Tuesday 30 January 2018

The Timelost - Human vs Alien

A pilot stranded on a faraway planet, timelost. An alien seeking symbiosis.

Visceral alien battles, planetary wars. Experience the adventure...along with edge-of-the-seat SF audio in this Star Wars meets Alien thriller.

In 2014, I started sequencing original SFF to audio using the Booktrack free studio tool, and it offered up a unique, creative experience. I was amazed at how the placement of some well-crafted audio, synced by word, sentence or paragraph could make a story come alive—in the same way a soundtrack makes a movie come alive. To date, I have produced a few dozen, text-and-audio renditions of my stories, drawing on the wide variety of sound clips from the Booktrack audio library.

The Timelost, my most recent production, is a gritty, dystopian foray into the macabre.

http://bit.ly/2EhEfFH

The world-building was intense, as I tried to incorporate elements of ‘galactic empire’, the theme of ‘a few struggling against many’, and extraordinary alien adversaries. I also wanted to develop the concept that an ordinary person, the pilot Miko, when plunged into a hostile, colonized, or uncolonized world with chilling advanced alien technology, could become a hero. And not just by circumstance.

The movie Prometheus, even though I had seen it after writing The Timelost, deeply moved me and confirmed my fascination with a SciFi, man-vs-alien conflict. Human and alien genesis theories intertwine as the characters scramble to survive many bizarre and unexpected hostile encounters. The story took on overtones of fantasy horror as it gained momentum, with elements not dissimilar to the Cthulhu mythos a la Lovecraft and the imaginative works of R.E. Howard.


I invite you to enter Miko’s distorted world in The Timelost. The Booktrack text-and-audio based format thrusts the reader into the terrifying unknown of planets of deep space...

Read on Booktrack
Read on Amazon

Tuesday 23 January 2018

Dragon of Skar + more...

This month's tale, for all Conan enthusiasts: the dark exploration which picks up where the film “Conan the Barbarian” left off, The Dragon of Skar...
 
https://www.booktrack.com/content/read/6f975b87edb14b8fbebdfa03be4a0e80


“Highly recommended for those of you who are looking for a good adventure, this is highly enjoyable (And this is coming from a girl, mind you). Intense and action-filled with a perfect audio to top it off. Pure genius!”

Enjoy it with a soundtrack here.

Check out fellow author Lincoln Cole's new techno-thriller, Crispr.

https://www.LincolnCole.net/ks

A ton of giveaways this month, including "Grinneth" (Fantasy-Adventure), "Touched by the Tithys"  (Fantasy-SF), "Denibus Ar" (Archaeology mystery), and many others by various authors. Scroll down and click any of the image links below.

For those of you who signed up for the free ARC, The Timelost, many thanks! The story is finished. ARC's are available. Sign up for a free review copy here.

Happy reading!
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http://sffbookbonanza.com/freebooks/

http://bit.ly/2CSz41H

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http://bit.ly/2CTHLFu

Wednesday 20 December 2017

Temple of Vitus Xmas Giveaway

Many free books this month...

 

Adventure and mayhem strike in The Temple of Vitus,

 

Shipwrecked on the coast of an unknown land, Risgan the Relic Retriever stumbles upon a mysterious cult in the ruin of ancient temple grounds. An odd but alluring acolyte takes him under her wing...He gambles with his life...and quite possibly the love of his life....


“Once again Chris Turner delivers. This perfect combination of well-placed audio with an awesome adventure story...”

Enjoy it with a soundtrack here.

Other giveaways include "Land of Maja" (Action-Fantasy), The Movie Maker (near future SF), Flowerfly (YA SF), Beastslayer (Sword and Sorcery), and many others by various authors. Scroll down and click any of the image links below.

For those of you who signed up for the free ARC, The Timelost, many thanks! The story is in its final phases and will be available in mid-January. Sign up for free ARC copies here.
 
Happy reading!


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Friday 15 December 2017

The Forgetful Man by L.A. Frederick Blog Tour

I am pleased to host L.A. Frederick's blog tour for The Forgetful Man and Second-In-Command (released November and December, 2017)!

myBook.to/BGSBlogTheForgetfulManThe Forgetful Man And Second-In-Command Available Now

Hello all.

I’m delighted to announce my two sci-fi novellas, The Forgetful Man and Second-In-Command are available now, having launched in November and December respectively.

The stories are dark, with gruesome happenings throughout. They are from the sci-fi genre and in an urban setting, based in modern times in the fictional city of New Hampton. To give you an idea of the type of city you’re dealing with reviewers have referred to the city as reminding them of Gotham City or Sin City.

The mystery theme plays a big part in both novellas and in my overall series.

These novellas delve into the background of a few characters and add a little more information to the overall world itself.

Now, to the good stuff…


Do you ever feel like someone else? Like you could just focus and change into something new, something different.

New Hampton is full of mystery these days, and the man who is beginning to forget is the epitome of unusual within the cutthroat city. Will the urban jungle swallow him whole or will he remember the truth...


myBook.to/BGSSecondInCommand You have got to be a fighter to rise through the ranks of New Hampton's criminal underworld.

You must be willing to do the necessary, especially when you have designs on a top spot within the most notorious gang in the city's chequered history. Guy Hagan was not aware of what was required. He will learn and carve out a legacy that others will never forget.

It was not always that way for Guy but nice guys finish last, and he is not planning on finishing last.

Summary:

These stories are all set before the events of my debut novel The Rain: The Government Rain Mysteries and as such are set in the same world.

Think of the series like a jigsaw, you can read in any order. The story could be read the main novel, The Rain, first and then the prequels in any order. Alternatively, you could read the prequels and then the main book. Whichever way you choose to read you will achieve the same result, but within reason, it will be a unique trail of breadcrumbs for each reader.

The Government Rain Mysteries Series:

Prequel Novellas & Short Stories (Read in any order):


Novels:

Book One- The Rain- myBook.to/BGSBlogTheRain
Book Two- (Currently writing)

Monday 4 December 2017

The Mannethorn's Key by Simon Lindley Blog Tour

I am pleased to host Simon Lindley's blog tour for Mannethorn's Key (to be released January 5th, 2018)!




The Realm, The Land, Middle Earth, Narnia – I presume you have spent some time visiting at least one of them. I know I have. And, if all goes well with the ‘travel brochures’, Drageverden will soon be another fantasy ‘tourist’ destination. However, I expect people will only visit if the place promises immersive adventure!

World-building in fantasy is as critical to a plot as character development. When done well, it can transport the reader so absolutely that they yearn for the place long after finishing the book.

I’ll share with you some of my challenges, and the process I go through in creating a land that I am confident is not only believable but tangible, tactile and immersive for my readers.

One of the difficulties I’ve struggled with at times is purple prose. As writers, we sometimes lean to the flowery – long, buttery descriptives – waxing poetic, sprinkled with a fine, magical dust, like morning dew settling on the vine and… oh, I beg your pardon!

I have learned to 1) be succinct, 2) alternate between long and short/slow and faster-paced sentences, and 3) avoid overuse of adverbs. Purple prose detracts a reader as much as a similar life scenario. We’ve all been in one of those awkward moments when someone has talked for well over twenty minutes about, say, fruit flies because, well, they’re a fruit-fly expert, and we nod, and nod, and nod and mm-hmm — until we nod off.

Another habit I picked up came from kindergarten: Show & Tell. I love to tell people things. He saw a dog. Maggie was angry. The bird was tired. The danger is that by doing so, a writer creates a barrier rather than an invitation. We must ‘walk’ as we write, immersed in the land and noting its effect upon our character/s. I must show, not tell.

Like all trips we take, we discover as we go. I make an effort to step from character interiority back into Drageverden regularly, to generate an interaction between the two. It is easy to blurt out all the details of a place, but that is not how we naturally absorb our surroundings, and it quickly becomes tedious. Our character must shake as she enters the darkness of the spider’s lair, snap her head back at the whisper over her shoulder, brace with teeth clenched as the dust cloud rises from the horde cresting the last knoll – and we must be there with them.

Tolkien carried his readers along – experiencing the ground under a hobbit’s foot, smelling the foul mead and men of the Prancing Pony, and anticipating the Brandywine narrowing near the ferry, still far too distant to escape the Nazgul. He rarely tells. What’s more important is that no matter who you talk to, Middle Earth is different for everyone. Why? Tolkien let the scenes play out as much by emotion as he did geography and although he painted a vivid picture of the land, he left our conviction of and immersion in Middle Earth to fill in the deeper details.

So I haven’t provided you much regarding DrageVerden. Oh, I could talk, believe me – ask anyone who knows me and you’ll soon discover I rarely shut up — but you must ‘walk’ alongside the giants crossing the Arvian Plains to understand the shock of it all, or spend a day with Ka the drakehawk to experience her love for the Swamps of Ierloquetze. Brochures never do a place justice. You have to book the holiday.

Okay, okay! I’ll give you a little foreshadowing prior to your trip: Drage is Danish for dragonVerden means land.

Happy Trails!

Simon Lindley is an author, musician and intrepid explorer in the real world and along the rolling landscapes of his imagination. His book, Mannethorn's Key, the first in the Key of Life Trilogy, will be released in print and ebook formats January 5, 2018 at fine retailers everywhere. It is also available for pre-order now.

Sunday 12 November 2017

Grinneth + November SFF giveaways

Some treats this month. Adventure and mayhem strike in this featured booktrack with soundtrack, Grinneth:

From the balloon station at Bazuur to the Ferna wilds, Risgan the Relic-retriever takes on jungle pygmies, giant isks, buccaneers, shamans...also a creature of mystery that haunts the Mantaray coast...


“Amazing! Loved reading it with the effects...”


https://www.booktrack.com/content/read/9fc23a3f7ac3460484e581826bf10087


Other giveaways this month include "Audra" (Space SF thriller), The Isk Rider of Bazuur (a Risgan adventure), Phane (YA SF), The Jisil-ou-az-lar (Dystopian SF), and many others by various authors. Scroll down and click any of the image links below...

I am also happy to announce that free ARC copies of The Timelost, my up-and-coming space-SF thriller, will be available for download soon. Sign up here.


Here are this month's group giveaways:


http://sffbookbonanza.com/freebooks/

https://www.instafreebie.com/gg/304ZjLTU7qb7fDlgFzg8

https://www.instafreebie.com/gg/AyZLDmoEX4xxiClgKS35

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Thursday 9 November 2017

The Forests of Mist by Haylie Machado Hanson Blog Tour

Today on Fantastic Realms I have the privilege of hosting one of the first stops on the blog tour for The Forests of Mists by Haylie Machado Hanson (released October 21th, 2017)!

Forests of mist



“Forests of Mist” Launch


Hello, readers! I’d like to apologize in advance if this blog is incoherent. I’m bone-tired from being up all hours of the night feeding Girl Spawn, who coincidentally came early on launch week. Two October babies for me, what a lucky gal I am!

The biggest news I have (writing-wise, I happen to think Girl Spawn joining the world is pretty big news) is that Calliope Jones and The Forests of Mist launched on Amazon on October 21st!* I’m so excited for you guys to be able to download it and read it. I hope you love it. I know I do, but I’m biased. So please, download it, read it, review it! Beta feedback with this book is better than the first, and I tend to agree.

And with that, I’m off, since Girl Spawn forgot I just fed her, like, 15 minutes ago. My literary baby is far less demanding. And doesn’t keep me up all night. Well, I can’t promise my literary baby won’t keep you up all might until you finish it. In fact, I wish you many sleepless nights as you Dive into Callie’s exciting new adventure!

You can find Forests of Mist here.