Showing posts with label specfic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label specfic. Show all posts

3.17.2020

Speculative Fiction Worth Reading - After the Sky by Milo James Fowler #SpecFic #postapocalyptic


Blurb: The meek have not inherited the earth.

The world isn't how they left it. When the bunker airlocks release them after twenty years in hibernation, the survivors find a silent, barren world outside. But they are not alone. There is a presence here, alive in the dust—spirits of the earth, benevolent and malicious as they interact with the human remnant.

Milton is haunted by a violent past he's unable to escape, despite the superhuman speed the spirits give him.

Not interested in bearing the next generation, Daiyna is determined to destroy the flesh-eating mutants lurking in the dark, pierced by her night-vision.

Luther is a man of conviction who believes the Creator has offered humankind a second chance, yet he's uncertain they deserve it—and he's perplexed by the talons that flex out of his fingers.

Willard is a brilliant engineer-turned-soldier who refuses to leave his bunker, afraid of becoming infected and willing to destroy any obstacle in his way.

As their lives collide, the mysteries of this strange new world start unraveling, culminating in the ultimate life-or-death decision one survivor will make for them all.

My review: Twenty years ago, civilization was blasted away. Now the airlocks on the vaults have opened, and the survivors get to see what has become of their world. The land has been devastated, but spirits of the earth still roam. Some seem to be helpful, but others want to wipe away the last remaining humans. Will the survivors be able to make a new life for themselves or will the malicious spirits have their way?

This is the first book in a thrilling post-apocalyptic adventure series. It reminded me of the popular video game, Fallout, with survivors coming out of the safety of their vaults into a frightening world. After the Sky has much more twisted plot which wrapped me in it quick. We get to see the world through a handful of eyes, the points of view of different characters from various vaults. Each vault has its own specialty: engineers, scientists, breeders. Many people gain new paranormal abilities when they come to the surface. They venture out and meet one another along with other chilling surprises. Luther is the rock of the group and helps keeps hope alive. Daiyna is my favorite character. Strong and wise, and not letting the assignment of her vault determine her purpose. Milton is fascinating, and I never knew which way he'd go.

There's high tension and plenty of action along with a lot of depth in the plot. What exactly is going on in the world, and how to these spirits tie into everything? How can one person make all the difference? While fear, hate, and paranoia drive some characters, others still hold on to their faith and hope. An amazing read that has me eager for the next book.

P.S. Click here or on the cover for the Amazon buy link!

10.02.2018

Release Day for Elements of Untethered Realms


Enter our mysterious realms where the stories are as varied and rich as the types of soil on this and other planets. Enchanted forests are knotted with roots and vines. Dreaded paths take us through strange, unexplored places.

Investigate new worlds and houses frequented by ghosts. Come across witches and wizards and an assassin tasked to kill Death.

Meet hot robots, hungry winds, and the goddess of chaos. Explore alien lands, purgatorial realms, and a shocking place where people bury the living with their dead.

Encounter paranormal detectives, imprisoned dragons, dark demons, cursed jewels, and handsome prophets. Search shifting worlds trapped in mirrors and a disturbing future where a president aims to rid the world of Otherkind.

Experience a haunted journey on a riverboat, water sprites borne of pennies, preternatural creatures, ancient serpents, and the Lady of the Lake who lurks in dark waters.

From USA Today bestselling and popular science fiction and fantasy authors comes Elements of Untethered Realms , a supernatural compilation of the anthologies Twisted Earths Mayhem in the Air Ghosts of Fire , and Spirits in the Water . These forty thrilling tales feature authors Angela Brown, Jeff Chapman, Cathrina Constantine, Julie Flanders, River Fairchild, Gwen Gardner, Misha/M. Gerrick, Meradeth Houston, Graeme Ing, Simon Kewin, M. Pax, Christine Rains, Cherie Reich, and Catherine Stine.

Buy it here:
Amazon * B&N * Kobo * Google Play * iTunes

Add it to read on Goodreads.

9.13.2016

Ghosts of Fire Sneak Peak! The Flaming Emerald by Jeff Chapman #SpecFic

“The Flaming Emerald” by Jeff Chapman. When Orville finds an emerald in a pawnshop, Jimmy suspects there’s trouble ahead, which is precisely what they encounter, trouble of a very weird and supernatural kind. Will they rid themselves of the cursed jewel before the flames scorch them? Don your hat, saddle your horse and ride into another weird western in Chapman’s Huckster Tales series.


“I don’t know, Orville. Maybe we oughta just drop it back in that bin where you found it and skedaddle.” “And you oughta watch the master and learn, apprentice.”

I frowned at Orville’s broad back wrapped in his yellow tweed jacket and followed him inside. He always claimed we were staying on the right side of the law. I knew Orville would never stoop to simple thievery, but sometimes stealing and cheating seemed damn near the same thing as outsmarting, even if it was legal. Sometimes I longed for the simple days of the ranch hand life, grub and coin for a day’s labor, honest work that got your hands dirty but didn’t leave your soul feeling slimy.

We found the old woman behind the counter, playing with the beads on her bracelet.

“Who’s there?” She stared in our direction through those spectacles, her eyes magnified to the size of teacups. Her lower lip bulged with snuff, and I wondered with eyes so foggy how she ever hit her spittoon.

“Humble bearers of a fine jewel to augment your collection, ma’am.” Orville leaned forward with the hint of a bow as he doffed his black derby.

The old woman tittered with a glimmer of girlish delight peeking through her hardened countenance. Was Orville trying to flatter her or look stupid? Either way, I think the old woman let her guard fall just a bit.

“We’ve fallen on hard times, you see, and must part with something most dear to right our leaky boat. This belonged to my great aunt, God rest her soul. I loathe to part with it, but she left it to me for just such a fit of troubles.”

What my grandma would call a witch’s grin—cruel, mocking, and hungry—curled across the old woman’s wizened face. “Well you’ve come to the right place for help, you have,” she muttered. “Honest Abigail will do you right every time.”

“A paragon of integrity I’ve no doubt,” said Orville.

“So what’s you got for me?”

“A mere trinket,” Orville assured her, “but perhaps your generous heart will take pity upon us?” Laying it on awfully thick, Orville was. Did that woman even know I was there? Her gaze hadn’t flicked once in my direction.

Orville pulled the emerald out of his jacket pocket and laid it in Honest Abigail’s outstretched hands. A grin warmed her features as she fingered it, and then she brought it up level with her nose, within range of her spectacles I suspect.

The scream she let loose sent Orville and me flailing backwards. I’d seen twisters blow with less violence. Who’d have thought her old lungs had it in them? The emerald bounced once on the counter and then lay still.

“Where? Where’d you get that? You… you thievin’ buzzard!”

“Now you listen here, you dried-up crone,” yelled Orville, dropping all pretense of simpering civility. “I ain’t no thief. I bought that there jewel from you fair just the other day.”

Whatever color hid in the valleys of those wrinkles drained away. “I sold it to you?” She flicked her fingers at it, pushing it back to Orville. “No, no. ’Tain’t true. Can’t be true. You thieved it. Tryin’ to trick me you are, you lyin’ scallywag. I’m callin’ the sheriff. Thief! Thief!”

I stepped to the door, ready to make a retreat, but the one thing Orville couldn’t tolerate was being called a thief. His face flushed red and his bluster rose like a locomotive building a head of steam fit to burst. I don’t think any of us saw exactly what happened just before all flaming hell broke loose. Was there a warning? A spark? A wisp of smoke? A red glow before the tinder caught?

We missed the warning, but we didn’t ignore the storm.

A tower of flames shot skyward from the emerald, green just like in the hotel room, and licked the ceiling. Branches of flame roared from the trunk. Looked more like a spruce tree aflame than any normal fire. A crackling roar deafened me, and a wind hotter than a desert at high sun blasted my face. I recalled the cruelty of that fiery face from the night before, but this inferno was different, hotter and hungry. It wasn’t no messenger. Red flames spread where the ceiling had caught fire. The whole counter danced with red and orange, and at the center was the green tower spouting from the emerald, lashing out to set every corner of the shop afire. Black smoke churned overhead like an angry spring tornado. Only a fool could miss it. Martha Grimsey’s ghost intended to burn the place down, along with anyone in it.
Intrigued? You can get “The Wand,” another short story in the Huckster Tales series for free at www.jeffchapmanbooks.com.

9.06.2016

Ghosts of Fire Sneak Peak! The Vagaries of Eloise Stanton by M. Pax #SpecFic


The Vagaries of Eloise Stanton” by M. Pax. Lucy’s family disappeared when she was a child, lost in a world of mirror. No one believed her, yet the reflections of her family’s faces haunt her, plead with her for rescue. On the verge of at last being reunited, Lucy must battle the cruel woman, who isn’t quite human, standing as a barrier between the two realms.






If this experiment didn’t succeed, I would lose all trace of my sister. I’d never find my family again.

Electric purple flames, which didn’t burn when touched, framed the mirror in front of me and from it, a hand that shouldn’t be reached out and grabbed my wrist, squeezing it bloodless, pulling me to the glass. Missing for fifteen years, my little sister was finally in my grasp. My heart drummed, and my pulse sizzled.

“Jenny, come home.” My tears splashed onto fingers unchanged from the last time I had seen them—the nails decorated with little daisies and the knuckles pudgy with eternal youth. Caressing her palm with my cheek, I inhaled the familiar scents of sunshine, grass, and bubble gum.

“Is it really you?” I asked.

Her reflection mixed with mine. My image remained mum, and although she appeared exactly like me with the same mahogany waves, round cheeks, and gray eyes, she wasn’t me. The me in the mirror glanced behind her, licking her lips, movements I hadn’t made. Whispers tickled my ears and verged on clarity before ebbing away into a muddied hum—the same noise as when my family had vanished.

Fighting with Jenny’s unrelenting grip, I tugged at her over and over. She wouldn’t budge from the glass.

“Help me.” I bit my lower lip and knotted my brow. “Jenny, please.”

The murmurs spiked then stopped, replaced by a pocket of silence so hushed the universe certainly held its breath. The mirror me dissolved into a young girl with long, light hair and laughing eyes. Jenny.

I hadn’t laughed since the day I lost my family. Fifteen years of rain had fallen on Seattle since, yet my sister hadn’t aged. Her lips pouted so earnestly.


Ghosts of Fire is coming in October!

11.02.2015

Mayhem in the Air Excerpt Tour & #Giveaway


Ten thrilling tales of sci-fi, horror, and the paranormal in this awesome anthology. Meet hot robots, hungry winds, and the goddess of chaos. Explore alien planets, purgatorial realms, and a shocking place where people bury the living with their dead. Mayhem in the Air is the second, long-awaited story collection from the talented authors of Untethered Realms.

Join us over the next two weeks for a fantastic tour with exclusive excerpts and a giveaway with the chance to win a $40 gift card.

Buy the collection now for only 99 cents!

Add it to read on Goodreads.

Blog tour stops:

8.07.2015

Books Worth Reading: Check-Out Time by Mark Rigney



Back in April I had the good fortune to meet Mark Rigney at the Ohioana Book Festival. Mark was my table-mate, and I couldn't have asked for a better partner to help pass the time between book sales. I won't deny that there was quite a bit of time between book sales for me that day. ;)

It was great to meet a new friend and even better to discover that he is a super-talented author whose book I really enjoyed reading.

Check-Out Time features the characters of Reverend Renner and Dale Quist in their third adventure together. Renner is a fussy, peevish Unitarian minister and Quist is a gruff former linebacker and retired investigator. The narrative switches back and forth between the two characters and I honestly couldn't decide which one I liked better. Each time I would think Renner was my favorite, Quist would do something to change my mind. While they are an odd couple, they are both engaging and thoroughly enjoyable characters.

The story begins when Renner receives a spooky invitation to come to a long-demolished hotel in Columbus, Ohio. He can't resist going off in search of the sender. Despite the fact that the hotel no longer exists, Renner is able to enter it and soon encounters the ghosts of guests who stayed at the hotel during its luxurious heyday.

To Renner's dismay, the building is much harder to leave than it was to enter, and he finds himself trapped in a hotel that could give The Overlook a run for its money. Quist follows Renner to Columbus and works to save him, but the hotel has no intention of making that job easy.

In addition to loving the two main characters, I also loved the setting of Columbus. I went to college there and have fond memories of the place and an affection that continues to this day. I don't remember ever reading a book set in Columbus before so I enjoyed wandering the streets of the city with Quist as he tried to rescue Renner and bring him back to the physical world.

This is a creepy story that sent a shiver up my spine more than once, but it is also quite funny thanks to its two leads. I highly recommend it, and I look forward to reading the next Renner and Quist adventure.

1.27.2015

There is an Uprising. Come Hear the Stories... Fantasy Uprising #Fantasy

These are the stories stirring across the realm.

Reborn, Cherie Reich: I flopped back on my bed and pounded my fist into the pillow. A full day I'd been here. During that time, a favorite priest died, the queen seemed to dislike me, and I was part of the city's gossip. How was I going to last through my training and be the queen's advisor in less than a year? All I wanted to do was go home.

And I hadn't had a clue about Thodain's death beforehand, not even an inkling of a vision.

I was the worst Phoenix Prophetess ever!

Fireseed One, Catherine Stine: My father’s meditation room, off the den, has one tiny porthole only a water rat could squeeze through. It has dense walls and a two-way video-page. No precious files in there that would be in jeopardy so it’s the perfect padded cell. The thief suddenly wheels around to land a clumsy punch, but I veer out of harm’s way and push him ahead of me through the den into my dad’s think tank. Once inside, I struggle to triple-tie the cable binding his hands in front of him to one of the solid columns as he again tries to kick me. I yank off the sludge-dump’s mask. And gasp.

Long, red hair cascades down. Pearly skin, heart-shaped lips pursed. Fry me in the Hotzone if it’s not a live girl close to my age. Her sapphire-blue eyes gleam with hate.

Givin' Up The Ghost, Gwen Gardner: I’m not a guy watcher, truly I’m not. But I did happen to notice his large, firm biceps, and rather well developed deltoids and trapezius, tapering down into a nice latissimus dorsi. I’m only interested because I studied anatomy in school. And I did NOT almost fall off the bench watching him round the corner. The bench happened to be slanted and slippery.

The Marquis, Christine Rains: There was no absolution for him. Not from God nor from Mae.

Kicking the door closed behind him, he raced down the stairs. The Grand Marquis was going to come out of retirement. And Vetis would be the first to feel his wrath.

The Alpha, Christine Rains:  “You do. You hang around on rooftops. And do what?”

“Well,” he said and crossed his legs. He started hesitantly and then gained more confidence. “Okay. I watch over the city. You know, see what’s going on and maybe help out when I can.”

“What? Like Batman?” She snorted.

The Rifters, M. Pax: The gyroscope spun, siphoning energy from the pillars, energy reaching for a crystal in its center. It spun faster, faster, faster until the crystal began to glow. A disturbing shade of green. A beaked thing lumbered out of the light, it's shriek blasting like a bubbly burp. A strange sound to go with a strange sight.

Neverlove, Angela Brown: Jon paused, eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t let this card fall into lay hands, Father. My assistant scanned your hand on the way into this meeting. With reason. The card will recognize you. But if someone not in the system holds this card, The Society does not accept responsibility for what happens.”

The Fall of Shaylar, River Fairchild: The liquid tasted flat and bitter, leaving a sourness in his mouth he couldn’t identify. He attempted to spit the foulness from his tongue but it remained to torment him. His vision blurred. Dizziness drained the strength from his limbs. The staccato beat of his heart roared in his ears.

Narmek finally understood as he slid from his horse. Someone had poisoned him.

Diamonds and Dust, River Fairchild: He jumped to his feet as his heart leapt into a mad gallop, threatening to burst apart before he could struggle for another breath. It was one thing to speculate, quite another to have the evidence staring him in the face. Fisting his hands didn’t stop the tremors from running up his arms.

“What’s wrong? You seem agitated.” Lothan stood up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. An alien hand yet David took comfort from it.

“That’s not the moon from my world.” David gaped at the glowing ball in the sky. It had a dark ochre streak running down the face of it, like a lightning bolt. “Where am I?”

A collection of nine fantastic, spine-tingling stories. Magic. Mystery. Murder. Heartbreak and Hope. Defeat and Victory. The incredible and Horrific. Fantasy Uprising delivers a heaping serving of the best in fantasy.

99 cents for a Limited Time

Available in ebook from:

iTunes / B&N / Kobo


Find it on Goodreads