Tag Archives: Sci-Fi

Rogar (Lunar Uprising 2) by Cyndi Friberg-a review

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ROGAR (Lunar Uprising 2) by Cyndi Friberg-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 20, 2021

Marisol doesn’t want a mate. Can Rogar keep her alive long enough to change her mind?

Thrilled by the prospect of a new job, Marisol doesn’t even make it to the moon before her shuttle is attacked by the Morax. A terrifying explosion shatters reality then she wakes up in the arms of Rogar, one of the lunar raiders. Marisol is determined to stay focused on work, so why can’t she stop thinking, and dreaming, about her handsome rescuer.

Rogar is furious when a shuttle flies right into the middle of one of his missions. Then he realizes his mate, Marisol is onboard. Shaken by the near disaster, he refuses to let her out of his sight. He wants to give her time to explore her new environment before he tells her they are mates, but escalating danger and their intense attraction mock his good intentions at every turn.

•••••••

REVIEW: ROGAR is the second instalment in Cyndi Friberg’s adult LUNAR UPRISING sci-fi, romance series. This is lunar raider/ munitions class commander Rogar Kazal and human female, former UN advisor Marisol Conti’s story line. ROGAR can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion as there is an ongoing premise throughout.

SOME BACKGROUND: Eight years earlier, six Pylorian spaceships arrived on Earth asking for asylum claiming they were fleeing their immortal enemy, the wolf-like Morax, but in the ensuing years, the Pylorian began to take control, using their considerable powers to force the governments of Earth to do their bidding. In an effort to protect Earth, the Pylorian’s claim to have cultivated aka created the lunar raiders, a hybrid of three alien species (Morax, Pylorian, Dox Tory) one of which reacts instantly when their destined mate is near.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Rogar and Marisol) ROGAR focuses on the building and fated romance and relationship between lunar raider/ munitions class commander Rogar Kazal and human female, former UN advisor Marisol Conti, and the need for the lunar raiders to claim the moon aka Lunar Prime as their home base of operations. Rogar knew instantly the human female Marisol Conti was his mate but bided his time in the aftermath of an attack against the ship in which Marisol arrived. With the Pylorian and Morax having declared war against the lunar raiders, Rogar and the ruling council on Lunar Prime struggled to ensure Earth understood their need for autonomy but their enemies refused to back down, throwing the lunar raiders head first into a potential war with the human race. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Marisol and Rogar, and the fall-out as the Pylorians attack Earth, laying blame on the lunar raiders.

Marisol Conti left her position as an ambassador to the UN in the wake of a hostile working environment but never expected to find herself head first on a journey to the moon, and into the arms of her potential future. Rogar Kazal bided his time before claiming his mate but with the possibility of war, Rogar’s need to protect his mate is constantly thwarted by the targeted attacks against the woman with whom he is falling in love.

The relationship between Rogar and Marisol is one fated by DNA and fate. The lunar raiders are a hybrid species, developed with the combination of Morax, Pylorian, Dox Tory DNA, and in this the lunar raiders get the best and worst part of each underlying species. Desperate to claim Marisol as his mate, Rogar sets about to seduce his female in the ways of human dating. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

Once again, there is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including lunar raider / guardian Zorak Savoy, and Catriona Barco (Marisol’s friend), Rogar’s guardian Lokiz; lunar raider Prime Commander Vosic Parso, recon-class commander Leko; medic-class commander Benlon, infantry class Dracus, Secretary of State Danielle Schweitzer, UN Security council member Abigail Brighton, and DC One’s Olarra Kreth.

ROGAR is a story of discrimination, specieism, hatred and intolerance reflecting much of modern day Earth’s inability to cooperate with one another. The character driven premise is fast paced, complex and inventive; the romance is tender and seductive; the characters are lively, spirited and charismatic.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one ZORAK

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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Run Lab Rat Run (Modified 1) by Shawn C Butler-Review & Interview

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Run Lab Rat Run (Modified 1) by Shawn C.  Butler-Review & Interview

RUN LAB RAT RUN
by Shawn C. Butler
Release Date August 11, 2021
Genre: adult, dystopian, sci-fi, futuristic

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 11, 2021.

Media’s eyebrows were once blue for nine weeks, her bones nearly dissolved and she spent a month smelling like salted pork, but no one ate her and she never died. She came close enough to require CPR and a genomic flush on several occasions, but she’s nearly indestructible. That’s what they told her on the bad days in the lab, but she knew it was a lie.

Genetic test subjects like her usually died by thirty, and they always died in pain.

But on her 21st birthday, she’s given a chance to escape the lab—she just has to run in the deadliest race on Earth so the company that owns her can do illegal off-book testing on her. If she finishes the race, and the tests work, she and her family will be safe and she might live forever. If she doesn’t, they’ll be deoptimized and dumped back, in natural slums to starve and die. In her world, the worst thing to be is merely human.

Or is it?

••••••••

REVIEW:RUN LAB RAT RUN is the first instalment in Shawn C. Butler’s futuristic MODIFIED sci-fi, dystopian series focusing on twenty-one year old ‘Baseline’ Media Conaill.

Told from first person perspective (Media) RUN LAB RAT RUN follows twenty-one year old ‘Baseline’ Media Conaill as she is invited to participate in the Modified Marathons, the most dangerous ultra-marathon in the world for enhanced runners but Media is not quite an enhanced human, our heroine is a human guinea pig; an embryonic lab rat sold by her parents to TTI, the TrumaniTech Corporation, in the aftermath of the Chrome Wars. Flagged for exceptional characteristics, Media would become the ward of TTI, a ‘baseline’ subjected to all sorts of entry level genetic modifications. As a Beta, Media would be the one of the few early-stage human subjects but in doing so, her lifespan would be greatly affected, not expected to live beyond thirty years. In an effort to release her brother and her family from obligations to TTI, Media accepted the invitation to the marathons, marathons that would prove to be more challenging and revealing than she could have ever imagined. With each successive leg of the marathon, Media’s endurance, speed and power increase, raising red flags with the officials, competitors, and ultimately the world outside.

RUN LAB RAT RUN is a story of both speculative and science fiction wherein the modification of human DNA becomes the norm for the rich and famous, and the old ‘normals’ or non-modified humans are treated with disdain and discrimination, relegated to the slums and less than optimal living conditions. Open to the best of the best, the Modified Marathons is akin to the ‘Hunger Games’™ such that to win means to save the lives of the people back home. Working together, each team selected has a mentor, a coach, and a various modified human competitors. Many will die; aggression and individual targeting the norm; success is the exception to the rule especially in a world struggling with the affects of global warming and environmental disasters.

Shawn C Butler pulls the reader into a world of genetic enhancements and mutations, artificial intelligence, robots and implants. There are examples of anthropomorphism, super human strength and speed, backroom deals, manipulations, secrets and lies all in an effort to create the ultimate warrior –for good or evil.

RUN LAB RAT RUN is a cautionary tale; a complex, thought-provoking and twisted story of specieism and discrimination, competition, power and control. My only complaint would be the lack of background information regarding the Chrome Wars, the environmental disasters, and the history as to how and why the world of enhanced human modifications came to be.

RUN LAB RAT RUN ends on a bit of a cliff hanger-you have been warned.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

TRC:  Hi Shawn and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of RUN LAB RAT RUN.

Shawn: Thanks!

TRC:  We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

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Shawn:  I’ve spent most of my adult life in the tech space, fascinated by what technology can do to improve business and human lives. But I’ve never really seen myself as a technologist. What I love are solutions; finding ways to fix things that have been broken for years. What I soon realized about the high-tech industry is that solutions are secondary to profit, and that search for profit (while a vital part of capitalism) tends to create as many problems as it solves. Sometimes more.

I think I started writing to express my frustration with this, first blogging and then long-form work. Maybe if I do this right, I won’t go back into tech…but we’ll see. When not working, I love to hike and run, travel and generally be outdoors. Also, I love ice cream. It’s a good thing I run a lot.

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Shawn:  I’d guess the usual answer is that I read a lot of science fiction when I was young, and that got me started. And that’s true. But what I loved about SF compared to other genres was that it was usually focused on envisioning challenges and then finding solutions. It’s like the crime fiction of the future. Here’s the body or challenge. Here are the available tools. Here’s what happens if you solve the problem, or if you fail. The fact that the challenge is often existential—alien invasion, meteors, plagues, raging cyborgs, just makes it all the more entertaining.

In parallel, I blog about ultra-running and long distance day hikes. It was kind of inevitable that I’d try to blend science fiction with the outdoors at some point. Run Lab Rat Run is that point.

TRC:  What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing this story?

Shawn:  Run Lab Rat Run is based on three things. First, advances in genetic engineering that I see deriving from CRISPR—leading inevitably to designer babies. Second, ultrarunning super-athletes. And third, the Barkley Marathons, a real race that drives incomprehensibly fit and fantastic athletes to miserable fates. Finding a way to combine all three in a way that would appeal to the average SF reader was difficult. Most of us don’t care much about lactate thresholds or fartlek training. And I didn’t want the result to be a caricature future where silly people do silly things just to make the story interesting. I think I got it right, but we’ll see.

TRC:  Would you please tell us something about the premise of RUN LAB RAT RUN?

Shawn:  Recent developments in genetic engineering mean that we’ll have the ability to eliminate many genetic diseases within a few years. Soon after that, it’ll be possible to genetically alter animals almost at will. And then human modifications will follow. The rich will travel to less regulated countries and come back pregnant with enhanced babies. Monetary class and genetic caste will be inextricably linked.

Run Lab Rat Run is about the resulting hierarchical world, where the “modified” rule over impoverished and nearly obsolete “natural” human beings. It’s like Gattaca, with a lot more rules and a deadly race in the middle—a race that gives one company CEO the chance to do illegal tests away from corporate oversight, and one runner the chance to earn her freedom. If she doesn’t die in the process.

TRC:  What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning RUN LAB RAT RUN?

Shawn:  I don’t write hard science fiction, but realism is important to me. So I researched enough to have a general working knowledge of all salient topics, and then asked more intelligent people to read what I’d created so it didn’t sound ludicrous. RLRR research was more about the history of racial discrimination and caste systems than about genetics, but I spent a good deal of time on both. A few months, probably, with a lot of ongoing research as I wrote the book.

TRC:  How much of the story line is based in science fact vs science fiction?

Shawn:  When I sat down to write RLRR, I wanted a book that was science fiction only in the sense that it was a possible view of our near future. All of the technology and technical advances are meant to be predictions of what I think will happen. They are not fantastical, but all based on what’s occurring today projected forward. The world of RLRR is meant to be the real world, just 50+ years from now.

I believe we are headed toward a class system based on levels of genetic and technical modification, and that designer babies will be here much sooner than we think. This is the Pandora’s Box opened by CRISPR and related genetic engineering systems.

The sole exceptions to my rule about realistic technologies in the book are the Black Hole Drones, which rely on a flight technology that seems fanciful at best.

TRC:  Believability is an important factor in writing and reading science fiction / speculative fiction. How do you keep the story line believable in a genre that crosses the line between reality and fantasy?

Shawn:  I guess the question is what you mean by “believable.” Run Lab Rat Run is based almost entirely on projected technology, so it’s not hard in this case. Other things I’m working on are a little more fantastical, but to me believability is about internal consistency and respecting the reader. Build your world completely and honestly. Tell your story without factual lapses, leaps of faith and plot holes, and I think most readers will come along for the ride. I never thought the world of, say, The Expanse was objectively believable, but once I accepted the world as defined, I was on board for the duration.

TRC:  Is RUN LAB RAT RUN part of a series or a stand-alone. ?

Shawn:  RLRR the first in a trilogy about this particular protagonist and snapshot in future time, but it’s also part of a larger Modified meta-series that starts “today” with Beasts of Sonara (due out later this year). The trilogy of RLRR can be read on its own, or with other books in the Modified universe, but it doesn’t matter what order you read them in.

TRC:  Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Shawn:  I do. I’ve bought a lot of books over the years, and with many of them the cover was definitely part of the decision process. I don’t know if I’d every have read Larry Niven as a kid if not for the fantastical PAJ cover art. It’s not everything, of course, but it undeniably helps.

TRC:  When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Shawn:  I think this has a lot to do with the planner vs. pantser question. I’d like to be more of a planner, doing nice outlines like bumpers the characters obey. But honestly, I write almost randomly to see what happens (including what the characters do), and then see if there’s a plot there. It’s not the most organized model in the world, but I get really bored and distracted following strict outlines.

TRC:  The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavor?

Shawn:  This is different for all of us, but to me it’s about getting readers invested in a character or situation so they feel a connection to them. The stakes must feel personal, like of the way people attach themselves to football teams or other sports. And that only works if you create realistic people with character and flaws in situations with real stakes.

I suspect some writers fail at this when they make something so unrealistic or poorly structured that it’s impossible to sustain believability, and thus lose their trust and connection to what’s going on in the book. I remember thinking this about the book It, when the kids end up having an orgy in the sewer system (spoiler?). It was just so bizarre and unnecessary that it ruined my confidence in the author, the story and the characters. Not like Stephen King cares, of course, but what the heck?

TRC:  Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

Shawn:  I have in the past—usually techno, EDM or classical. I find music with lyrics distracting and for some reason a bit melancholy. Now I primarily try to write in coffee shops with ambient noise to help me concentrate, and forego the music. Also seems a bit less lonely. I don’t think the music ever impacted the storyline, but it might have impacted the energy level in some passages.

TRC:  What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

Shawn:  I don’t know. Maybe the modern one is that most of them make money. It seems like almost no one does unless they’re very lucky. A second misconception is that any one “type” of person makes a good or bad author. Anyone, man or woman, Black or white, straight or gay, can write a great novel in any genre. I love seeing more diversity in what’s coming out.

TRC:  What is something that few, if anyone, know about you?

Shawn:  I once ate an entire raw white onion and chased it with a quart of orange juice. The result was like Coke + Mentos, except in my stomach and with more acid. When I exhaled, it smelled like burning plastic. It was not a pleasant experience. Not my brightest moment. Also, I am the Highlander.

TRC:  Who or what influenced your path towards science fiction?

Shawn:  I don’t know if it was a specific person or thing. When I was a kid, I’d stay up all night on weekends watching horror movies and science fiction. Then I read all the SF I could get my hands on, meaning the usual classics like Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Niven, etc. It was just what I loved. When I started writing, it never occurred to me to write anything else. I read a lot of mystery back in the day, too, so I’ll probably try my hand at mysteries in the future.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Shawn:  I’m polishing Beasts of Sonara, which is due out in November. This is the first book in the modified universe, and a very distant prequel to RLRR. After that is a stand-alone sci-fi horror novel that’ll be…different. I can’t wait to see that one in print.

TRC:  Would you like to add anything else?

Shawn:  I can pretty much guarantee you Run Lab Rat Run is the best ultrarunning science fiction novel you’ll ever read.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food

Salt and things covered in salt, with guacamole. And salt.

Favorite Dessert

Ice cream, German chocolate pie or hot cinnamon rolls.

Favorite TV Show

The Expanse? Honestly, any great bit of art whether it’s social commentary like Flea Bag, fantasy like the first season of Penny Dreadful or the first six seasons of Game of Thrones, etc. My favorite changes daily.

Last Movie You Saw

The last good movie was Palm Springs. Lots of nonsense since then.

Dark or Milk Chocolate

Yes, as long as they’re European.

Secret Celebrity Crush

Anna Kendrick. Not really a secret. Anna!!! Such a nerd, I am.

Last Vacation Destination

Denali National Park in Alaska.

Do you have any pets?

I have several house plants with minimal needs—pathos, the house cats of the plant world.

Last book you read

Hail Mary by Andy Weir, like everybody else. That’s great science fiction. Before that I had a weird month where I read all of the Jack Reacher novels. Still not sure what that was all about.

TRC:  Thank you Shawn for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of RUN LAB RAT RUN. We wish you all the best.

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Fatal Recall by Gini Rifkin -a review

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Fatal Recall by Gini Rifkin -a review

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 25, 2021

Hudson Kincaid prefers the wide-open spaces. But tracking down a serial killer means hanging out in Denver as he investigates neuroscientist Dr. Marilyn Monrose. So far, he can’t figure out if she’s city kitty in high heels, or a country kitten in cowgirl boots?

Marilyn’s experiments using ramped up virtual reality, captures the final moments of each murder victim’s life, a chilling discovery she’s trying to keep secret. The last thing she needs is a determined private detective barging into her lab—no matter how sexy he looks in his Stetson hat.

When word of her research is leaked to the press, Marilyn becomes the killer’s next target.
Now the woman Hudson races to save, is the one who has stolen his heart.

•••••

REVIEW:FATAL RECALL by Gini Rifkin is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, romantic, sci-fi, suspense thriller focusing on neuroscientist Dr. Marilyn Monrose, and former Denver police detective turned PI Hudson Kincaid.

Told from third person perspectives FATAL RECALL follows Dr. Marilyn Monrose in the aftermath of a number of murders in the Denver area, all attributed to a possible serial killer. Dr. Marilyn Monrose is a neuroscientist, and her latest high tech, experiments involve wiring the brains of the recently deceased in an effort to ‘see’ their final few moments of life but former Denver police detective turned PI Hudson Kincaid suspects there is more to our heroine than anyone expected, and finds himself walking into a futuristic forensic pathology lab, a lab that government may lay claim to its’ use. Marilyn’s experiments begin to reveal a pattern, a cause, and a possible identity but leave our heroine struggling in the aftermath with blinding headaches, nausea and pain. As the serial killer continues on their spree of murders, Marilyn and Hudson find themselves the victims of numerous crimes, crimes that may or may not be as a direct result of their current investigation. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Marilyn and Hudson, as our couple’s lives begin to spiral out of control when a killer targets our story line heroine.

Dr. Marilyn Monrose must keep her experiments a tightly guarded secret, experiments that center on the final moments of life but when PI Hudson Kincaid begins to suspect Dr. Monrose knows more than she is willing or able to reveal, our heroine finds herself confiding in a man with whom she will fall in love.

We are introduced to Hudson’s friend and police officer Marco Moretti; as well as Hudson’s ex girlfriend and reporter Jennifer, and Marilyn’s onetime romantic involvement Warren Jameson. Here’s hoping the author has plans to write a series involving Hudson and Marilyn, and a story for Marco Moretti, as well.

FATAL RECALL is a story of madness, obsession, murder and revenge. The fast paced premise is intriguing, and thought provoking; the characters are intelligent and energetic; the romance is captivating but mostly implied.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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RECLAIMED by Madeleine Roux-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

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RECLAIMED by Madeleine Roux-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

 

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 17, 2021

In this claustrophobic science fiction thriller, a woman begins to doubt her own sanity and reality itself when she undergoes a dangerous experiment.

The Ganymede compound is a fresh start. At least that’s what Senna tells herself when she arrives to take part in a cutting-edge scientific treatment, where participants have traumatic memories erased.

And Senna has reasons for wanting to escape her past.

But almost as soon as the treatment begins, Senna finds more than just her traumatic memories disappearing. She hardly recognizes her new life or herself. Even though the symptoms for the process might justify the cure, Senna knows that something isn’t right. As her symptoms worsen, Senna will need to band together with the other participants to unravel the mystery of her present, and save her future.

•••••••

REVIEW:RECLAIMED by Madeleine Roux is a futuristic, sci-fi, dystopian story line focusing on three humans who have suffered extraordinary personal tragedies, and have been offered a once in a lifetime chance to erase the specific memories from their pasts.

Told from several third person perspectives including Senna, Zurri and Han, RECLAIMED is set in the middle of the twenty-third century, when space travel, AI servitors, VIT, and VR are the norm. Wealthy entrepreneur and self-proclaimed genius Paxton Dunn has set up an experimental lab, at the Ganymede compound, on one of the moons of Jupiter, and has contacted our three leading characters for his inaugural test subjects and specific memory erasure. All three subjects have suffered through horrific experiences, and Paxton has targeted each for who they are, and what they know but the ‘treatment’ sessions begin to reveal that something is not quite right with Paxton and his crew, and the subjects begin to lose a little more of themselves with each progressive session.

Senna is a young woman who has spent most of her life controlled by a charismatic leader, a leader who dominated and restricted every aspect of her life but like many of his type, the need for power and control outweighed the safety of his followers, and in the end Senna is the only one to survive. Loneliness and innocence ooze through her broken façade.

Zurri is a super model with an ego to match but a stalker demanded Zurri’s attention. A televised promotion for Zurri’s new line of cosmetics ensured the world watched as her stalker appealed his final challenge. No amount of facial cream will heal the pain or memories of what happened and why.

Han is a fourteen year old, computer IT wizard, but he too, lost everything to a man man whose need to control destroyed many lives. On the fast track to genius, Han may become Paxton’s protégé, but a protégé that is about to take down a man he once considered his hero.

Madeleine Roux pulls the reader into a story of what ifs and hows? What if someone or something could erase the bad memories leaving only the good ones intact? …but therein lies the problem when memories are erased, what is left behind is a gaping ‘black hole’ of nothing, and in its’ place is darkness and pain. As our three ‘test subjects’ begin to breakdown both physically and emotionally, each will come to realize that their lives are no longer under their control.

RECLAIMED is a thought-provoking and aptly cautionary tale of desperation and loneliness, power and obsession, arrogance and egomania, suffering and pain. The premise is twisted and haunting, complex yet equally easy to read.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

Excerpt kindly provided by the publisher

 

RECLAIMED by Madeleine Roux
Ace Trade Paperback Original | On sale August 17, 2021
Excerpt
More than anything else Senna remembered the bitter silence. At some point during the night, everyone around her on the ship stopped breathing. The soft, human sounds of sleep had mixed with the reverberation of space outside the passenger craft, a lullaby of organic white noise that helped her drift to sleep, but once it was gone, the absence was far louder. Unmistakable.
It was like how she imagined the dead of winter, still and adrift, though Senna had never experienced a true winter herself. Her entire life had been lived in outer space and, more than that, in almost total confinement.
She had taken a pill and gone to sleep surrounded by life, then woke among the dead. Senna had rolled over, tossing restlessly, and felt her hand brush something cold and almost rubbery on the sleeping mat next to hers. Startled by the sensation, she jerked awake, and under the reddish glow of the emergency lights above, she found herself staring down into the open, glazed eyes of her best friend, Mina. The blood trickling from between Mina’s full lips was as crimson as the emergency lights blinking overhead.
Senna gasped, and it was the only sound in the entire ship.
Oh my God. They’re all dead.
“You can’t leave me,” she whispered to Mina. The fear made her tremble; the shock made her grab Mina by the shoulders and shake. Her bones were thin and birdlike, and her head swiveled back and forth as Senna tried to rouse her. Nothing.
A door opened across the room, and Senna whirled to face it, torn between the sudden knowledge that she was alone and now the worse fear that she wasn’t, that whoever was responsible for all this death was still alive and with her. That she was next.
“Senna,” she heard him say. “I didn’t know you were awake.”
Why was she the only one left alive? And why wasn’t he surprised by it? She didn’t know what to say. What could she say?
They’re all dead, every last one of them, except for you and me.
“Hello? Lady? Earth to blondie.”
She blinked, hard, gazing around not at the interior of a doomed passenger craft, but at an impatient barista glaring down into her face. Grabbing her chest, Senna nodded and waved at him, but the memory took its time fading away. One year ago. It still felt like she was living inside that moment, crushed on all sides by it.
I didn’t know you were awake, Preece had said. To her, it still felt like she was deep, deep asleep. Dragged under.
“S-Sorry,” Senna stammered. She hadn’t been outside Marin’s apartment in weeks. The neon haze of Tokyo Bliss Station hurt her eyes. A halo lingered around the barista’s head, the self-driving coffee cart lit with an amber glow. “How much is it?”
“Ten for the drink,” the barista replied. He was tall and thin, tattooed from the collar of his shirt and apron to his mouth. A series of scrollwork arrows pointed to the ring glinting in his lip. “Three for the cup.”
Senna frowned up at him. “Three? Really?”
Rolling his eyes, he shrugged and handed her the mottled brown cup, frothy yellow liquid steaming inside. “Fine, no charge for the cup. Bring something reusable next time, okay? Anything else I can get you?”
Senna stared down into the drink, the familiar color and smell threatening to bring another wave of painful nostalgia.
Anything else, she mused. A new brain? A tranquilizer?
“No,” Senna told the young man. “No, I’m . . . That’s all.”
“Just remember the cup thing,” he muttered, tapping the scanner on the coffee cart counter, waiting for Senna to hold up her wrist and flash the VIT monitor that ought to be there. But Senna still didn’t have one. The barista noticed, the specter of his shaved-off brows looming low over his eyes.
“She will.” Marin to the rescue. “She’ll remember for next time. And I’ll take a sweet drip.”
The barista sighed. “Line jumpers pay double for their cups.”
“Fine.”
Marin, petite and dressed in pristine white patent leather, with a glossy black curtain of hair, leaned across Senna and swiped her own wrist monitor across the scanner. The machine dinged cheerfully, transaction complete. She glared at the thing toiling away behind the barista. AI Servitors, working husks of robots skinned with a kind of human latex mask over a carbon skeleton, were ubiquitous laborers across the stations, on the colonies and on science vessels.
“You know SecDiv is going to roll out lifelike versions of those things soon? With human fucking faces and skin and everything? I guess the regular peacekeeping bots aren’t intimidating enough or something,” said Marin in a disgusted undertone. She shuddered. “So creepy.”
“Will we be able to tell the difference?” Senna asked, more amazed than afraid.
“I’ve seen this dystopian vid, and the answer is no.”
As soon as the coffee arrived, Marin tugged Senna away from the cart quickly, back toward the carbon-black folding chairs and tables clustered on the promenade. The glitzier upper levels of the station rotated above them, rings that rose to impossible heights-financial districts and fashion houses, arcade blocks, cosmetic surgery clinics, augmented-reality parlors and universities . . . Down on their level, close to the bottom of the station and Hydroponica, nothing could be done to control the heat. The food and water operations needed the cooling systems, not the impoverished districts hovering just above them.
So Senna drank her haldi ka doodh in the swelter, accustomed to it. The hot turmeric milk almost scorched her mouth as she took a sip.
“I don’t know how you can drink that stuff,” Marin murmured.
“It’s good,” said Senna, shrugging.
“Blegh. Anyway, sorry I’m late.”
Senna sat across from her at one of the empty tables. The lunch rush crowd swarmed around them in the plaza, drawn to the coffee cart for their midday blast of caffeine. Behind them, six lanes of self-driving cars and a passenger tram funneled workers back toward the main bank of elevators at the center of the district, elevators that ran the full height of the station.
“Don’t worry about it,” Senna said, waving off her apology while swatting at the vapor rising from her milk. She liked the slightly grassy taste of the drink. It made her wonder if it was the kind of earthy smell one experienced during a real Earth summer.
“I do worry,” Marin replied, drinking her coffee. Her nose wrinkled. “Shit. They forgot my Zucros.”
“I can wait.”
“No, I shouldn’t leave you alone again.”
Senna ran her thumb lightly around the softening edge of her disposable cup. She felt stupid and small and unmanageable when Marin said things like that. But Senna also knew she had earned being babied. 


 

New York Times Bestselling Author of the ASYLUM series, Allison Hewitt Is Trapped, Sadie Walker Is Stranded and the upcoming House of Furies series.

MADELEINE ROUX received her BA in Creative Writing and Acting from Beloit College in 2008. In the spring of 2009, Madeleine completed an Honors Term at Beloit College, proposing, writing and presenting a full-length historical fiction novel. Shortly after, she began the experimental fiction blog Allison Hewitt Is Trapped. Allison Hewitt Is Trapped quickly spread throughout the blogosphere, bringing a unique serial fiction experience to readers.

Born in Minnesota, she now lives and works in Seattle, Washington.

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Stormland by John Shirley-a review

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STORMLAND by John Shirley-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 13, 2021

They call it Stormland: a sprawling, largely abandoned region of the southeastern coast of the USA, where climate change’s extreme weather conditions have brought about a “perfect storm” of perpetual tempests; where hurricane-strength storms return day after day, 365 days a year.

The heart of Stormland is Charleston, South Carolina, a flooded ruin where hundreds of people remain for their own peculiar reasons; where thugs prey on the weak, and a strangely benevolent cult tries to keep everyone insanely sane. Here, plutocratic evil takes advantage of Stormland’s lawlessness to cultivate a weirdly puppeted theater of cruelty.

Swept into the turbulent vortex of Stormland is an unlikely duo—a former serial killer and a former US Marshal—who must work together to bring light to America’s late twenty-first century heart of darkness.

A cyberpunk detective thriller set in a maelstrom of climatic upheaval, classism, and corrupt power, Stormland paradoxically dramatizes the resilience of the human spirit.

••••••••

REVIEW:  STORMLAND by John Shirley is an adult,  near-future, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk detective thriller set in the year 2039.

Told from third person perspective following several intersecting paths STORMLAND focuses on what was once Charleston, South Carolina and the eastern seaboard of the USA. An environmental apocalypse has rendered the eastern seaboard inhospitable and mostly under water as daily hurricanes and storms ravage the shores and the remaining few who are willing to fight but those who remain behind are caught up in a game controlled by the rich and powerful, leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake. Enter former US Marshall Darryl Webb, who has been tasked with returning an escaped serial killer, a killer who is unlike anyone Darryl has ever met. As the number of bodies increase, Webb and his Stormland counterpart Gerald, begin to notice a pattern, including a physical injury between the victims.

STORMLAND is a story of power and control; of manipulation and murder; of nano-technology and mind control. John Shirley pulls the reader into a dark, edgy world of constant storms, and haunting virtual realities. The tragic few who remain struggle to survive against the odds, odds that worsen as technology, designer synthetic drugs, and the collapse of the city begin to take its’ toll. The character driven premise though provoking, gritty and edgy; the characters are tragic, desperate and wounded.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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Zorak (Lunar Uprising 1) by Cyndi Friberg-a review

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Zorak (Lunar Uprising 1) by Cyndi Friberg-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 18, 2021

When Cat’s father is kidnapped by her alien boss she turns to Zorak, one of the mysterious lunar raiders “cultivated” by the aliens to protect Earth. Cat isn’t sure she can trust Zorak, but she has nowhere else to turn. Lunar raiders are ruthless hybrids created for war, so why does Zorak make her feel safe? She has never been so intensely attracted to anyone before and has a hard time believing her feelings are real. They’re surrounded by conflict and deceit, and Cat’s father isn’t the only one in danger. If they can’t learn the truth about the aliens, the entire human race could be enslaved.

••••••

REVIEW: ZORAK is the first instalment in Cyndi Friberg’s sci-fi/paranormal romance series. This is lunar raider / guardian Zorak Savoy, and Catriona Barco’s story line.

SOME BACKGROUND: Eight years earlier, six Pylorian spaceships arrived on Earth asking for asylum claiming they were fleeing their immortal enemy, the wolf-like Morax, but in the ensuing years, the Pylorian began to take control, using their considerable powers to force the governments of Earth to do their bidding. In an effort to protect Earth, the Pylorian’s claim to have cultivated aka created the lunar raiders, a hybrid of three alien species (Morax, Pylorian, Dox Tory) one of which reacts instantly when their destined mate is near.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Zorak and Cat) ZORAK follows the building relationship and mating between lunar raider Zorak Savoy and Catriona Barco. Catriona Barco, a human ambassador at large between the Pylorians and the US Government, despises her position as assistant to Advisor Erot, a Pylorian warrior who demands more from our heroine than she is able to give but when her father is imprisoned by Advisor Erot, Catriona finds herself asking for help from a group of ‘cultivated’ hybrid aliens, known as lunar raiders, created to protect Earth from the marauding Morax. Enter lunar raider Zorak Savoy, and the male with whom Cat will fall in love. What ensues is the building relationship between Cat and Zorak, as the lunar raiders begin to uncover the truth, as they set out to rescue our heroine’s father.

The relationship between Cat and Zorak is one of immediate attraction predicated upon fated mates, and DNA. Cat acknowledges there is definitely something between them but refuses to accept Zorak’s claiming until she fully understands his need to mate. As the story line progresses, Zorak’s need for his mate intensifies with every encounter. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the stop, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including lunar raiders Zorak’s friend Prime Commander Vosic Parso, recon-class commander Leko, munitions-class commander Rogar; medic-class commander Benlon, Cat’s father Matthew Barco; DC One Governor Yaved Kreth, infantry class Dracus, Secretary of State Danielle Schweitzer, Ambassador to the UN and Cat’s friend Marisol Conti, and Morax adolescent Max.

ZORAK is a tale of specieism and discrimination, power and control. A detailed introductory story that reveals some of the history and background between planets, the different species, and the war that destroyed so many lives. The Pylorians are determined to destroy everyone they consider beneath them and unworthy, using Earth and her moon to secure their position within the system. The premise is engaging and entertaining; the romance is captivating and seductive; the characters are colorful, determined and animated.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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The Vampire Cure by Kat Stiles-Review & Giveaway Tour

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The Vampire Cure (The Vampire Cure #1) by Kat Stiles-Review & Giveaway Tour

The Vampire Cure
The Vampire Cure #1
by Kat Stiles
Release Date: March 12, 2021
Genre: adult, sci-fi, paranormal, romance

ebook only 99¢ Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 12, 2021

In the search for a cure to a viral pandemic, scientist Liz Meyer discovers something far more deadly…Vampires exist. And what’s even more amazing, they’re immune to the virus.

Liz is both afraid and intrigued. Gifted with dreams that reveal the future, she sees how bad the pandemic will become. A blood sample could be the solution to a cure.

Sexy vampire Ryan awakens a desire within Liz, something she’s never felt before. Too bad the rest of the coven want nothing more than to feast on her blood.Can Liz get the blood she needs to find a cure? Or will it be her blood that’s taken instead?

•••••••

REVIEW:Liz is working at a cure for a virus that is sweeping the world! And trying to save her dad who has an illness!

Needing to stay one step ahead of her rival Frederick, she has to step it up, there are people relying on her. The author tells us Liz is a brilliant scientist, and that all men are idiots! And that’s how it starts and ends! Liz has no time for people especially not men! But meeting her new assistant (Amy, who is lovely) Liz begins to see them in a different light!

There were a few political jokes in here, and if you take it for what it’s meant to be (tongue in cheek) then it’s a good read. It’s a mixture of genres and liked them all. I did have to chuckle at the president (who also runs/owns the company Liz works at)

Ryan is a Master vampire, meeting Liz (well rescuing her) causes problems, his coven want her blood and Liz wants theirs (to study) can he really let her take his blood? He finds her fascinating, but so does his coven!

Meeting Ryan gives Liz the boost she needs, his blood is the key to finding a cure and possibly helping a few other people too! But will she go the sneaky way and take it without his consent, or can she persuade him to help save humanity?

I don’t know, I liked it, I just didn’t love it. Too political? Maybe.

I liked Liz, I liked the fact she had dreams/premonitions, (and she knows how bad this virus will ruin the world) so it gave the paranormal feel to it.

I did like the ending. It leaves it open for another book, so let’s hope Liz and her buddy Amy work out how to stop the virus from spreading…..

? Reviewed by Julie B

Copy supplied for review

USA Today Bestselling Author of Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, and Young Adult Fiction.

Originally a Jersey girl, sunny Texas is where I now call home, in a town way up north in the panhandle called Wellington. I write super-powered urban fantasy that’s sexy, fun and dark. For fun I like to read urban fantasy, horror, and existentialist fiction, as well as watch cartoons, movies, and sometimes even cartoon movies. I try not to take anything in life too seriously and I tend to smile often. Hop over to my website, katstiles.com for bonus material, fun blog posts, news about upcoming releases, and awesome giveaways!

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Corvus Ascending by Dale Sale-Review & Interview

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Corvus Ascending (Corvus Ascending 1) by Dale Sale-Review & Interview

ebook only 99¢ USD->  Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date

When wisecracking star-sailor Gus Johansson hauls a 1400-year-old accident-prone robot out of the sea and boards a long-lost sentient spaceship his beach bum retirement goes from boring to blazing.

Captain Harrison “Hazy” Grey is out for revenge and convinced that he can finally get his Admiral’s flag, if only he can capture that ship; and he doesn’t care who he has to kill to do it.

Gus must assemble a team of old friends and add some new ones to escape. Maybe he should have stayed on the beach.

••••••

REVIEW:CORVUS ASCENDING is the first instalment in Dale Sale’s TALES OF CORVUS sci-fi adventure series focusing on the crew of the space-ship Corvus.

Told from third person perspective CORVUS ASCENDING follows former Chief Warrant Bosun and star-sailor Guster Johansson as he is tasked with captaining a sentient spaceship that has returned from the depths of the sea. With his trusty side kick, a 1400 year old robot named HAM, Gus Johansson begins to amass a crew of oddballs and renegades but not before our hero finds himself a prisoner of Captain Harrison Grey and the ruling Governance, who sets their sights on acquiring the spaceship Corvus. Outfitting the Corvus for potential war, Gus and the crew find themselves the target of Captain Grey, a target that must out maneuver a mad man desperate to claim the Corvus for his own.

CORVUS ASCENDING is a fast paced, sci-fi adventure ala Star Wars™, Star Trek™, Battlestar Galactica ™ and Babylon Five™. Dale Sale meshes together AI, cyborg and robots, a sentient star ship, a holographic constructed intelligence (CI), and an eclectic assortment of humanoid personas resulting in a quirky yet talented crew whose journey has only started. The premise is captivating; the world building includes some scientific and fictionalized terminology; the characters are diverse, distinctive and unconventional but such are the personalities of every entertaining story of science fiction.CORVUS ASCENDING begins slowly but accelerates at ‘warp speed’.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

TRC: Hi Dale and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of CORVUS ASCENDING.

We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Dale Sale: I served in the US Coast Guard for over 30 years. I was a Chief Warrant Officer (like my characters) for over 20 years. I served at rescue stations, large and small patrol cutters, a construction tug, and 4 different icebreaker tugs. Lots of sea time, lots of time to dream up ideas.

Social Media links:  Website / Goodreads/ Facebook / Amazon Author page / Newsletter

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing? In writing Science/Speculative fiction?

Dale Sale:I grew up reading the classic science fiction authors: Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein as well as great pulp writers like Robert E. Howard. The experimental stuff from the 1960s and 70s just doesn’t do it for me.

I did a lot of technical writing in the Coast Guard. I worked at the school that trains mechanics and electricians writing curriculum and reviewing lessons. I was happy to go back to sea after that, lol.

TRC: For those who do not know, what is the difference between Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction?

Dale Sale: All Science Fiction is Speculative Fiction, but all Spec Fiction is not Science Fiction. I would say that Spec Fiction is the big tent and Science Fiction is one of the bleacher sections inside. Spec Fiction could be anything from Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale to King’s The Stand. For example: one of the hardest science fiction books recently is Weir’s The Martian. It is very detailed and follows real principles of science and physics. Contrast that to Man in the High Castle which is an alternate history. Both could be called Speculative Fiction but only The Martian is Science Fiction.

One of my pet peeves is searching for Science Fiction and seeing Epic Fantasy or Urban Fantasy lumped in there.

TRC: Why do you think there are a limited number of female / women authors of Science Fiction, and what do you think can be done to increase the female / women readership?

I am hoping that as more women enter the STEM fields it will encourage them to also write and read science fiction. I think that people want to write what they know about and that women without a STEM background may not be comfortable writing those stories. I enjoy writing strong female characters. They definitely aren’t damsels in distress.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing your first book?

Dale Sale: The oddest problem I had actually occurred because of my name. Amazon’s bots always think that I am trying to trick them using my name, Sale, to fool the algorithm. I have to send a copy of my driver’s license to prove that is my legal name.

TRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of CORVUS ASCENDING?

Dale Sale: The main character, Gus Johansson, has been involuntarily retired and put out to pasture on an out of the way planet. Gus is bored and feeling sorry for himself. While fishing he drags an ancient robot out of the sea that is connected to a sentient spaceship. An old enemy, Captain Harrison Grey, wants the ship for himself and will do whatever it takes to get it. Gus has to assemble a team of misfit veterans and his robot friends to avoid destruction.

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the TALES OF CORVUS series?

Dale Sale: This first story arc will be three books. I do plan to continue writing in the Corvus Universe, but I want to branch out from the large ensemble cast of the first three books to focus on some smaller first-person stories. I’m thinking about writing a set of adventures for a female detective character from the second and third books.

TRC: What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning CORVUS ASCENDING?

Dale Sale:  started with a loose plot and let the story unfold. I do research as needed during the writing process.

TRC: Do you believe that science fiction/ speculative fiction should be based in factual statistics or information?

Dale Sale:  I’m really trying to keep from breaking physics too badly in this story. As such, there are no faster-than-light spaceships, instant communications, super aliens, or teleporters etc. I don’t think those are bad things, but that’s not the story I’m telling. I used several online calculation tools to help with orbital mechanics and asked questions of some actual scientists about the orbital behavior of asteroids.

TRC: Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Dale Sale:I did use a professional cover designer. I feel that a trope heavy genre, like military science fiction, should convey that basic genre information on the cover. You really need a good cover.

TRC:  When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Dale Sale:I do use a loose outline for the story, but the characters often start thinking for themselves. One of my characters owns an arms manufacturing plant, she decided to load her fancy space yacht full of guns in the next book and take them to the underdogs in the big battle. I was just writing along and there she was!

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavor?

Dale Sale:I think dialogue is key to expressing your characters emotions. You really need to avoid exposition data dumps and let characters talk. Exposition is common in science fiction because writers are trying to compress the world building and get right to the story.

TRC: What is something that few, if anyone, knows about you?

Dale Sale:I play the concertina, poorly.

TRC: Who is your favorite author (living or dead)?

Dale Sale:Philip K. Dick, that guy was one strange dude.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Dale Sale:I’m working on book three of the series. It should be out by June. I need to tie up some loose ends and plot lines.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Dale Sale: I would love to hear from readers. You can email me at author@DaleSaleBooks.com. I have some free stories available at www.DaleSaleBooks.com if you sign up for my newsletter.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: Good pizza with a nice porter for the beverage

Favorite Dessert: Anything sweet

Favorite TV Show: Black Mirror

Last Movie You Saw: The Old Guard on Netflix

Dark or Milk Chocolate: Dark

Secret Celebrity Crush:  Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

Last Vacation Destination: No vacations due to the Covid, booo.

Do you have any pets? : I got volunteered to take care of my stepdaughters Pomeranian “temporarily” 3 years ago.

Last book you read:  Reading Deacon King Kong now

TRC: Thank you Dale for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of CORVUS ASCENDING.

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