amazon:

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

My favorite cover

What intrigued me about Across The Universe wasn’t the promise of another YA love story or even a murder mystery set aboard a generation ship. No, what intrigued me was a premise that, in my own geeky way, I’d often wondered about.

What if we could be cryogenically frozen alive? Would we dream? Would we have any sense of the passage of time?

As a long time sci-fi geek I’ve read plenty of stories in which the author assumes we will have this capability in the future and then uses it as a device to allow characters to travel hundreds of years across the universe to reach other planets. Beth Revis, however, is the first author (I’ve read) who actually ventures into a character’s mind while in this frozen state of animation. I won’t give away what happens–

SHIVER!

But make a note: I get all claustrophobic just thinking about it!

Another intriguing premise Beth Revis tackles is:

What if you’d lived your entire life within the confines of a spaceship, your one hope being the promise that your generation would one day see landfall–only to have that hope taken away?

In Across the Universe, Beth Revis brings these two premises together and examines them through the eyes of two teens who, along the way, solve a mystery and…fall in love.

Across the Universe is a fun and fascinating young adult read. While the ending felt a bit rushed, and the mystery, for me, wasn’t all that much of a mystery, the problem Beth sets up for the next installment in the series (A Million Suns), is intriguing enough to keep me hooked.

Choose your cover.

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Beth Revis, will you be my friend? (writeaubreywrite.wordpress.com)
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Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Across The Universe, Amy, Beth Revis, Cryopreservation, Elder, Godspeed, Million Suns, review, science fiction, Universe

FIRST EVER BookPushalooza!

Welcome

to the FIRST EVER BookPushalooza!


July 26th ONLY
9 Books, only .99 each.
With each purchase you get the chance to WIN

while Helping Authors reach new heights

in Amazon’s ranks.
It’s so easy a CAVEMAN could do it!
Follow the Instructions on the Rafflecopter Widget

and for each book you purchase

(or Borrow through Amazon Prime for Free)

you get an entry in to WIN —
(1)Grand Prize – $100 Amazon Gift Card

(2)Runners up of $25 Amazon Gift Cards
That’s not all!
Purchase all NINE (9) books and get an additional 5 entries!
Don’t delay, this offer is good for JULY 26th ONLY!


Overview of Dark Isle

When evil begets evil, a choice is forced on Quinn, the one person who can see the danger. Does she save the ones she loves, or does she save the world from Chaos?

As the realms of Fae and human collide, Quinn’s future has never, looked so grim, or so damn impossible.

Genre- Urban Fantasy

Overview of Enemy in Blue

The streets aren’t safe when your enemy wears a blue uniform and a gold badge.

What if the good guys weren’t good?

What if a cop went rogue and killed an innocent man?

What if it was all caught on video and the cop would do anything to cover it up? Chase this lawless cop through the streets and to a scintillating series of showdowns with Cruz Marquez, a young attorney trying to nail down his enemy in blue. Will justice be served?

Genre- Thriller

Overview of Land of the Noonday Sun

When two strangers have nothing left but their dreams, they must forge a relationship in Nantahala, North Carolina, a small town known as Land of the Noonday Sun.A man with a traumatic past is able to turn his life around and is happy with his chosen career as a whitewater guide. Everything changes though when fate hurls a woman into his path. His carefree life is in turmoil, and his former weaknesses threaten to overtake him. Will he be strong enough when tragedy strikes and is once again in danger of losing everything he loves?

Genre- Contemporary Romance

Overview of This Time Forever

Delaney Brannigan and Blake Morrisson met at the Cedar Cove annual costume dance, known only to each other as the leopard and the cowboy–but, as Delaney soon discovers, the cowboy she’d thought had ridden off into the sunset never to tempt her again, is none other than the man she came from New York to find and discredit. Against her will, Delaney is drawn deeper and deeper into an overwhelming attraction to Blake—an attraction she can’t give in to if she wants to keep the one thing she values more than anything else.

Genre- Contemporary Romance

Overview of Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula

Fourteen-year-old Cassidy Jones wakes up the morning after a minor accident in the laboratory of a world-renowned geneticist to discover that her body has undergone some bizarre physical changes. Her senses, strength, and speed have been radically enhanced.

Lives are put at risk when they find themselves embroiled in a dangerous, action-packed adventure. Soon they are forced to confront a maniacal villain willing to do anything – including murder – to reach his own ambitious goals.

Genre- YA/MG Superhero

Overview of Gray Justice

Gray Justice is the fast-paced debut thriller from Alan McDermott. When a killer walks free from court, the victim’s father sees just two options: accept the judge’s decision; or take on the

entire British justice system. Tom Gray chooses the latter and his crusade attracts instant worldwide media coverage. It was just what Tom was hoping for, but it brought him a lot more than he bargained for.Gray Justice is much more than a simple tale of revenge: it’s a rollercoaster ride with an ending you’ll never forget!

Genre- Thriller

Overview of Gone at Zero Hundred 00:00

“Their lives are in the hands of two 18-year-olds…”

A Prominent P.I. is gunned down – killed by a sniper – and it’s broadcasted on live TV.

Now, her daughter, along with her childhood pal, are thrust into a complex and

riveting thriller forced to take on a secret club whose members call themselves

The Privileged Ones.

Murder. Teen abductions and illegal underground parties.

They’re chased by men in ski-masks, nearly gunned down by members of a cartel, and the only way to bring down this criminal enterprise; is to crash a Mardi Gras bash and stop their private cruise ship from sailing off into the sunset.

Overview of Allegiance

Who do YOU pledge allegiance to?  

After exposing one of the most notorious rings of police corruption in history, lawyer Cruz Marquez planned on starting a new life south of the border. That plan unraveled when an extremist group of Minutemen captured and tortured him and his wife.

Will Cruz pledge allegiance to do right, or will he do anything to serve up revenge?

Genre- Thriller

Overview of Curbchek Reload

Curbchek-Reload is a dark account of the streets as they were worked by Zach Fortier, a dangerously deranged cop. Welcome back to the inner city and the twisted mentality of Zach Fortier. Patrolling the streets, broken and mentally damaged from years of urban violence, Zach fights a losing battle to maintain a hold on reality. Join him in the passenger seat of a police cruiser for more of the darker and meaner side of life: The inner city. In Curbchek-Reload you get a front row seat to an attempted murder of a cop, suicide attempts, rapes, and DARK cop humor. Curbchek-Reload – Fasten your bullet proof vest and buckle your seatbelt, it is gonna be a wild ride!

Genre- Police Procedural

To Enter Click HERE to go to the Rafflecopter Form

All winners will be notified via email July 28th 2012. For a list of winners contact: onedaybookpush@yahoo.ca

Filed under: Contest Tagged: .99 ebooks, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon.com, Departments, Facebook, Gift card, Loreto, Peru, South America, Urban Fantasy

I Feel Oh So Joan Rivers-ish!

In anticipation of the paperback edition of WHEELS
(August 2012)
And in a move that feels oh so Joan Rivers-ish
Drum roll please…
The eBook edition of WHEELS has gotten a facelift!
(translation: New Cover)

Better yet–it’s only .99¢ through the end of July!

Get your copy while it’s cheap!
Cover design by Ronnell D. Porter
http://ronnelldporter.wix.com/design
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Filed under: Musings Tagged: Adventure, Arts, Asian American, Books, Business, E-book, eBooks, Fantasy, Fashion police, Joan Rivers, Madonna, Parts and Accessories, Plastic surgery, science fiction, Surgery, Translation, Wheelchairs, Wheels, World Wide Web, YA, Young adult

Blogs I Love: John Guy Collick, on and on I sped, into futurity…

From a post entitled: Aelita, Queen of Mars. 1924

I prefer to subscribe to blogs by email. Yet, I must admit to sometimes deleting the emailed posts before I even read them. Hey, life is busy, time is short and choices must be made. (I do read most of them, I promise) However, I have yet to delete one of John Guy Collick’s posts. In fact, the moment the happy announcement shows up in my inbox, I either immediately click it open and pop over to his blog, or flag it to savor and enjoy when I have more time.

I don’t know John Guy Collick, but I do know we share “a life-long love affair with Science Fiction and Fantasy…” He also posts about theater and art, two other subjects I enjoy. What makes his writing so interesting is that he always picks quirky or unique (and definitely fun) subjects to write about and I always leave feeling as if I’ve learned something new (or at least picked up a trinket of valuable trivia.)

For example, for those of you who, like me, are avid Game of Thrones fans check out John’s post on The Saga of Noggin the Nog, a 1959 children’s TV fantasy series.

According to John:

 The TV adaptation of Game of Thrones is impressive in its complexity, sweep and intelligence, but there is one fantasy series that will never be bettered – The Saga of Noggin the Nog.

I’m not sure I agree, but I loved learning a bit about the creators of Noggin the Nog and other cartoons “…recognized as classics of the Golden Age of kids’ TV in the UK.” Better yet, John provides a link to the beginning of the very first episode. What a hoot!

If you love classic sci-fi and fantasy, are a bit of a theatre fan or enjoy the odd piece of art, fasten your seat belt, open your mind and check out John Guy Collick, on and on I sped, into futurity… (I promise, you’re sure to learn something new!)

From a post entitled: Early Fantasy Art: the Symbolists

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Filed under: Blogs I Love! Tagged: Art, Arts, Blogs, Classic Science Fiction, Fantasy, Game of Thrones, George R R Martin, HBO, Noggin the Nog, science fiction, Television, Theatre

Now Reading: Across The Universe

Across the Universe

by Beth Revis

I’ve wanted to read this book for a while. Honestly, I think it’s because of the title. Then again, I may have seen it on one of those “Best of” lists. It doesn’t really matter. I’ve read the first chapter and I’m hooked. Will the rest of the story be as good? I’ll let you know! (By the way, I guess there’s a couple of different covers. My eBook cover looks like the one on the left.)

From Amazon:

Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed. She expects to awaken on a new planet, 300 years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed‘s scheduled landing, Amy’s cryo chamber is unplugged, and she is nearly killed.

Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed‘s passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader, and Elder, his rebellious and brilliant teenage heir.

Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she? All she knows is that she must race to unlock Godspeed‘s hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

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#58 A Review of A Million Suns (Across the Universe Trilogy #2) by Beth Revis (lifeand100books.com)
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Filed under: What's On My Bookshelf Tagged: Across The Universe, Amazon, Amy, Beth Revis, Book reviews, Books, Elder, Eldest, Godspeed, Reviews, science fiction

The Good Fairies of New York, by Martin Millar

“Dinnie, an overweight enemy of humanity, was the worst violinist in New York, but was practicing gamely when two cute little fairies stumbled through his fourth-floor window and vomited on the carpet.”

I love opening lines and have been sucked into reading many a book simply because of a line like the one above. And, I must admit, in The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar delivers line after line of witty and memorable quips from fairies and humans alike. What he doesn’t deliver is an engaging story. On page 183 of 242 pages I finally thought, Enough! I don’t care anymore.

It wasn’t the writing…which, certainly contains bits of brilliance. Writing, which in many ways is better than a good percentage of the books I’ve read and reviewed on this website. It wasn’t the characters…a few of whom I may even remember years from now. It was the story. To me it felt as though he’d written four or five different stories, sliced them into small segments, and then pasted them together like a colorful, but confusing mosaic.

The Good Fairies of New York is not a long book, yet feels full of enough characters to fill a J.R. Tolkien trilogy. Millar spends one or two paragraphs on one plot line then skips to another and another. One chapter might contain three different plot lines, taking place in three different locations, in only two and a half pages. It was confusing and distracting. I wanted him to spend more time on the relationship between the two humans, Dinnie and Kerry. As it was, by page 183, I knew nothing much more was going to happen. Moreover, while I cared about the humans, I really didn’t care about the fairies.

Let me finish by saying, in all sincerity, I’m sure plenty of people will enjoy The Good Fairies of New York exactly the way it is. (Neil Gaiman, who wrote the introduction and who is one of my all time favorite authors, loved it.) Martin Millars’ style and language is almost enough to recommend the book. For me, however, I need more than cute. I need more than clever. I need a good story.

Would I read something else by Martin Millar? Certainly. Probably. However, next time, it will take more than a catchy opening line to hook me.

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Book reviews, Fairies, Fairy, Fantasy, Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar, Neil Gaiman, New York, Urban Fantasy, Writing

Blogs I Love: The Shelf Life, by Allan Woodrow

Outside
Writing
With Motivation

Welcome to a new feature on ScifiWriterMom.com called:

BLOGS I LOVE!

I’ve been trying to organize all the blogs I subscribe to so I can actually take some time during the week to read them. Which means I’ve unsubscribed from a few that, while good, probably don’t offer me anything I need to read on a weekly basis or simply aren’t entertaining (…to me, that is). That’s right, sometimes I subscribe to blogs because they entertain me. They might feature pretty or interesting pictures…or, sometimes they’re downright funny. Which brings me to The Shelf Life, written by children’s author, Allan Woodrow.

Allan describes himself as, “…the author of 3,166 books, but I’ve only written a few of them down so far.”

Why do I like “The Shelf Life”? Well, first off, Allan doesn’t post a lot, but when he does, it’s usually short, witty, and entertaining. Allan’s posts are usually good for quick laugh and often prompt me to attempt a witty reply. Recently, however, Allan wrote a post entitled, How I Write, which was not only witty, but immensely inspirational. If you’re a newbie writer, or perhaps having a bit of trouble with motivation, check it out.

The Shelf Life

Filed under: Blogs I Love! Tagged: Allan Woodrow, Art, Author, Blog, Blogging, Business, Children's author, Children's books, Comedy, Entertainment, Literature, Romance, Shelf Life, Writing

The Soulkeepers, by G. P. Ching

When fifteen-year-old Jacob Lau is pulled from the crumpled remains of his mother’s car, no one can explain why he was driving or why the police can’t find his mother’s body. A beautiful and mysterious neighbor offers to use her unique abilities to help him find his mom. But in exchange she requires Jacob to train as a Soulkeeper, a protector of human souls. He agrees to her demands, desperate for any clue to the mystery of his mother’s disappearance. But soon Jacob finds himself trapped in a web of half-truths, and questions her motives for helping him.  (From Amazon)

I finished reading The Soulkeepers, by G. P. Ching, while on vacation. Honestly, I had downloaded this eBook some time ago based on its cover and because it was free. Having an eBook out, myself, which I often promote with free giveaways, I’m well aware that many people download free eBooks and then never read them. (Sigh…) Anyway, for some reason I finally opened up The Soulkeepers and gave it a go. I was hooked from the first sentence.

Death lived up to Jacob’s expectations.

I was further hooked after only the first three chapters. G. P. Ching knows how to keep her readers turning pages. What probably surprised me the most, however, was that I continued to read The Soulkeepers. I say this because, once you’re well into the book, Ching begins introducing religious elements. And while the story is engaging, to me it felt a bit preachy at times. That said…my youthful inspiration to become a writer was C. S. Lewis and his novels about Narnia. Ching, like C. S. Lewis, offers a tolerant view of religion that I whole-heartedly agree with. Maybe my problem with her message is that I’ve heard it before. For a tween or teen it could be enlightening, even inspiring.

The Chronicles of Narnia

One theme I truly appreciated in The Soulkeepers revolved around this question:

Do you think a person is only as good as the worst thing they’ve ever done?

What a great question and Ching does an awesome job of making the reader think about it by exploring it in her novel. She also clearly understands teens. Their angst and their feelings of powerlessness under adult rule are conveyed realistically and sometimes heartbreakingly so through her two main characters, Jacob and Malini.

I highly recommend this book for the tween and teen readers in your life who like sci-fi and fantasy. It’s even got a bit of romance. Better yet, it’s book one in a series. Check these out too:

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Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Aslan, C.S. Lewis, Ching, Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis, Divination, E-book, eBook, G. P. Ching, Jacob, Jacob Lau, Lewis, Narnia, Soulkeeper, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Now Reading: The Good Fairies of New York

The Good Fairies Of New York

by Martin Millar

Needed a break from YA books and was browsing through a bookstore in Santa Barbara when I found this. I know, it’s about fairies. But, trust me, it’s an adult novel. Although plenty of teens would read it. Anyways, Neil Gaiman wrote the introduction, so I had to read it.  I’ll let you know what I think about it.

From Amazon:

When a pair of fugitive Scottish thistle fairies end up transplanted to Manhattan by mistake, both the Big Apple and the Little People have a lot of adjusting to do. Heather and Morag just want to start the first radical fairy punk rock band, but first they’ll have make a match between two highly unlikely sweethearts, start a street brawl between rival gangs of Italian, Chinese, and African fairies, help the ghost of a dead rocker track down his lost guitar, reclaim a rare triple-bloomed Welsh poppy from a bag lady with delusions of grandeur, disrupt a local community performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and somehow manage to stay sober enough to save all of New York from an invasion of evil Cornish fairies.

If they can stop feuding with each other, that is.

A racy and irreverent novel by Martin Millar, winner of the World Fantasy Award.

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Filed under: Now Reading... Tagged: Art, Big Apple, Cottingley Fairies, Fairy, Martin Millar, Neil Gaiman, Santa Barbara, World Fantasy Award

S.I.P. Steve Metz

Steve Metz

My daughter, Georgia, met Steve at a wedding reception. He was doing a gig as a centerpiece, swimming around in a little glass bowl, swishing his bright orange tail and ogling the guests with his flirty fishy eyes. What Steve didn’t know was that once the reception was over, it was either hitch a ride home with a guest or take a quick trip down a sewer pipe. Luckily for him, Georgia was seated at his table.

Steve went home with Georgia in his little glass bowl, and it wasn’t long before the two were inseparable. Georgia quickly exchanged Steve’s meager accommodations for a luxury tank complete with plastic plants, colorful rocks, Sponge Bob and a pineapple house. Steve, in turn, blew bubbles, wiggled back and forth, and from the way he pressed his tiny fish nose to the side of the tank every time she walked by, made it clear he loved Georgia as much as she loved him.

While Steve’s origins and age are unknown, in the little over two years he spent with Georgia he:

Traveled cross country 3 times.

Had a book dedicated to him: To Steve, a fish, but also a star in our eyes!

And inspired a verse in a soon to be released children’s song on Owen Duggan’s CD.

Pretty remarkable…but then, Steve Metz was a remarkable fish.

Though Steve is now swimming with the angels, his memory here will always live on. S.I.P. Steve—swim in peace!

Click to view slideshow.

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Filed under: Musings Tagged: Aquarium, Asia, Dog, Fish, Georgia, Government, History, Organizations, Pet, Pet store, Recreation and Sports, science fiction, United States, Wedding reception