Tuesday 21 April 2015

New Short Story in the Flawed Series: Constricted by Becca J. Campbell

A Short Story Companion to the Flawed Series

Today is the release for Constricted, a brand new short story related to Becca J. Campbell’s Flawed series. This story coincides with the events in Empath (Flawed #1), and takes place in Logan's point of view. You'll need to read Empath first to thoroughly enjoy this story.

If you haven't already, download a free copy of Empath (links below). Read on to find out more about Constricted.


Constricted (A Flawed Short Story)


Constricted_CVR_SML

Logan’s secret has been exposed. When Jade—a beautiful student at the college where he teaches—discovered the truth, he spilled the whole repulsive story. Jade’s empathetic kindness flooded him with emotions he didn’t know he had and isn’t sure he wants to deal with.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to leave and let Jade be a whisper in his past. He can exit now and regain his anonymity, or he can risk everything to stay and face her again.

It’s not an easy choice, and when he’s about to decide, a woman from his past shows up, making his decision even more difficult.

What really happened when Logan disappeared during Empath? Find out in this short story companion piece to Flawed #1.
Get your copy now:

Get Empath for Free


Empath eBook cover WEB

Supernatural empathy isn’t a gift, it’s a curse. Anywhere she goes, Jade’s emotions are replaced by those of the people around her.

Jade grew up in a suburb of Colorado Springs, protected from other people by her parents. Now she faces college—and the world—with nothing to shield her from unwanted feelings.

When Cam, a classmate with a major crush on her, unintentionally hijacks her emotions, Jade struggles to keep from being carried away in feelings of attraction. When Ethan, a psychopath with a thirst for fear, fixates on her, the emotional impact could be lethal.

Caught in a deadly trap, Jade must untangle the emotions and find a way to use her empathic curse to overcome this killer or be overcome by him.

Empath is now FREE on most sales channels.

More About Becca J. Campbell


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Becca J. Campbell writes New Adult (twenty-somethings) fiction that varies from Urban Fantasy to Thriller to Science Fiction. Her stories typically blend a taste of the fantastical with real-world settings and add a dash of romance for good measure.

She's always looking for a great speculative fiction read, and she holds a special place in her heart for any story that involves superpowers or time travel. Her passion is defying the limits of her own creativity.

Becca is also the co-creator of JuNoWriMo.com, where you can join a vibrant community and write a novel during June.

To join Becca’s writing journey and be notified when her next book is released, sign up for her author newsletter.
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Friday 10 April 2015

#DEAR - Drop Everything And Read Sale at #FSFNet

Drop Everything And Read... Why?
because there is a certain magic in books... a power to open your mind up to different times and different places... sometimes even different worlds or planets or spaces.
Books can transport you from your every day menial activities, from the humdrum of normal life to something unexpected, divergent and satisfying.
Stories can teach, inspire and empower... or they can give comfort, security and refuge.
You can be anything you ever dreamed... but unlike a dream you are likely to remember it. If you don't, even better... read it afresh and enjoy it all over again.


Here are some books you might fancy feasting on when you suddenly decide to Drop Everything And Read... They are all 99c or lower this weekend so you may want to pick up a few.

Recommended by the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network... but here's the deal... that magic in books... it takes two halves to create... the first half comes from the author who believes in their story enough to write the words into the form of a book... the second part of the magic only happens when someone reads those spellbinding words... then the book comes alive.

So Drop Everything And Read one or more of these great titles and watch the magic happen... Click here for links to each one.




Saturday 4 April 2015

New Release Sci-Fi - Thought Gazer by Raymond Bolton

This weeks new release feature is from Fantasy Sci-Fi Network author, Raymond Bolton. This Indie Reader Approved and award winning author, who's had plenty of his own adventures to add fuel to his imagination, released his second book Thought Gazer on January 1st 2015. It is the first book of Awakenings prequel trilogy. 

THOUGHT 
GAZER
 RAYMOND BOLTON


Everyone who touches you transforms you, if only a little. But if you enter their minds, think what they have thought, in effect do what they have done, how complete will that transformation be?
The warlord, Hath Kael, kidnaps Darva, an opposing warlord's sister, to force her brother to surrender. When Bedistai, from a tribe of hunters, foils the abduction and undertakes Darva's return, Kael recruits Peniff, a telepath, to locate the two. Peniff's talent makes him a fine weapon in anyone's arsenal, and Kael ensures his cooperation by holding his wife and children hostage. But Peniff, a good man, refuses to play the game and instead comes to the couple's aid. This is the story of a man, in all other ways ordinary, rising above his fears to do what is morally right. Make no mistake about it, his power is considerable. But can he rescue his family before his betrayal comes to light? Moreover, what will he become before his journey is over? Thought Gazer, the second volume of The Ydron Saga, is the first book of Awakening's prequel trilogy.

What readers are already saying about The Ydron Saga...

"An interesting combination of really creepy 'bad guys' and good guys..."
"This was a well written sci-fi novel that left no loose ends. The story was original and plausible." 
"...because the action in Raymond's novel is so fast paced and the characters so engrossing, I found myself totally immersed in the world that Raymond has created." 

An excerpt to give you a taste of what's in store...

To say Harad was relentless is to understate the rage that drove him. He had pushed his party mercilessly until eventually, one of the horses, driven to exhaustion, fell and refused to rise. When Harad began flogging it, Peniff tore his leash from Kord’s grasp, strode up to Harad and grabbed him by the wrist, arresting the whip at the top of its arc. Harad turned to glare.
“You will kill it and still it will not rise.” In a soft, but deliberate tone, Peniff went on. “In fact, if you continue to deny the other horses rest or sleep, you will kill them all. Then what? Do you expect us to walk all the way to danHsar?”
Harad’s face became a mask of hate, but Peniff persisted.
“Even now, the man and the woman are entering the prison. Do you expect that somehow they will run away and evade us? I promise you, they will not escape any time soon. Look at your men. Even should we stumble on the pair in the next minute, they would be too exhausted to act.”
Harad was breathing heavily, but he opened the fist he had formed with his free hand and lowered it.
“We all want the same thing,” said Peniff. “Even this poor, dumb creature wishes to rise and avoid your wrath, but it cannot. Look at its eyes. They are filled with terror, but the animal is spent. It can do no more and neither can we.”
Harad could not deny the truth. The horse’s chest heaved, its mouth frothed and the whites of its eyes showed how deeply it feared the next strike of the lash.
“Very well, Thought Gazer,” Harad said as he looked from the horse to his men. “We will rest, even sleep if you like, but not one minute past Jadon’s rising. I intend to arrive at the city’s gate tomorrow.”
“And this poor beast will carry you there, if you but allow it to sleep the night, then feed and water it in the morning.”
As the two stood staring, it was hard to say who was in charge: the one with the whip, or the one with the collar around his neck.
“There are some things even you cannot simply will into being,” said Peniff.
Harad stared a moment longer, then threw the whip to the ground.
“Alright,” he hissed, before returning to his normal voice. “The thought gazer has declared a holiday. Rest, if that’s all you are good for. But I promise, in the morning we will cover ground as we have not done for days.”

Book I of The Ydron Saga




How does a world equipped with bows, arrows and catapults, where steam power is just beginning to replace horses and sailing ships, avert a conquest from beyond the stars? Prince Regilius has been engineered to combat the Dalthin, a predatory alien species that enslaves worlds telepathically, and to do so he must unite his people. But when his mother murders his father, the land descends into chaos and his task may prove impossible. Faced with slaying the one who gave him life in order to protect his world, he seeks a better way. Set in a vast and varied land where telepaths and those with unusual mental abilities tip the course of events, Awakening goes to the heart of family, friendship and betrayal.


Where Raymond finds his inspiration...

The Highwayman - Grist For the Pen

From September 1971 through August 1972, I hitchhiked and backpacked throughout Europe, spending days, weeks, even months in various locales. My adventures ranged from wondrous to perilous. Once, I lived with the owner and staff above Kipp’s, London’s sole vegetarian restaurant, where I mingled with the likes of Warren Beatty, Julie Christy and Marc Bolan. On another occasion, I milked cows on an Israeli kibbutz and explored ancient Jerusalem, sleeping in the prison where Christ was held. Some events, however, still chill me …

… like the time I hitched a ride into Paris.

I remember little about the young man who picked me up—longish, medium brown hair and a sparse moustache and beard that spoke of a youth in his early twenties. It was a gray afternoon and I was enjoying my first glimpse of the City of Lights when the rundown gray Volvo braked hard. I tore my gaze from the architecture only to stare down the barrels of dozens of automatic rifles, at helmeted police clad in body armor and ballistic face masks.

I was manacled, shoved into the caged rear seat of a police car and transported to headquarters where I was relieved of my passport and held. With no idea why they arrested me, what they thought I had done, who they thought I might be, I tried to explain I had met the driver only minutes before.

Eventually, they released me, perhaps because the one they had taken to interrogation confirmed my story. I have no idea why we were stopped, but a client of mine living in Europe at the time recalls that the terrorist group, Baader Meinhof, was very active then and numerous arrests were being made throughout Europe. What else could explain such an overwhelming show of force?

Then, in February, 1972, there were the three Portuguese revolutionaries who drove me from Copenhagen to Hamburg, discussing their plans to overthrow the dictator, Oliveira Salazar. I still have the business card of the printer who invited me to visit, should he survive the coup. On April 25, 1973, the authoritarian Estado Novo regime did fall.

Days later, I had just climbed from a concert cellist’s car at an autobahn restaurant near Karlsruhe. I was sitting down to eat when a man asked if I were going to Munich. When I replied in the affirmative, he said if I wanted a lift, to grab my food and come with him.

During the drive, he related how, as a hashish dealer, he gone into hiding after evading arrest two weeks earlier. Friends had phoned that it was safe to return. At one point, the conversation turned to black market merchandise. The most valuable thing one could sell, he said, was an American passport. Conversation halted. We both knew what I had. After long minutes of silence—now well after dark—he suggested we stop somewhere—to eat, he explained. The first likely place was brightly lit. Many parked cars. As I expected, he kept driving. The next autobahn restaurant, however, was deserted—the perfect place for what he was planning. Once inside, I headed for the restroom. If matters escalated, I needed to empty my bladder. Before returning to the common area, I adjusted my sweater to reveal the Buck knife holstered on my belt. Bigger than he and armed, I went out to confront him. One glance, and he was once again the genial host.

I made him drop me off at Munich’s outskirts and walked six hours until I reached the city center. At the Hauptbahnhof—the main train station—I purchased a ticket.

These days, I write thrillers, preferring not to live them.


About the Author...



Raymond Bolton divides his time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Portland, Oregon.
Prior to being published, he won several awards for his work. Most recently, under its
working title, Renunciation, Awakening was a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers
Association's 2013 literary competition from among hundreds of entries from the US, the UK, Canada, Europe and Australia. It also won writerstype.com's June 2013 First Chapter competition. From April 2011, until it was disbanded in December 2012, Raymond was an invited, featured contributor for the writers' blog, Black Ink, White Paper.



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The Fantasy & Sci-Fi Network is a collection of authors, bloggers, and reviewers who are passionate about finding and creating quality fantasy/sci-fi books which are also teen safe (G, PG, or PG-13 rated). The FSF Network believes it is possible to create fantastic works of fantasy and science fiction without resorting to graphic violence, explicitly harsh language, or sex.

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