Miguel Conner's Blog, page 3

Stargazer Now at Amazon and B&N

After a slight delay because of the rigid notebooks of the various Adjustment Bureaus, the hard copy of Stargazer is finally available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Find it at Amazon .

Find it at Barnes & Noble .

The Nook edition should be out in a few days, but you can still get it on Kindle at almost half the price.

One of the greatest vampire sagas is becoming more available in its rebooted form.  And as you will see, it's message is more relevant than ever when you compare this dark epic with what is going on in the world right now. The vampires have indeed risen, and they have conquered and ruined our planet. They feed upon us like chattel, and pretend they are our wise gods and respected leaders.

At least those of you can finish the novel because of its disturbing intense message & imagery, which many haven't.

From Stargazer:

The Elder sighed. "Yes, an example, Byron. The MoonQueen told me personally that she believes that we, as a species, are growing soft. Not exactly soft, but perhaps complacent, lacking in dynamics. It's been almost a century and a half since The Holocaust. When the nuclear winds settled and the endless ash blotted out hateful Sol for decades, we rose from the rubble of what we caused as the supreme species. The new offspring of Our Mistress, who gives birth to all of us from her black womb, almost starved but were able to find the Warm Ones, those who survived."
    I felt a speech coming but this one struck me with a certain melancholy.
    He turned his head and regarded us both. "And thus came the city-states, wondrous metropolises in the wastes where the Stargazers could thrive with new technology. Of the five built, how many are left, Byron?"
    "Let me see," I said slowly. "Two failed, disappeared; we believe a massive radioactive surge or an earthquake on the west coast obliterated Rice City and New Tenochtitlan. Hard to tell, long-distance travel and communication is so hard. Then there was Utopia, New Atlantis, and Xanadu…"
    "We know what happened to Utopia." He leaned on the desk to make sure I heard him loud and clear. "The first of the city-states, our cradle."
    "At least we know the rumors," I commented.
    "Blasphemous idiot!" Crow snapped. "The MoonQueen, who originally dwelt there, told us what happened. It was the Warm Ones who revolted and sabotaged our facilities. I ought to—"
    He was silenced by Shibboleth's risen hand.
    "Please, Lord Crow. We are not here to prove Mr. Byron's character. That will be proven very soon. And then it will be judged."
    "By whom?" I asked, for the first time feeling like a prisoner of some didactic ploy. "Our Mistress? The Elders?"
    "You will be judged," he said firmly. "Our civilization, new as it may be, even though Stargazers roamed the earth since the beginning of time, must evolve unhindered. We have lost much, Byron, we have much to gain. You must understand that once, some of the wiser ones hunted in the open, underneath the stars and a naked Luna. That is why we baptized our kind with a name that makes sure they always remember, hope for, and seek that time when they can hunt under stars and a naked Luna. One of these nights, the atmosphere will cleanse itself and the land might grow. It's taken much longer than we had theorized, but when that happens, when we can see the stars again, it is our intention to have as many city-states, separate yet united, ready to converge in the greatest empire this planet has ever witnessed. And morale and example are good ways to begin. We do not want to grow lax, for nature is still harsh and ingenuity is scarce. We will not become soft as the Warm Ones did in the end. We will move forward! That is my duty as an Elder." He pointed to the silver rose pin that all Elders wore. "We are like a rose—beautiful, enigmatic, but ready to prick anyone if their growth is disturbed.  Do I make myself clear?"
    I wasn't looking at him. My gaze was fixed on Luna, a bloated tangerine dangling between veils of sickly clouds, always watching the land, always filling our kind with hope, with hunger.
    "Perfectly clear." I matched his sight, and raised him infinity simply to show him that his speech hadn't worked that well on me.