A GRAVEYARD VISIBLE

by Steve Conoboy

There's a graveyard visible from Caleb's bedroom window, and it grows a little bigger every day. He sees funerals there each evening, but nobody's dying. He investigates, he measures. Misha, the strange girl who lives there with her grandfather, takes an unwanted interest in Caleb, and he can't shake her off. But he's sure those peculiar mourners, the same ones at each graveside every time, are forcing her into rituals against her will. He finds himself deep in a world of the dead, and it may be too late to climb back out.

This is a shivery story that takes a fresh look at a very familiar location - the graveyard. No mere zombies or vampires here. These revenants are being ripped from their final resting place, and all will be punished.

We meet Caleb, thirteen and still reeling from the death of his mother. He deals with this grief alone - his father is shut off in a world of work, and his grandfather is sinking rapidly into dementia. Misha, outcast by the other kids, could be his last chance at a friend - how far will he go for a shot at friendship? She is not easy for him to deal with. Misha has no love for a world that has labelled her as victim. Caleb, then, is in for a big shock when he expects her help in saving the town. These kids, already struggling to find their place in the world, will be tested to their limits as the horrors escalate...


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Where is humankind heading?

Guest Post! By Eliade Moldovan

Where is humankind heading?

First question: Did human consciousness change along centuries and millennia?

Disrespect for our environment, religious intolerance, greed, selfishness… I did my reading, history and religious texts and books.

My conclusion? Not much. Add to all this the unstoppable population growth, the overpopulation and the insane resource consumption.

Second question: Did our life standards improve along centuries?

My take? A lot. For some of us. I would dare say that the average individual in western world lives better than kings few hundred years back. I remember a chronicle about the life during king Louis XIV, the Sun King; the cold and ugly smelling palaces (no toilets), sticks to scratch under the wigs for head lice, health problems…

So, we do better today. All this done because of human technology advances: internet, cars, airplanes, medical assistance, you name it…

So, what is wrong? 

Technologies advanced much faster that human consciousness; and technology out of control generates disasters.

Discoveries and innovation based on research in chemistry, biology, quantum physics, information technology, transportation… make our life better, but could be used for destruction in the worse imaginable ways.

Third question:Can our society fix itself, and avoid self-destruction?

Answer: NO.

Why? There are mathematical theories that a system cannot fix itself from inside. The mechanisms to fix the system will alter it, and so, it is different than when the project started, it is catch 22 situation.  

Forth question:What can be done?

If humankind deserved being saved, it will happen, help from above. Aliens? or gods? 

But does indeed human society deserve saving?

My book The World Ends Tomorrowdescribes such a scenario.

Fracony, a supercivilization that visited Earth periodically, built models forecasting that an apocalypse generated by humans themselves is inevitable. 

They discovered a baby girl, Clara, with very special qualities, a research accident from a lab that tried to match man and women for best offspring. Clara was raised and trained all her life to take over the world leadership and prevent or diminish the consequences of an apocalypse.

And the disater came as a biological apocalypse from a virus escaping from a research lab. 

Clara can communicate with Fracony, but her training could not foresee everything, and Fracony might have their plans about what really means saving humanity, or the price to pay.

What is good and bad have different definitions in normal times versus crisis situations, and when human race was at stake that line between right or wrong was blurry and shifting until became non-existent.  Principles transformed into self preservation, fear in divine punishment transformed into anger. Who could rule such a world?

The action is four hundred years into the future, and only two countries sharing the planet, Gaia and Esperanto. Clara was ruling Esperanto as its Secretary. She had to navigate among centrifuge interests and ideas and take bold and heartbreaking decisions. Will she succeed or collapse before reaching the end of the tunnel?

The World Ends Tomorrow

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BXK259K

Another Narrow Escape.

Narrow Escape in Norway. Christine Keleny.

See the world through the eyes of a young, spunky child. A young, spunky child born into a family of secret agents. “Narrow Escape in Norway,” is the second Agnes Kelly Mystery Adventure (the first is “Intrigue in Istanbul”) and both titles are perfect for adults with children, or, children reading with adults. Join the hunt for the truth about our heroine’s deceased father and you’ll find laughs, intrigue, and action.

The counterpart to the childish narrator, Grandma Agee, adds a solid platform on which the young sleuth can craft her clever hunt for her father.

You’ll love reading this book to your children, or enjoying it all by yourself.

Highlights:

Narrator: Little Agnes is adorable.

Tone: Light, bubbly, and engaging.

Pace: This narrative flows with in a wonderful stream of action and drama.

The Battle is O’er

Guest Post!

The Battle is O’er, Book Five of The Blue Bells Chronicles, by Laura Vosika

Shawn means self and Kleiner means centered,one of Shawn’s (many) ex-girlfriends proclaimed.  So begin The Blue Bells Chronicles, a tale of time travel, mysteries and miracles, romance and redemption, in an epic adventure ranging across modern and medieval Scotland against the backdrop of Scotland’s Wars of Independence in the 1300s.

Shawn has it all—wealth, fame, women—until the night Amy, his girlfriend, has enough and abandons him in an ancient tower.  He wakes up in the wrong century.  

Two years in medieval times, two years of fighting beside Robert the Bruce and James Douglas, two years of living with and as his medieval twin, the devout and upright Highlander Niall Campbell, working to protect those he has come to love, and perhaps mostly, his growing friendship with Niall, whom he initially despised, all work changes in Shawn. 

Throughout their adventures, he and Niall seek a way to get Shawn back across time, to fulfill his desire to ask Amy’s forgiveness and finally be the man she always saw in him—succeeding at last in the middle of a fierce battle for Niall’s home, Glenmirril, against their old enemy, the MacDougalls.

Safely back in his own time,Shawn is steadily regaining all he lost—his career as a world-traveling musician, the son he feared he would never know, and finally, maybe—even Amy’s heart.  

He can’t let go of the past, however, or stop agonizing over what happened to Niall and all his beloved friends, left behind in a fight for their lives. In his search for answers, hoping to find that all ended well, he learns instead of the dangers still lurking in fourteenth century Scotland: to Niall who will pay a horrible price for Shawn’s last deed, committed in Glenmirril’s tower just moments before escaping to the safety of his own time; to his own infant son, the subject of prophecy and an ancient letter predicting a fateful battle; even danger to the whole world as Simon Beaumont, known to history as the Butcher of Berwick, seeks to use his knowledge of the future to destroy it.

In this gripping conclusion to The Blue Bells Chronicles, Shawn faces the ultimate test. His selfishness once cost him everything.  His newfound selflessness may do the same. 

·      Find The Battle is O’er on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2tU67Or

A Comedy With Bite

Language in the Blood. Angela Lockwood.

More than a few laughs, “Language in the Blood,” is a riot of comedy, romance, and savagery. Not the stereotypical vampire, Cameron’s life is a whirlwind of peculiar dietary requirements and agitating, eclectic comrades. Set in a variety of classic locations across Europe, this narrative will transport you to beautiful French manors, and the most terrible of battlefields.

The band of secondary characters are a pleasure to discover, and their recurring appearance in the riveting plot builds suspense as well as engagement. You’ll love “Language in the Blood.”

Highlights:

Time: As the protagonist is immortal, you’ll travel through the modern century without feeling the sting of age.

Setting: So many locations, this hilarious story almost reads like a selection of travel recommendations.

Protagonist: Cameron’s irritability and violence make for a very interesting read.

Weapons of Light & Power

Guest Post by Raquel Byrnes

"A soldier leaned out the window, taking aim at Charlotte. A frisson of energy pulsed from the weapon, barely missing her. She screamed, flailing. 

Ashton flipped the rocket ignition on the power cycle and the force of the thrust slammed him against the seat as he shot skyward toward the roof. Pulling his tracer gun, he fired blindly at the building. The soldier dove for the floor." ~Ashton Wells, The Tremblers

Creating the weapons for my YA Steampunk novel, The Tremblerstook me on a fascinating path. The invention of destructive devices was vexing and addicting all at once.

Weapons of light -- Tracer Gunsare the weapon of choice for the soldiers of the Peaceful Union. Powerful blasters that syphon the glowing purple energy from the massive Tesla Domes caging the city-states are feared by the average citizen. Constantly recalibrating to the dome's pulse, they are outlawed to everyone but the soldiers of the government.

Charlotte is a tinkerer and inventor. The daughter of a renowned soldier and chemist, her weapons needed finesse. I designed the metal spheres of her Shrieking Violetgrenade to cluster together like a flower. Its shrill screech disables her enemies while a curtain of magenta gas shields her escape.

The outlaws and Lawmen of Outer Cityfavor guns and pistols of the old world. Sheriff Sebastian Riley's revolver helped him to rise to power among the pirates and pioneers of the sky settlement. 

Another daunting tool as the Lightning Stick. Capable of lashing whips of energy. Used by the ruthless Lawmen of the floating ports, Charlotte learns of its devastating effects while trying to flee with Ashton. 

However, it is the power and might of the Peaceful Union Aero Squadthat strikes fear into the heart of every citizen. Their searing lamps and concussion bombs send rioters scrambling. Creating airship battles and designing the infamous rebel ship, The Stygian, was great fun! Myself the daughter of a military man, I grew up visiting airshows and sitting at the controls of massive machines of war.  I wanted to bring that fascination and awe to the Blackburn Chronicles.

If you love mechanica, mayhem, and monsters, then check out The Tremblers and Wind Reapers available now wherever books are sold.

1860 Never Looked So Good!

The Hollows. C.L. Monaghan.

This Midnight Gunn Novel plunges the reader into a world of sorcery, magical abilities and 19^thCentury London. Midnight Gunn (what a great name!) has a few more tricks than the average detective, and Scotland Yard hurls his talents towards every major mysterious case they have trouble solving. But has he met his match?

A beautiful blend of fear and excitement, The Hollows manages to draw out the reader’s curiosity with a historically intriguing setting. Within the dark, threatening alleys of a long-past London, you’ll find both joy and desperation: not a bad combination in a thriller novel!

Highlights!

Setting: don’t you just love a classical murder mystery bursting from the womb of industrial Europe?

Characters: the people in this novel will repulse or enthral you (or maybe even both!).

Audiobook: also available as a captivating audiobook.

Get it here: The Hollows