THE DARK MESSIAH – Snippet 02 of …
UNEDITED
South of Douglas Mountain, old Colorado (A State in the United States Pre-Apoc)
Jeremiah kicked the horse in the shanks, “Ktch ktch, let’s go Black,” he spoke as he and the horse left the shallow stream and climbed up out of the bed to the rise above
It was just twelve feet up.
It hadn’t been much cover, but it had been enough to hide Jeremiah as he and Black walked down the stream bed, so it had been enough for him.
Five minutes later, he pulled on the reins and put a hand on the horses shoulder, “Still, stay still.” He had finally caught on to why Black had been nervous for the last minute.
He loosened the gun in it’s holster, but he was pretty sure this wasn’t a shooting conversation. “You know,” he spoke conversationally, throwing his voice out ahead of him, “If you want to talk, let’s talk. It’s damned hot out here.”
He looked east and could see the east bound Zeppelin rising over the remains of old Denver, heading God knows where and taking God knew who out of these Fallen Lands.
Even a century and a half after the world went to shit, protecting yourself first was the rule of the day. Justice hadn’t made it’s face known again, at least not out here.
Five seconds later, two horses and their riders broke from cover about a hundred feet ahead of him on the trail.
One of the guys, black hair and a scar across his nose, spit out to the side as he and his partner rode towards Jeremiah.
“Plenty close,” Jeremiah commented and the two pulled up ten yards away. “Can I help you?” he asked, eyeing each one of them.
Scar nose rested both hands on his pommel as he looked around, the sun beating down on all three of them. He turned back to Jeremiah, “We’ve been told to deliver a message from the Boss, so we are here delivering it.”
Jeremiah nodded for him to continue. He watched the talking man’s partner, a thin and wiry guy, his eyes darting about the area. He was the one who would possibly fly off the handle and just start shooting.
“The boss is tired of Sarah Jennifer telling him to take a hike,” Scar nose continued, “So tell her she’s got one week to reconsider either selling, or bedding. Each day she continues to be obstinate?” he shrugged and spit off to the side again, “Well, the price goes down and the pleasure is decreased. At some point, even gentleman don’t give a rat’s ass anymore and the Boss will stop trying to be civil in this uncivilized land.”
Jeremiah nodded his understanding.
The two turned, with Scar-nose turning over his shoulder to give a parting shot, “You might mention to the other guys she got helping her on her land, those that don’t fire on us? We won’t fire upon.”
This time, it was Jeremiah’s turn to make a face of disgust and spit off into the weeds.
Sarah Jennifer had fourteen hands helping her with the land. There were only three others, including himself, he was positive would be willing to shoot back in her defense.
Jack “the Boss” Childers had thirty-two.
Even with Sarah Jennifer’s mercenary skills and weapons from her time before, that still left them outgunned at least two to one, and that was the best case.
“Ktch Ktch,” he called to Black, pulling on the reins to go to their right, “Let’s get home, I’ve got to report back to the Lady.”
The two started moving off into the shrubs.
He ducked under a tree limb, “Cause shit just got too damned real,” he murmured.
FROM MICHAEL >>> I’m going to continue with the theme “Shit just got real!” I’ve been talking about doing more collaborations for a few months with other authors, and now it is starting to come together. I put this up on FB – But I’ll duplicate it here for the Awesome Amazon Forum readers:
JUSTICE IS CALLING (With Justin Sloan) – Reclaiming Honor Book 01 – 12/8/2016 (Preorder available – WILL go up in price upon release – Just FYI) – This book just hit #662 (out of all books) on Amazon so both of us are pretty jazzed about this…Well, we were pretty jazzed until Amazon sent the “YOU HAVE TO HAVE EVERYTHING UPLOADED BY 12/4/2016” email and both of us are looking for a calendar! “OH FUJEEZERS!” So, the book was Word’s Complete a couple of nights ago, we are just in editing. WHEW!
REVELATIONS (With Paul C. Middleton) – The Boris Chronicles Book 03 (moved from November due to life 
🙁 ) – 12/25/2016 OR EARLIER (hopefully, earlier.) Paul has a few pages, but life (see above) kicked him in the shins and he is later than he was hoping. It happens and we wish him the best health as he get’s his calendar back on track!
ALPHA CLASS ONE (With TS Paul) – Etheric Academy Book 01 – December 2016 – Scott has already written the first chapter and then THANKSGIVING hit (well, that and he was enjoying a nice Vacation with his wife…At least, that’s the story I’m believing.) Since we are both kinda back on the horse again this week, I’ll get caught up where he is at.
THE DARK MESSIAH (With little ol me)- The Second Dark Ages 01 – Michael’s Return – 12/25/2016
NOMAD FOUND (With Craig Martelle) – Terry Henry “TH” Walton Chronicles 01 – Dec / Jan – Craig and I are talking this out this week. He is a beast of a writer (I’m in awe) and will probably have his story finished before I have mine done. But, then, he is in Alaska and it’s -02 degrees there. What the hell else does he have to do but type and keep his fingers working? (ROFL).
CLAIMED BY HONOR (With Justin Sloan) – Reclaiming Honor Book 02 – January 2017 – Justin has the outline of book 02 already finished and I think he might have already started writing it…Like, 2 or 3 days after finishing book #01 😉
These are the expected dates – since we Indie Authors (all of us) are pedal to the metal, life can derail us occasionally. We don’t state dates six months away knowing it will take two….Nope, not us! So, this is the beginning of the New Indie Outlaw bunch and I’m super excited you are along for the ride.
This above WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE without your support and enjoyment of the books. I hope we do you proud!
Michael
The Dark Messiah – Snippet 01 of …
UNEDITED
The Etheric Dimension
The numbness was ever present. The darkness a cocoon of protection against the pain of remembering.
The guilt building up over the days, weeks, months, years and decades of selfishly resting in the knowledge which pleasured his soul.
She was out there.
His connection to her feeding the emotional craving his heart needed filled.
Until the pain.
The pain he felt through the connection within the womb of Etheric energy his body was using to repair itself.
His eyes snapped open to see nothing, clearly. Then, the Grayness, a void as he turned his head first left, then right as his eyes adjusted and focused. Finally, he looked down at this body. He frowned, he was naked the day he was born.
Worse, he was hairless.
He slowly stood up off of the ground, feeling the little crystals that had been clinging to his back evaporate. He was, he admitted as he turned, looking in all directions, clueless.
The shock of pain that had jolted him from his mental stupor was receding into the grayness itself.
Was the pain real, or had he imagined it? The man stood in the mist and waved his hand through it. Like a fog on a New England coastline, it swirled in the light. Neither transparent nor solid, it merely created eddies of diffusion. Candy to his eyes.
He frowned, like the calories from candy, they didn’t help him one damned bit.
He turned around and considered what he remembered from the dreams, from the nightmares.
His eyes drew together into a mask of concentration. Piecing together the remnants of a time before his sleep, his eyes flashed once, twice, then three times red and on their third time they stayed red.
Now, the fog in front of swirled, and the glow from his eyes twisted the area around him, pushing a new color into the gray.
He turned his head, his mind seeking back to the time, the time when life wasn’t strictly Honor, Responsibility and Loneliness.
The time of the woman. The woman he felt still, in his soul, the connection he had strong here in this … He looked around, this Etheric Dimension. He had been here before.
With her.
She had…has; he corrected, black hair and a sharp tongue.
He smiled, the first time in how long he couldn’t know. Her name would come back to him. He did remember her sarcastic and occasionally caustic verbal skills.
She was a fighter! She was the one… The one who had made him desire to live again, and now a second time she brought him back from being a dead man, living.
He started walking, taking determined steps unerringly towards where he needed to get out of this dimension and return to Earth.
He had the promise to keep. While he might not remember the details, he was sure he wasn’t going to accomplish his promise in this place.
No, He needed to step out into the world of the humans again and find her.
His sense of honor demanded it.
He slowed his walk, feeling the rightness of the location he had come upon as being the entrance he had used so long ago to escape the pain. Now, he needed to figure out how to leave this dimension.
His eyes flashed brightly a fourth time, a glee written in the shadows that fell across his face.
Her name was Bethany Anne.
FROM MICHAEL >>> If there was ever a time the World needed Michael back, it is now. One hundred and fifty years after Bethany Anne and the Etheric Empire have left to take the fight to the Kurtherians ‘out there’, the Earth has devolved…
Justice has reached across the dimensions and chosen a savior…a Messiah… to stop the injustice on Earth.
She who is blind, is bringing back he who is not.
The Dark Messiah will release on Christmas Day, 2016!
If you would like to read a little about Michael early, he appears in the last couple of chapters of Justice Is Calling, a collaboration with Justin Sloan we are writing which will release on December 8th. You can read about and Pre-Order that book, HERE
Don’t Cross This Line – The Hidden Snippet
T-MINUS 48 HOURS…
QBBS Merideth Reynolds – Inside Bethany Anne’s Suite
Bethany Anne, Ashur, John, Darryl, and Jean Dukes appeared in the specially built Queen’s transference room. It was a thirty-foot diameter, fourteen-foot high room with a simple rubber flooring and two sets of doors. One set went into her private chambers, the other led out into the guarded hallway.
The rubber floor was there to help soften the fall if someone had too much momentum when appearing, and it was easy to clean should blood be a problem.
Ashur shot forward coming to a halt at the outside door and barked.
“Welcome home, Ashur,” Merideth, the Operations E.I. for the base station said through the speakers. Ashur bolted out as soon as the E.I. opened the doors.
“Don’t be getting into a fight with Bellatrix!” Bethany Anne called out. “And kiss the puppies for me!” she followed up. The four of them heard his chuff in response, and John and Jean snickered.
“It’s a lot easier,” Jean admitted as the four of them headed towards the meeting room through the same set of doors, “to think you aren’t crazy when I can understand his communication.”
“I don’t know,” Bethany Anne commented as the doors slid shut behind them. John took care of the security details as the small group went through the Guards’ area, “I kind of enjoyed it when no one but me knew he could communicate. You guys should have seen the look on your faces.”
“Oh, uh, I always thought we hid it well,” Jean admitted.
Bethany Anne chuckled.
“You do realize besides reading minds, even if she isn’t trying, she gets a feeling for what you are thinking?” Darryl asked Jean.
“Nooo,” Jean drew the answer out, “but that might be a little embarrassing to learn now!” She shot a dark look up at her man, who shrugged as he kept watching down the hall as they walked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Bethany Anne told Jean, “we don’t advertise the fact because it would only freak people out. I try to push it down as it feels like I’m a peeping Bethany Anne. Sometimes, though, like when Ashur was talking to me, it was fun,” she looked over to Jean, “You do need to get your fun where you can, sometimes.”
Bethany Anne chuckled when Jean’s cheeks colored, “Not like that, you nympho.” Now, Jean’s cheeks colored more as the two guys chuckled louder than the sound of Jean’s punch on John’s shoulder as it echoed down the hall.
—
Five minutes later, the four of them entered the Special Legation meeting room. This one was inside the base, as opposed to the one connected to the docks area which was used for security reasons.
Bethany Anne nodded to Omar Kolan, previously in charge of the hotel operations for the Asteroid Belt, and elevated up to help run the human operations side of the base station. Dr. April Keelson from Medical and Dr. Michelle S. Brown-Williams in charge of Food was on the side of the table with Mr. Kolan.
She greeted the tag team of Kevin McCoullagh and Yamauchi Stephanie. Lance had pulled them up from the Colorado Base, and they had helped oversee the beginning of the excavation and building of the Merideth Reynolds. They were on her right with Marcus, Bobcat, and William down that side. The smelting area out in the belt had finally been disassembled, and the massive amount of raw materials from excavation were stored wherever the hell they could find room. The miners, accustomed to the difficulties mining in space, appreciated mining out the inside of the Asteroid with the new Yollin Drilling Machines.
It had been a tough, but good, three years.
“First up,” Bethany Anne asked, “the artificial sun?”
Marcus grimaced, he preferred not to call anything artificial, but he had been ruled against with finality when Bethany Anne asked him his preferred name.
His official choice had been a long group of scientific words which made one want to use it for a drinking game.
Screw up saying the name, take a drink People would get plastered in minutes.
He answered her question, “We have tested all three levels, and they are working. We tested what might happen in seven different catastrophic scenarios including,” he looked over at his two friends, “If an idiot got drunk and ran a small pod into the main Etheric Energy collector and overcharged the system.”
Bobcat shrugged, “Always assume alcohol can take your worst catastrophe and magnify it.”
“Preach it, Brother Bobcat,” William agreed.
“And?” Bethany Anne interrupted the trio.
Marcus turned back to Bethany Anne, “It degraded effectively in all instances, and we did not have any unfortunate accidents.”
“What, pray tell, would have been the likelihood of an unfortunate accident, and what would it have been, again?”
“Ah,” Marcus scratched his cheek, “less than dying in an airplane crash and instant annihilation for everyone inside the asteroid.”
“So,” Bethany Anne confirmed, “the only survivors would have been those outside in the docks area?”
“Yes,” Marcus admitted.
“Then always assume alcohol is available and sprinkle it everywhere like pixie dust when you conceive of problems with the system. My whole effort to save that backstabbing blue ball back there would immediately ceased being terribly effective if our whole damned base was vaporized.”
She paused a moment, then added, “By us.”
Bethany Anne looked at Marcus, tapping her nails on the table to get him to look up at her, “We have had these discussions before, Marcus. I understand you work in probabilities and the chances of a mistake after you, ADAM, ArchAngel, Merideth, the Defense E.I. Reynolds and TOM all going through the design might be vanishingly small, but I can’t have a mistake if we can help it.” Marcus nodded his understanding.
“Ok, so when do you want to turn on the main system?” she followed up.
Marcus’s eyebrows rose, “Ah, what?”
Bethany Anne smiled, “I believe you have tested the Arti-Sun effectively, when do you want to fire it up?”
Inside Schwabenland Base, Antarctica
The American group had been speaking with Maria now for well over an hour and Barnabas only had one issue nagging at him.
He couldn’t read Dr. Abesimmons.
His mind was a blank to him. He was a cipher, a problem, a puzzle.
Barnabas enjoyed a puzzle because it promised new knowledge at the end when you finished putting the puzzle together. That he couldn’t read his mind was curious, and extremely rare, but was just a hint something could be wrong, not proof so far.
The Americans had pretty much promised Schwabenland their own small area of the country, similar to how they had finally provided American Indians with their own land. Unfortunately for the Americans, Maria had read up on them, and the American Indian’s life hadn’t seemed to be going too well until they figured out that gambling was the ultimate equalizer. Now, reservations all across the country were pulling in the white man’s money legally.
Hell, the white man was driving hours to drop their money in the American Indian coffers.
Should the Indian management and government manage it well, the Indian people were going to do well for a long while, perhaps generations to come. If they didn’t succumb to greed just like almost every other human group in existence.
Maria nodded towards Dr. Abesimmons who held up his hand, “I apologize, Ms. Orsitsch, but I have a couple of rather unique questions if I may?”
“Certainly, Dr. Abesimmons.”
“We understand you have spoken with aliens living in Alpha Centauri, and I am not questioning that in any way whatsoever. However, we are curious if you have perhaps had contact with another group of aliens, the Grays?”
All faces turned to Maria, “No,” she replied, “I’m aware of the aliens called Grays and do not believe I’ve spoken with any of them.” She smiled benevolently towards Dr. Abesimmons, who had been nothing but incredibly respectful the whole discussion when he had asked any questions so far.
“Thank you, the second question, is whether you have every heard of a group of aliens called Kurtherians?”
“SNEEZE!” Barnabas ordered into Maria’s mind, and she immediately held up a hand, turned her head away from those at the table and sneezed loudly.
“Please do not recognize the name Kurtherians, Maria,” Barnabas suggested, leaving the final decision in Maria’s lap.
Either way, this man was now suspect number one on his list of leads.
Maria fanned her face, closing her eyes and turning her head back away from the table again. This time in Barnabas’s direction and her eyes opened when she saw him sitting in the chair.
Then they narrowed as she looked at him before she sneezed once more and turned back towards the table.
She smiled to the table, “I’m terribly sorry, I’m usually not very allergic, but perhaps something came in with your clothes. I do apologize again.” She turned towards Abesimmons, “I’m sorry good Doctor, you asked about an alien species? A Kurthurans?”
“No, madam, Kurtherians,” he corrected.
“No, I have not. Are they important?” She asked him, “I’ve heard of maybe a dozen different species but Kurtherians,” she stopped to make sure she was pronouncing the name correctly, “Is not one of them.”
“I understand. They are,” he told those in the group who had written the name down in their notes, “a rumored group and a passion of mine. My apologies for taking a gamble and asking during this limited availability of your time.”
At least three heads nodded in understanding. All researchers Barnabas knew, having read their surface thoughts.
The group continued talking for another twenty minutes when there was a knock on the door, before Hans and Horst opened it and walked in. Soon, the American group had been herded out of the room with Maria walking out at the end of the group to see them to the exit. She turned and whispered towards the room before she closed the door behind her.
“We will talk later, Barnabas.”
SEE YOU IN DON’T CROSS THIS LINE…T-MINUS 48 HOURS OR LESS …
ICALEMH ELAEDRN
DON’T CROSS THIS LINE – Snippet 11 of …
UNEDITED
“Hey boss,” Jean Dukes called out from the back of the room. She was hunched over, pointing to a design hologram that one of her engineers had erupting from his desk.
“No, don’t push the envelope right here. The Gravitics will warp at that juncture and we will have a problem. Trust me, we went through this issue years ago when we built this ship. It drove Marcus and TOM nuts.”
“Don’t want that to happen again, do we?” her guy said and then he started subvocalizing commands to the computer running the design software.
Bethany Anne walked up and nodded for Jean to step away.
Jean winked to Eric, “What’s up hombre?”
Eric winked back but didn’t answer. He continued looking around her room and at her people. Jean had a long conversation about trusting her people with John a while back. She finally realized that none of the Bitch’s assumed anything bad about her people, but what about mind control?
With aliens out there, and what she had been told about Bethany Anne’s abilities, it was a possibility.
Jean turned back to Bethany Anne, “Boss?”
“Just checking in and finding out how we are doing with the projects,” Bethany Anne replied.
“Ah, management by walking around,” Jean stated. “Ok, Project T113,” she jerked a thumb behind her, “is slightly ahead of schedule if we can fix this gravitic issue that buzzkill back here…”
“Hey!” the engineer called out and then decided to focus really hard on his project when both ladies turned to look at him.
Jean turned back to Bethany Anne, “As I was saying before buzzkill rudely interrupted me. Project T113 is on track, if slightly. Trying to push this much metal and skipping through the etheric is giving everyone migraines.”
“What about TOM’s Engines?” Bethany Anne pressed.
“TOM doesn’t know exactly how that works. He was a pilot…”
“Not an Etheric Fusion Warp Drive Scientist,” Bethany Anne finished for her, “he reminds me of this fact all of the time.”
Not all of the time.
Every time I ask a question related to your engines.
I push the buttons, calculate the accuracy of the location based on the Kurtherian Pulsar and Gravitic Wave information in the database and select my next target. Then, hit the button when there is enough power in the engines, with reserve, and cross my fingers.
It’s that ability to cross your fingers and hope that made you a pilot, TOM. Bethany Anne replied. An unusual characteristic in your people.
True.
So, I know you are aware of a bunch more. I think you just might have a little Kurtherian Rocket Scientist in you, yet.
Bethany Anne could feel TOM considering her comment. She needed TOM mentally in the game. If she could just get him to admit that he might be able to contribute to this project, as a real skill and not a hack, it might help their game some.
Maybe.
Satisfied that project was on track, Bethany Anne continued with Jean Dukes.
“So, we come to project Gauntlet,” Jean started.
“That’s the Guardians most favorite. I’m surprised Peter wasn’t in here and only had two of his lackey’s outside.”
“That explains why we didn’t have as many interruptions as before.”
“You didn’t know you had two guards outside?” Bethany Anne asked.
“Well, yeah, I knew. However, I hadn’t put two and two together that Peter did it because he noticed how many random people would come in and interrupt the efforts to finish Gauntlet.”
“Did it work?”
“Well, yes,” Jean turned towards another work station. It was stand-up desk height and was three feet on each side. Wood on the surface, it was all computer encased inside metal underneath. The wood allowed those standing around a place to set their tablets down as they talked.
Bethany Anne walked up and took a second side of the desk as Jean pulled up the computer and started going through the complex login procedure before Gauntlet came up in the hologram. There were three sizes. One fit a huge, seven foot tall humanoid, one fit a robust male and another fit a strong female.
“These suits allow the Wechselbalg or the Guardian Marines to jump in, suit up and empower themselves to be a one suit walking badass.”
“The biggest one?” Bethany Anne could guess, but she wanted Jean to answer.
“Uhhh,” Jean smiled, “Well, Peter, Nathan and Ecaterina wanted something they could use if they were Pricolici.”
“What’s the backup if they go rogue and won’t change back?” Bethany Anne stuck her hand out, and rotated the mech-suits in front of her.
“The suits internals have been calibrated to ascertain if we have a mentally competent being inside the suit, or not. If they won’t change back, it can be recalled back to the ship, or it will lock up and one of them will be pissed off when the override opens the suit,” Bethany Anne grimaced. There were only a handful, including her, who would be on hand if they couldn’t find a way to get one of the Pricolici to turn back.
“When did I authorize,” she pointed to the big suit of armor, “that?”
Jean mumbled into her computer voice node and a form showed up, “Ah, it was during one of the get together’s in All Guns Blazing.”
TOM, when is she talking about?
Ahhh…
I thought you were always paying attention.
Well, If I’m not otherwise focused, yes.
For an alien, you sure act like a male.
Point of fact, I am male.
Then my assertion that a guy is a guy is a guy, no matter what species he comes from, is now proven.
There was a silence before TOM replied, How long have you been setting up this joke?
I have to do something to keep you on your toes.
>> I have the information, Bethany Anne.<<
Great, ADAM.
What constitutes a male?
Huh?
Well, we can discuss the …
Hold it right there! Bethany Anne interrupted. No bringing in the whatchamacallits from Kurtherian System four four seven or some shit.
Why not? They are real species I assure you.
Really? Because I have no idea if you are making this shit up or not.
So, I can only bring up species from groups you can confirm?
>> It was during the conversation you had with Peter and Nathan during little Christina Bethany Anne’s party.<<
Bethany Anne was thinking back to the party when TOM interrupted again, What about species you can confirm?
Huh? Sure, species I can confirm work, TOM.
Jean Dukes noticed Bethany Anne’s classic conversation with TOM face and waited a second before Bethany Anne’s eyes went rolling up.
“Remember now, boss?”
“Yes!” She puffed out, “Those two snakes set me up.” She puffed a stray strand of hair out of her face.
“The Proc-101’s there going to get scrapped?” Jean asked.
Bethany Anne shook her head, “No, don’t misunderstand me. I’m good with,” she pointed to the hologram, “those. As for the boys, I’ll be ready for them next time. It look’s like our favorite Saint will be involved, too.”
Jean nodded sagely. For the last three years, Saint Payback-is-a-bitch had become almost a religion unto itself among Bethany Anne’s teams.
FROM MICHAEL >>> This is the ‘day after the day I finished the book’. We have just about 20 chapters in final edit pass and 5 chapters with the Beta Reading team. So, we are less than a week (probably 4-5 days) from release 😉
The last indie author I’m highlighting this book came to me via the 20Booksto50k group. He reached out and asked if I would be interested in a cross-promo (so, he has 5,000 email names and I would promote to my readers (not nearly 5,000 names)) and so on. I explained I don’t worry about getting something in return I would promote his new release and his lower price. My readers love finding new authors and if they want to read it, they will 🙂
SO!
I’m happy to fulfill my promise to pimp Brandon Barr’s new Trilogy out TODAY for the low price of $2.99 (Also Kindle Unlimited) from today to November 16th!
Like me, Brandon infuses his stories with a little genre mashup 😉
Song of the Worlds (Boxed Set, Books 1-3)
$2.99 until November 16th, 2016!
Heart-pounding action mixed with flesh and soul characters–Song of the Worlds is the dramatic new fantasy saga. Two women, two worlds, one epic destiny…On the world of Loam, an ancient evil threatens to conquer the portals that exist on every world, and only a timid young woman named Winter is given the power to destroy it. Gifted as a Seer by the gods, Winter must first escape the cruel farmland she was raised on, even if it could spell death for those she loves.
On the world of Hearth, Nightmares crawl out of the East to devour entire villages. A fire-blooded heiress named Meluscia seeks to destroy the threat plaguing her lands and become Luminess of the Blue Mountain Realm. Though she desires the throne, her heart is divided. Forbidden intimacy tempts her at every corner. Can she save her kingdom, or will all of Hearth be brought to its knees at the feet of a primordial Beast?
Looming over both worlds is a powerful and mysterious alliance known as the Guardians. They know of the prophecies encircling Loam and Hearth and will stop at nothing to keep them out of the hands of the Beasts and the Gods. Winter and Meluscia’s fates are bound together as they fight for those they love and stand against a staggering evil larger than either could have ever imagined.
A fast-paced fantasy epic that stretches beyond the stars. Begin the powerful new series today!
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE (OR BUY IT) ON AMAZON 😉
For those who are tracking this stuff…We raised Boyd Craven’s book from 72,000 to as high as 8,101 😉 (Brandon has a lot of effort going into this release from myself and others, so here’s to his success!)
Present Ranking as of this post.
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,858 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #232 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Metaphysical & Visionary
- #269 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > New Adult & College
- #277 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary
DON’T CROSS THIS LINE – Snippet 10 of …
UNEDITED
QBS ArchAngel en route, Earth
Bethany Anne, dressed down in jeans and a white sweatshirt, nodded to the two guards in front of Jean Duke’s weapons development area entrance, “Gentleman,” she said to the two guards. She hadn’t met either one of them. Not an unusual situation now that they had allowed almost four hundred thousand people to come and join her kingdom.
“I’m sorry, but we will need a pass, ma’am,” the first one told her. Bethany Anne heard a snort come from Eric standing behind her. He then started to grab his collar and mumble something.
“I need a pass?” Bethany Anne asked, confused.
“Yes ma’am,” the second guard explained. “Guardian Peter would have our ass…ets if we admitted anyone without the proper credentials.” The second guard nodded his agreement.
“Right,” Bethany Anne put up her hand and turned it palm towards her, flipping off the guards.
“Ma’am,” the first started, then his eyes grew large as a three inch, exceedingly sharp nail extended itself out from her middle finger and her eyes turned red.
“Now, what pass does the Queen need, exactly?”
At that moment, the four of them could hear the rapid sounds from running boots clopping on the floor and a “That’s the Queen you IDIOTS!” as Peter turned the corner and took in the two men, eyes aghast, and Bethany Anne’s hand flipping them off with her red eyes staring at them, as well.
Eric grinned as Peter tried to hide his frustration as he slowed down to a jog and joined them. “Sadhi, Ken, didn’t you two pay attention to the most important pictures list?” Peter’s grimace was enough to jolt the men from their stupor.
“But sir,” the one on the left stated, “The Queen was in all black, and… and…” Sadhi licked his lips, his eyes flicking back to Bethany Anne whose hand had dropped, the nail back to normal and her eyes looking towards him without the scary red eyeballs.
Peter turned to Bethany Anne, “Obviously, we have a few holes in our training Bethany Anne, my apologies.”
She patted him on the shoulder, “I applaud the effort, and even if they didn’t recognize me when I’m dressed down, they might have paid attention to Eric’s shoulder badge.” It amused Bethany Anne to see both of their eyes follow her thumb to Eric’s Bitch patch and then looking over to the same patch on their boss’s arm. Ken’s eyes slowly closed in the classic ‘how could I be so dense’ move.
Sadhi, on the other hand, seemed to want to argue some more. Peter reached over, picked him up by his shirt with one arm and told him, “Don’t say a word, are we clear?” Sadhi looked down at his boss and nodded his head.
“ArchAngel, open this door,” Bethany Anne spoke and the ship’s voice came out of the speakers near the door, “Yes, Bethany Anne.”
Sadhi looked down as the doors opened and the two walked through them. He turned to look at his boss who still hadn’t dropped him back to the floor.
“If you should ever be stupid enough to argue with the wrong people, trust me when I tell you that Bethany Anne and her Bitches have a rough way of teaching.” Peter opened his grip and Sadhi dropped to the ground. “Now, you two grab your tablets and open up the book on important people.” He told the two men, “I want you to write up your story on what just happened and maybe a few ideas on how to make damn sure you can tell when the Queen comes knocking, got me?” he growled out.
“Well,” Ken admitted, “the scary as shit red eyes are a unique characteristic.”
Peter chuckled, “You should be happy, usually she isn’t in such a good mood when those fuckers show up.”
“That was a good mood, sir?” Sadhi asked, his hand trembling some as he pulled up the documents Peter told him to review.
“Fuck yeah that was good,” Peter said as he turned around, calling out his statement over his shoulder as he walked away, “your ass would be dead otherwise.”
His answer seemed to hang in the air long after he had turned the corner, his steps receding down the hall.
Schwabenland, Antarctica
Dr. Abesimmons credentials passed along with those in his group. He looked around at the large cave mouth, cleaned and hosting different types of vehicles. Some built recently to go outside the cave, some looking as if they had been built during World War II.
Some of unique design, but built a long time ago. Abesimmons wished he could go take a look, but his job was clear.
Get in, take notes, ask questions, go back to his job in Washington D.C.
The Schwabenlanders were all looking older, fit, but definitely older. Hell, if his group waited long enough, they would be able to come back after they all died within the next couple of decades and take what they wanted.
Or, considering how strong one of the guards looked, perhaps they were not so frail.
Half of the group was ushered into a tiny waiting room and the door clanged shut behind him. Abesimmons noticed the guy behind the glass.
“State your business.” He asked, his Germanic accent heavy. Their main lead, J.J. Aspens spoke up.
“U.S. Delegation to meet with Ms. Orsitsch.”
“I understand you have twelve in your group, Dr. Aspens?”
“Yes,” J.J. responded, pointing down the group, “We have another six outside waiting.”
“Makeup of the group outside?”
“Two ladies, four gentlemen.”
“Understood, Dr. Aspen. Welcome.” The door on the other side of the small room unlocked as a buzzer went off.
Abesimmons walked out with the rest and a minute later, the others in their group came out of the room.
“Doctors?” A middle-aged woman spoke from Abesimmons right. He turned and she continued, “If you would all follow me?”
The group started out after her as she called out, “Please don’t leave the group, that is very dangerous.”
Abesimmons nodded his head in understanding. They had been told of the potential havoc awaiting those who went sightseeing in their base without permission.
The results were often deadly.
Abesimmons guessed there weren’t too many lawyers in Schwabenland and if they had any to begin with, their curiosity had been fatal.
It took the group about five minutes to walk to the meeting room. Often through hallways that had nothing interesting to see. Abesimmons, usually good with underground locations, suspected they were close to the entrance and their starting point. However, they must have planned the trip to skip certain areas.
Interesting.
FROM MICHAEL >>> WOOHOO! WORDS COMPLETE! (Do a little dance, make a little move, get down tonight…get down tonight!)
That means, I’m done writing the core of the book. I still have other fiddly bits to go, but all of the main stuff is ‘in there’ (kinda like Prego Spaghetti Sauce).
I’ve got SOOO many cool things to share in this book, and I hope I can figure out a way to shove them all in. We shall see!
This evening, I’m going to highlight another Indie Author! (Wow, that is SO strange, right?) However, what is OFF THE WALL about this one is the story that goes WITH the selection.
You see, the last book out (My Ride is a Bitch) peaked at #74 in the WHOLE amazon store (for like, 2 hours.) Now, lest you think your little indie author had the potential for his head to get too big (possible) the book just to the left in the top 100 list (#73) I put below.
Defeated, our friendly neighborhood author decided to enjoy his good luck and wonderful success and stay quiet about it.
Why?
Because the book that was beating him was titled WELL HUNG.
When I decided I was going to salute the book that beat me, I had to read a bit of the reviews and now (out of sight of everyone) I’m secretly thinking...”maybe I should read this?” LOL – DAMN YOU Lauren Blakeley!
Now, I’ve read the book blurb and I am thinking..Shit yeah I’m going to read this! (I’m going to hell, I just know it.)
Well Hung Kindle Edition
From New York Times Bestselling Author Lauren Blakely comes a HOT new standalone romance…
Here’s what you need to know about me — I’m well-off, well-hung and quick with a joke. Women like a guy who makes them laugh. Even better if he’s loyal and hard-working. That’s me.
Enter Natalie. Hot, sexy, smart, and my new assistant. Which makes her totally off limits…
Hey, I’m a good guy. Really. I do my best to stay far away from the kind of temptation she brings to work. Until one night in Vegas…
Yeah, you’ve heard this one before. Bad news on the business front, drowning our sorrows in a few too many Harvey Wallbangers, and then I’m banging her. In my hotel room. In her hotel room. Behind the Titanic slot machine at the Flamingo (don’t ask). And before I can make her say “Oh God right there YES!” one more time, we’re both saying yes–the big yes–at a roadside chapel in front of a guy in press-on sideburns and a shiny gold leisure suit.
We’ll just untie the knot in the morning, right?
The trouble is . . . I don’t know how to keep my hands off my soon-to-be ex-wife.
Don’t Cross That Line – Snippet 09 of …
UNEDITED
UN Headquarters – New York City – USA
“What we have,” the Chinese Ambassador spoke, in the closed room, to the eleven other United Nations members, “is a company, or entity, or group of humans who have partaken of what the world provides and is not giving anything in return. Selfishness in action.” Zhou looked around and was pleased.
Everyone was nodding their heads in the right direction, that is to say in agreement with him.
“They are also taking the cream of our people!” Ambassador Jackson Emeka broke in, right on cue. Almost as if it had been planned hours ago in a private meeting. One of many meetings Ambassador Zhou held in the last couple of days.
For three years, the Chinese government had tracked the clans in their own country. A few people had died on both sides, but no technology had been found. They had captured two of the clan’s members alive and research was going to start on those two, but they had killed themselves and the blood samples were almost useless.
The researchers, he was told, had hope but the secrets of the blood weren’t forthcoming and some of the upper level politicians had run out of patience. It was time to get nasty.
It was time for Ambassador Zhou to use the carefully cultivated alliances and debts China had procured over the years.
“They did not take everyone,” Ambassador Jamil Franklin responded. Ambassador Zhou did love a well scripted debate.
“Yes, and why is that?” Ambassador Emeka responded, “Is that because they have the ability to know who has our secrets? Perhaps they only look for those who can bring a little bit extra, so to speak, to their efforts? I know they claim they are going out into the stars to fight other aliens. But, why is it they are building a large space-station?”
“A what?” Ambassador Billony asked, her eyebrows going up in surprise.
“Their space station,” Ambassador Zhou spoke up, taking command of the conversation once again. “TQB has secretly been building a space station out in the Asteroid Belt these past three years. We have images from some of our space assets.”
“What do they need with a space station?” she pressed, turning from Ambassador Emeka to Ambassador Zhou.
“That is a good question,” Zhou replied. “The unofficial official explanation we hear from backdoor conversations is they are using it for the roughly quarter of a million people they have stolen from our respective countries. The,” he nodded to Ambassador Emeka, “cream of the crop they have taken from our countries, perhaps stifling our own ability to get ahead?”
Ambassador Billony’s lips pressed together. She was new to the group as her country in Europe had recently gone through elections and the old guard was tossed out. The new President and cabinet were certainly more bellicose in their speeches against TQB.
It had cost China considerable effort to support the new President during the elections, without getting caught. The race was close within a month of the vote. Then, an unnamed source or sources dropped a large amount of email and other documents that changed the election. With so much content to wade through, no one questioned who could have shot the two small video clips showing the President with questionable people that swayed the remaining holdouts and pushed the victory from close to a landslide.
“So how do we stop them?” She asked, “They abide by the rules not to land in our countries, but our people go to other countries.”
“They just used that rule to filter out people who weren’t serious,” Emeka retorted, “the U.S., so far, allows them to take people from their country. They purchased land and use it for a space terminal. So far, the US hasn’t shut them down.”
“The decision to change that could be close, I understand,” Zhou interrupted. All heads turned to him, “The present President is not as much a fan as the previous one was. Right now, the most that has been done against TQB is require them to fill out flight plans which allows the U.S. to test their radar and other defensive location and target acquisition capabilities.”
“A lot of good that does us,” Billony added.
Zhou shrugged, “It isn’t like our people couldn’t leave and go to the U.S. anyway, so they would have to admit they are stopping their whole ‘land of the free’ nonsense if they do otherwise. I know they are stinging from some significant drops in military, science and advanced technology resources themselves.”
“Now they know how it feels,” Billony replied, “to have your people go to another country and stay there, not coming back to help your own country do better with their new skills.”
Many around the table nodded sympathetically. The U.S. was now receiving the rewards for having done the same to all of them, and many other countries around the world for the last hundred years. No one here was going to shed a tear for the Americans who lost some of their own people to TQB.
Mind you, none wanted to admit they might have a country people didn’t want to come back to, either.
“How many are they taking, now?” Ambassador Franklin asked.
Ambassador Emeka flipped through a couple of pages in front of him, “It is slowing down. They have added approximately five thousand to the list of those immigrating for each of the last three months.”
Franklin pointed to the paper from across the table, “If you believe they place all of the names on the list, it could be fifteen thousand and we wouldn’t know.”
Zhou spoke, “We don’t know it isn’t fifteen thousand people leaving Earth for her group. We don’t know they aren’t being straight up with us in this one area, so perhaps we give them the benefit of the doubt? If the number is two-hundred and fifty thousand to date, and each person would live to be fifty years old on average, that is many, many years of advancement and resources the world is going to do without.”
There was an epithet from the end of the table. When everyone turned, Ambassador Jameson’s face grew red, “Sorry, just did that math. That’s twelve and a half million years of support they are stealing.”
Zhou, noting the perfect opportunity to stab when it looked like he was being nice answered, “Well, we can assume they would not be that useful before twenty, so we are probably looking at maybe seven and half million years worth of help.” Ambassador Jameson’s face looked at Zhou and raised an eyebrow. Zhou smiled and put up his hands, “Sorry, you are right. Seven and a half is still too much time to allow TQB to take away.”
Zhou turned back to the table, “It seems we are in agreement here, yes? It is time for TQB to return payment for what they have taken from our world.”
FROM MICHAEL >>> It is getting close! I just finished Chapter 21 (still needs a double-check before I send to Stephen, but it’s pretty much done!) I hope to have the book Words Complete by Wednesday night. It looks like it will finish about 75,000 words. So, a little longer than typical for me.
I’ll have some new ‘news’ in the Author Notes for this book, so don’t forget to read Author Notes, this time!
Now, about the author below. In late March, I went to my first Author’s event and sat across the aisle from a dude that frankly reminds me of Scott in the books. I would say that his arms are a big as trees…Well, if you compare my skinny little stick-figure arms they certainly are! Anyway, Boyd Craven (how cool a name is that? He should write Paranormal with a name like that) and I struck up a friendship over the next three days and even now, he will help with with stuff anytime I have a question (I just turned one year old as an author…I think he is a geezer with about 4 years under his belt?)
He did this set of books about with his father regarding the “EVILS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.”
If you support P.C. (which is fine – no judgement on my part), this book is NOT for you! These books (I think there are four (4)) espouse a certain ideologue, you have been warned!
And, you are an adult, so … here we go!
BREAKING POINT (Anonymous Justice Book 1)
Friday, December 18th, 2015 was the Breaking Point.
We hear with increasing frequency, reports of mass shootings or terrorist activities on American soil. Don’t you get tired of the media sensationalizing everything? Do you hate how the police have their hands tied on how they can react, by politicians who are more worried about political correctness, and getting re-elected? Don’t you fantasize about just giving the bad guys what they have coming to them? That’s what this story is about. It’s guaranteed to offend the crap out of some people! It’s not illegal to fantasize in this country…
Yet.
-Rated R by us, for language and violence – The Authors
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE (or download) ABOUT BREAKING POINT ON AMAZON!
NOTE! When I put this snippet up, the books ranking was: (we usually affect a Books ranking positively for 3-5 days).
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,485 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #272 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Pulp
- #355 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Crime > Vigilante Justice
- #393 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Terrorism
DON’T CROSS THAT LINE – Snippet 08 of …
UNEDITED
New York City, NY – USA
Johnnie pulled out a knife, “You have two choices, give it to me freely, or give it to me painfully. Either way, chica, you are giving me some ass.”
Tabitha laughed, “Sorry, this ass has a ‘no small dicks allowed’ tattoo,” Tabitha replied, putting up her fingers. “Looks like this with a circle and slash over it,” her thumb and index finger made the universal symbol for very, very small.
“Then, I guess you choose painful,” Johnnie came forward and laughed to himself. The woman was talking big, but she didn’t even get prepared to fight properly. She stayed on her two feet side by side a shoulder’s width apart.
Worked for him.
He stutter-stepped to catch her attention and then twisted the knife so that the blade was away from her face and threw a punch.
He might cut her later, but he didn’t want to worry about scarring such a beautiful woman yet. Especially if a punch was all it was going to…
“The fuck!” he grunted when the woman grabbed his hand and stopped it cold before she pulled it along as she used her right hand to punch him in the forehead. He collapsed in a heap straight down.
One out of the fight as three others jumped at her. The fourth kept back, his eyes looking left and right in the shadows.
“Woohoo!” Tabitha squealed and slightly turned up the speed. Where they punched, she slid by just a hair’s breadth away. So close, yet too far away. She used her elbow upside the head of the second jerk.
Two down.
She swung a kick out and caught the fifth guy in the stomach, causing him to collapse, grabbing his stomach, trying to stop the sudden pain.
“Sorry,” she called out as she dodged a kick from guy number four, “Can’t have someone at my back like that, Hirotoshi would make me do a thousand pushups and I…” She blocked the next punch from jerk number three with her palm and then quickly double punched the guy in his stomach. She grabbed his head as he folded and slammed it down onto her rising knee. As he collapsed she finished, “absolutely hate push-ups.”
The last guy was definitely more brawn than brains as he came to grab her in a bear hug. Her advanced speed offered a few options and she decided to have more fun and allowed him to grab her. He laughed as he picked her up off of her feet and squeezed her hard.
“Watch the ta-ta’s, asshole,” she fumed, “they aren’t fucking balloons here, Rickie Bobby!” She slammed her forehead into his chin, staggering him and then she opened her arms and dropped back to the street. She punched him hard in the stomach and then casually knocked the side of his skull with her knuckles.
“And another one bites the dust,” she finished as his eyes went up and he collapsed to the ground as well. She looked around. Four guys lights out, one still coughing, grabbing his stomach. She reached down and grabbed the blue denim jacket collar and started towards the dumpster. “You get the bottom, maybe the worst is in there.” She grabbed his arm, belt loop and some jean and casually tossed him into the dumpster. A crunching noise happened and an aroma that made Tabitha’s nose twitch came out of the dumpster.
“Damn, that’s some nasty shit,” she commented as she grabbed two more and pulled them over and tossed them in. She grabbed the final two, one of them still holding his stomach as she pulled them both by the legs over to the dumpster.
Tossing the comatose one in, she bent beside the last guy, “Sorry number five. I appreciate you trying, but the best reduction to your sentence is I won’t toss you,” she nodded to the dumpster, “in there.”
She stood up and kicked him in the side of the head, “but you still have to be punished,” she finished explaining to the now comatose guy.
A moment later, she was back out in the street returning to her previously interrupted walk back to the hotel.
Her steps a little lighter than before.
FROM MICHAEL >>> – WOOHOO!
I just finished Chapter 17 yesterday and (for me) it was one of the most fun Team BMW scenes I’ve done in a little while. It is a uniquely Team BMW way to respond to Terrorists…
I SOOOO want to share, but, I can’t!
What I can share is both the NEW INDIE BOOKS TO REVIEW (Kindles For Military and Supporting Indie Writers) – 16 new books for your review to check out. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BOOKS (16 …SIXTEEEN choices…Come one! Come All!)
OR
Today’s highlighted book comes from author Justin Sloan. He has a new Urban Fantasy series out with Michael La Ronn which is:
Death Marked: An Urban Fantasy Series (Modern Necromancy Book 1)
He wanted to bring his fiance back from the dead. If he’s not careful, he’ll join her.
Rohan Evans’s world was turned upside down when he lost his fiance Senna in a tragic accident. He misses her so desperately that he’s resorted to the dark arts to bring her back.
Frank Altemus is a doctor with strange connections to the occult who promises to revive Senna from the afterlife in exchange for Rohan’s help on a special expedition.
Click here to read more about Death Marked (or buy it, that’s ok, too) 😉
DON’T CROSS THIS LINE – Snippet 07 of …
UNEDITED
Inside Schwabenland Base, Antarctica
Maria nodded to her two guards. Both Hans and Horst nodded back as she stepped into the meeting room. Their base, once they brought the heaters online, was a very comfortable seventy-four degrees. All of her people were older, but in great shape.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have the technology to make her people young again as the young Queen did.
Horst grinned, “Dresses again, Maria?”
She stopped in front of him, “If I knew that a punch would hurt you, I would punch you. A slap against that granite you have for a head would only hurt my hand, Horst.” He smiled to her as she continued speaking, “You know I’m not fond of the pants women wear today. Dresses are for ladies, thank you very much.”
“Yes,” Horst replied as she stepped between the two men to go into the meeting room, “But the pants allow us to see the woman’s weapons so much easier than dresses, Maria.” The two men chuckled as they closed the door to the room behind her.
Men, Maria thought, freeze them and thaw them out and they still only think of sex, sex, sex.
Maria set her yellow notepad and pencils down. She preferred to write her notes. Her note language was completely unique, no one would be able to decipher it.
Except, perhaps, the Kurtherian. She had asked Bethany Anne, twice now, to speak with TOM and the best she was allowed was communication through one of their phone devices.
“Maria?” Hans called out sometime later. The knocking on the door took her attention away from the notes she had made during the meeting with the Germans the day before. The history of her country was dramatic, to say the least. Broken apart after the war and brought back together in October of 1990, there was a lot of good and bad with the reformed country. Either way, it wasn’t the Germany she remembered.
Truthfully, none of the countries were anything like she remembered or cared about. Her last meeting was with the United States of America and then she would have to deliver her decision to her people … those who chose to continue following her.
Wherever that lead.
“Yes?” she replied, looking up from her notes.
“I have Barnabas out here, from Bethany Anne’s group. He is asking permission to speak with you a moment.”
“That is ok, please let him in.” She put down her pencil and stood up.
Barnabas walked in and nodded to Maria, who nodded back. Barnabas was a very peaceful person, at least to Maria.
“Wie geht es?” He asked her as the door closed behind him.
“Sehr gut, und du?” she replied as she took a seat. Barnabas never tried to shake her hand or hug her in any way. He was always formal in their meetings. In a strange way he was the most comfortable for her, of those who followed Bethany Anne.
“I’m very well, thank you,” he finished in English and pulled out one of the chairs in the large room. “Are you ready for this last meeting?”
“As ready as I hope to be. It seems, to me at least, that speaking with Aliens is a more straight forward exercise than speaking with anyone from the future, or at least my future, on this world.”
“Have you made contact then?” He followed up but then put up a hand, a small smile on his lips, “My apologies. My curiosity knows no bounds, as Frank Kurns will attest.”
“Yes, another whose curiosity knows no bounds, you two should be brothers,” she replied.
Barnabas nodded, “It was strange, our first meeting. When he and I first got to know one another, I had information he wanted and he was a spring of information I needed.”
“Really?” she looked down at her pad and realized it was the wrong one for her notes on Frank and looked back up to Barnabas. “I thought I remembered him saying you didn’t ask as many questions as he?”
“If we must talk about Frank behind his back,” Barnabas started, then winked, “Then the truth is no one can ask as many questions as that man. Nor,” he nodded to Maria’s notepads, “does he fail to also make all sorts of notes, in his books, about the answers.”
Her eyebrows drew together in concentration, “I don’t remember him writing much,” she replied.
“Mmmm,” Barnabas put his hands on the table, “Then I would suggest that he was recording the meeting, to jot down notes later, so he could get more questions in during his time.” Barnabas could see Maria weighing that answer for accuracy, “Or he was so captivated with the answers, he dared not slow down and he expected to write his notes down later.”
“More likely the former, than the latter,” Maria admitted, “He did place his tablet on the table when we spoke.”
“Mystery most likely solved. I doubt he would trust his memory, as good as it is, without a backup.”
“Is it true he is from my time?” she asked.
“Frank? Yes. He was in the second World War and has been through a medical procedure to reduce his age.”
“That is fascinating. I wish my contact would have provided that information,” she admitted, “I can’t say I enjoy sitting with Bethany Anne considering how attractive she is.” She reached up to grab her hair, which was getting longer but not nearly as long as she had it in the stasis chamber.
“Bethany Anne was attractive before she was healed, you were both attractive in your youth and still are I believe. However, that is not why I am here to speak with you.”
“Yes, I know Barnabas,” Maria picked up a pencil and tapped it on the table. “But you are the only one I feel I can share a little with. You seem to be the only one who just tells me like it is, and isn’t trying to control the situation and my decision.”
Barnabas raised an eyebrow, “You don’t suspect that I am a vicious plant by my Queen to influence your decision?”
Maria laughed, “No! God no. If Bethany Anne wanted me to do something, I imagine she would have Captain Kael-ven tell me. I am a sucker for an alien and she is the only one that seems to have plenty of aliens around her.”
“Yes, she does seem to acquire aliens without trying. It is a singularly unique trait,” Barnabas admitted dryly.
“So, if you are not here to influence me Barnabas, what do I owe the honor of your presence?” She smiled at him, wishing she was about fifty years younger. She would have had a chance to turn his head and make it go in a complete circle if she still had her youthful looks. There was a reason the Vrilerinnen were called the beautiful young ladies of the Vril Gesellschraft.
“I’m here to ask your permission to sit out of the way, unnoticed, and watch the people.” He smiled, “I promise, I will be a ghost, no one will even notice me.”
“There are inquisitive people for the Americans among those who come, Barnabas. I doubt they will ignore you.” He just shrugged, smiling enigmatically.
Maria wasn’t without her own resources. She knew he was different, and old, ancient probably although she could never get anyone to admit just how old he was. She considered it a small victory she figured out how old Frank Kurns was. She nodded to herself, “No speaking?” He shook his head, “and if they ask about you?”
Barnabas pursed his lips, “I will step out, then.”
Her eyes opened in surprise, “What would your Queen say if you fail to stay for the whole meeting?”
“Nothing, she is not asking me to join this meeting. I am requesting it as the leader of the Queen’s Rangers.” He moved in his chair, “We have been chasing a group for three years and I am of the opinion they will seek to be here.”
“They are American?”
“We have been able to track their spaceships into U.S. Airspace. However, we cannot go further without risking an altercation with the American’s.”
“They can see your ships, now?” she asked. Barnabas stayed quiet and shrugged. “Ok, keep your secrets,” she continued, “I am but an old woman, what am I going to do?”
Barnabas surprised her by barking out a short laugh, “Old woman?” His eyes, she noticed, looked nice when a grin lit up his face, “I think you need to perhaps get another set of mirrors in this land, Maria.” He stood up and moved a chair from the end, near her, and put it in a corner out of the way of everyone, “With your permission, I’ll just sit here?”
Maria nodded her agreement and wondered how she was going to get work done with him just sitting there.
“Maria,” his voice, clear in her mind though she didn’t notice his mouth moving. “I’m not here … I’ve stepped out. It would be good for you to continue what you were doing before I interrupted you.”
Maria looked down at her notes and turned the page, looking over at a clock on the wall. The Americans should be here in twenty minutes. She sure hoped Barnabas made it back to her room before they arrived. He had a way of making her feel peace in such a turbulent time for her people.
FROM MICHAEL >>> Ok, 14 chapters done, 11 to go. About to write a serious ass kicking chapter or…well, 7 or 8 of them, actually.
I had a one and a half hour conversation tonight with “The Architect of the Fall”. Our very own consultant on how to make what happens in the future, plausibly true.
On a personal note, Halloween came and went, and I’m ok. The great candy massacre has been cleaned up and no Butterfingers were killed in the making of the story.
I had one of my Indie Author friends reach out to me this morning (he is in England, so later in the day to him) and let me know his 4th book in his series was just released. His name is Andrew Dobell (yes, the same Andrew Dobell who does the Bethany Anne covers. He has shot a BUNCH of new photo’s of our model, so expect new images, soon).
Unfortunately, Andrew has learned that in the Indie Publishing world, publishing velocity is your friend, and even waiting four (4) months between titles can squash the momentum you had going. So, he is working to revive The Magi Series with his new book! (Roll of drums, please…) Check it out!
Infinities’ Edge (The Magi Saga Book 4)
After the events and revelations on the Atoll, Amanda is left having to deal with the new information about her past and the new powers she has gained.
As rumours spread, she becomes the focus of attention for Magi throughout New York and beyond. Some just want to meet her, but others want to hurt her.
With all this attention, and her new found abilities, such as being able to cross into the Abyss, she starts to believe the hype, which only serves to alienate those closest to her.
Amanda must step up and fight against those who wish to hurt her and overcome her own hubris before she loses her friends, her supporters and maybe her life.
DON’T CROSS THIS LINE – Snippet 06 of …
UNEDITED
New York City, NY – USA
Tabitha ended up in a smaller enclave where three buildings came together, giving her about a twenty by thirty foot area to play in. All of the doors had rusted metal bars over them, and there was one which had an old light that was trying its damnedest to shine through the pollution covering it. She turned around as the five guys entered the alley entrance and slowed.
How typical. Slow down and enhance the terror for the woman so they could feed on it.
There was a trash dumpster on her right by a door that smelled like they made Chinese food. She eyed the men and walked towards the dumpster. With the screech of metal on concrete she pulled the dumpster away from the wall. This would ensure the lid, as she flipped it up, would stay open.
She walked back towards the center and lifted an eyebrow. A couple of the young toughs seemed to be looking sideways at their friends, but no one wanted to admit the little display of strength startled them.
“Gentleman,” Tabitha stated as they fanned out a little where the alley opened up into the closed in space, “and by gentleman, I mean assholes …” she was interrupted from additional comments.
“Now, that isn’t the proper way to respect the men around you,” the first tough said. He had on a jean jacket with a black sweatshirt underneath. His accent sounded maybe first or second generation American to her.
“What isn’t proper is that outfit! Didn’t your mother teach you how to dress?” Tabitha asked, hand on hip as she nodded towards his clothes.
A couple of the guys with him started grumbling, and the main guy in the center put his hands out, pushing down as if he was calming them down, “Now, that isn’t a way to get out of this situation safely.” Head jerk replied, “Nor is talking about my mother.”
“I didn’t talk about her. I asked her son if she taught you how to dress. If she did, and this is what you are dressing in, then you either ignored her, or you are as dumb as a rock. No one,” Tabitha acted like she was looking down at him, “Wears a white t-shirt with a black sweatshirt and an old jean jacket. Shit, didn’t those things go out of style last century?”
“Not where it matters, muffin,” he replied, raising an eyebrow to her.
“You got nothing to make a muffin rise, asshat. Jean jackets are appropriate in the South…and maybe still with metalheads. You are here in New York in the fucking winter cold. I doubt one girl gives you a second look,” Tabitha replied and looked up the walls on both sides.
“You are about to give me a second and third look with a little …what are you doing?” He looked up the walls, both sides, before coming back to rest on her, smiling, “Oh, now you figure it out? Now you figure out you have nowhere to run?”
Tabitha turned around and continued looking at the two windows she found behind her, confirming that no one was at either one. She spoke, but the guys could hear her just fine as she turned back around to them. “I’m just making sure we don’t have any witnesses, Ace.” Tabitha replied as she looked at him, “The ass kicking I’m going to give you five is only going to give me a few hours of satisfaction. But, it’s the best I have on offer at the moment so, what’s it going to be? Are you all lips and no solution?” She punctuated her comment with a pelvic thrust, “Hmm?”
“Johnnie,” the guy on her left whispered, “C’mon, this isn’t right.”
“Don’t be a pushover, Sebastian,” Johnnie retorted, “she’s as much as dared us to kick her ass. Trust me,” he took a couple of steps forward and made smooching noises towards Tabitha, “When I get done with her ass, she won’t be able to sit down for a week.”
When he finished his statement, he popped his pelvis out towards Tabitha to the catcalls from the guys behind him as they started following.
Sebastian sighed heavily. His cousin was impetuous and foolhardy. His momma said one day he was going to get Sebastian in trouble.
He prayed it wasn’t this evening as he started following the other four, noticing something that concerned him.
Did her eyes just flash red?
FROM MICHAEL >>> One day left until Halloween! … Crackers, I don’t have any candy yet :-(. On the positive side, I’ve not been EATING the candy that was supposed to be for the kids, either.
Or Have I ?
Let’s not worry about that, shall we?
DO YOU LOVE TO READ? Well, Click on this link and it will take you to 16 awesome Indie Books!
No need to choose from 1 choice when 16 are available, right? It’s like cable, all over again 😉
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LATEST 16
READERS HELPING READERS SELECTIONS!
Readers Helping Readers FOURTH Edition! Late Oct, 2016
There is always the next email which might have a book you like. – Michael
The Siren: (Laments of Angels & Dark Chemistry Book 1)
She was born to rule, but her fight for love could steal her birthright… and destroy humanity in the process.
In Kindle Unlimited.
Meg Xuemei X
Meg Xuemei X is an award-winning author. She loves dark chocolate and gazing at the stars. She lives in Southern California with her husband, a panther, and a fox.
Dreamlike
An experimental treatment uncovers an astonishing conspiracy. Could you face your darkest fears to discover the truth?
Vaughan W. Smith
Vaughan W. Smith is a fiction writer from Sydney, Australia, who explores big life questions through story.
ROUGH – A Bad Boy Romance Novel
WARNING: This book contains dark and disturbing themes, strong language and over the top sexiness
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Gabi Moore
I’m on a mission to love like I’ve never been hurt, dance like nobody’s watching and write sex scenes like my mother didn’t raise me right.
The Awakening of Evil
A tale of horror, suspense, mystery set in an alternate reality where magic and science both work hand in hand, and there are monsters in the night!
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In Kindle Unlimited.
John Pirillo
He owned his own animation business for many years, wrote for a time on such projects as Ducktales, the Original Ghostbusters and Robotech 2: The Sentinels.
Born a Witch… Drafted by the FBI! (The Federal Witch Book 0)
She needs a teacher and none of the Witch Schools will take her. How about a career in law enforcement? The FBI needs serious help in catching law breaking Paranormals. It’s a match made in heaven or is it in Hell?
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In Kindle Unlimited.
T S Paul
Science Fiction has always been my passion. Now I can bring my love of the genre to more readers and share the stories from inside my Head.
Demon Hunter (The Collegium Book 1)
Loyalties are never simple and new love never easy. When demons are unleashed, Fay tracks the evil back to the Collegium, and now all hell will break loose because Fay fights for the innocent, and Steve will protect what is his.
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Jenny Schwartz
Shifters and dragons, magic and chaos, Jenny’s never quite sure where her writing day is going to take her, but she knows it’ll be a thrill-ride!
A Warden Born: The Warden Saga Book 1
As strangers in a new land, two brothers, Finn and Garm, are fortunate to be mentored by an old warden. Becoming a warden himself, Finn must uphold the king’s law, whatever the cost
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Paul Summerhayes
An Australian author, book reader, husband and father who loves to write sci-fi, fantasy, western, ghost and YA stories. He also writes professionally for the gaming industry.
Worlds Away: Sci-fi Alien Romance (Alpha Alien Abduction Tale Book 1)
The choice was simple, Paris could be a slave on the V’Zenian home world, or she could become Venay’s mate and provide him with the offspring his people so desperately needed!
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In Kindle Unlimited.
J.L. Hendricks
She is very proud to have served in the US Army before she went to college. She decided to finally write, and finish a book, this year because of a few friends who encouraged her to do so.
Curse (Wexkia trilogy Book 1)
Nell’s seemingly simple existence is turned upside down when her father reveals a stunning secret: The seventeen-year-old isn’t human, but is a product of two warring alien species.
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Dale Furse
She has written novels, short stories, plays, songs and poems for over thirty years and she still enjoys her journeys to unknown places, meeting unheard-of peoples.
When Lightning Strikes (Lightning Series Book 1)
Julie Marin has it all: supportive parents, incredible talent, and the almost-realized dream of becoming a professional dancer. When she’s attacked leaving practice one night, her seeming perfection comes crashing down.
Kathleen Rovner
I write under a pen name due to another professional career. Everyone has a secret in their life, mine is writing. So it isn’t surprising that a big theme in all my books is secrets.
In the wake of the Apocalypse, veteran terra-dracon demonhunter Karian Vanador understands that the vigilance of her Order means there is rarely any time to rest. Even with a paragon of evil cast down, it isn’t long before another rears its head, and for Kari, the War never ends.
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Joe Jackson
An avid fan of fantasy, Joe tries to combine shades of some of his favorite authors into his own world. The result is a world of rich descriptions, complex politics, and heart-racing combat.
Kalla
Follow Kalla through the deep alcoves of the Abyss Experimentation Labs to the forests of the renegade Myst as Kalla learns that not every battle can be won and some victories come with a dire price.
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Amber Morant
Outside of writing, Amber spends her time reading, playing video games, and fazing out into her created worlds.
Broken Angel Series Box Set (Books 1 – 3)
Get lost in this sweeping fallen angel saga filled with intoxicating romance and pulse-pounding suspense.
L G Castillo
Her stories feature dramatic, life-changing events interspersed with a good dose of humor, feisty heroines, and the swoon-worthy men who love them.
Ad Astra (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 1)
Among the relics found is the ruin of an ancient starship, with an engine capable of carrying humanity to the stars – or becoming the golden apple that starts a war no one can win.
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Kevin McLaughlin
When not practicing hobbies such as sailing, constructing medieval armor, and swinging swords at his friends, Kevin McLaughlin can usually be found in his home near Boston.
Blood Hound: An Alexi Sokolsky Supernatural Thriller
My name is Alexi Sokolsky: blood mage, occult scholar, hired killer… and hapless pawn in the great game between Everything and the NO-thing trying to destroy it.
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In Kindle Unlimited.
James Osiris Baldwin
Writes gritty LGBT-inclusive, dark fantasy and science fiction.
The Last of the Ageless: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure
No one survived the apocalypse unscathed—human or alien …but in the shadows, a new threat rises—one that could end what little remains of civilization: The Last of the Ageless.
Traci Loudin
I attained my Bachelor of Arts with dual majors in both Writing and Spanish from the University of Tampa, where I took the Writing Science Fiction course as many times as they’d let me.
Paladin (Betrayed by Faith Book 1)
True demons are sighted for the first time in centuries. Is there anyone to protect humanity?
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Paul C. Middleton
Unfortunately Mr. Middleton hasn’t shared any information with us at this time.
Fallen Light
There are many legends in the Empire: the Chainless, the Regenerate, the Barbarians. The Lady. The Raven. The Whispering One.
They’re all coming for Mordinion.
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In Kindle Unlimited.
Benjamin A. Sorensen
Unfortunately Mr. Sorensen hasn’t shared any information with us at this time.