Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Release Blitz: Every Minute by @CJBurright #contemporaryromance #romance #releaseday #newrelease #giveaway #excerpt #nowlive




Book 1 of Music, Love and Other Miseries
Contemporary Romance
Date Published:  12/31/19
Publisher:  Totally Bound Publishing

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Introverted teacher versus unstoppable violinist. She wants to be alone. He wants her heart. Let the games begin…

After the unexpected death of her musician brother, third-grade teacher Adara buries her grief, avoids all music and vows to exist without attachments. Social solitude works perfectly…until she’s forced to share her classroom with the new music mentor, a man who rattles her carefully constructed cage and sparks emotions she prefers to keep chained.

Always up for a challenge, violinist Garret is a master of patience and persistence, and the minute he meets Adara, he knows what he wants. Her sharp humor and haunted eyes inspire him in a way he’s never felt before. He makes it his mission to chip through her shields and breathe her back to life—no matter how hard she resists.

Even as Adara struggles to keep Garret at a distance with each clash of wills, each smile he coaxes, each kiss he steals, her resistance crumbles. But when the past catches up with them both, they will discover that some promises are meant to be broken…and others are worth risking everything for.



Excerpt

Garret’s full, generous mouth was too close to hers, making her traitorous lips tingle. The stubble on his lean jaw called to her fingers, and she fisted her hands to keep them under control. She’d never wanted to touch something so badly. Not something—him. Garret. But giving in would unlace the cocoon she’d kept so carefully constructed since Joey.

Without warning, he tucked her hair behind her ear. His callused fingertips trailed her jaw and her mouth went dry. Gently, he cupped her chin. “You feel nothing now?”

“Nothing.” Her voice surrendered to him first, nothing more than a breathless whisper. He had to feel her thundering heart vibrate through his fingers.

His eyes flashed, dark and daring. She should duck under his arm and run like snarling hell hounds were chasing her, but her willpower snuffed out. As if sensing her incapacity, he pressed his lips beneath her ear. Her uncooperative eyelids fluttered, the next defense to fail. His stubble scraped her cheek, and that simple hint of rough on smooth shot flames into every cold spot. His breath brushed her ear. “Now?”

His low voice nibbled along every nerve. She couldn’t answer. She wanted to slide her fingers over his jaw then tangle them in his too-long hair, to press against him and fit her body into his until all her broken pieces were forged in his heat and remade. She wanted his arms around her, his mouth on hers and nothing between them but skin.

He eased back and held her gaze. “Nothing?”

The overload of sensations, the longing and hiding and defending all blended into an Adara bomb. If she didn’t do something, she’d erupt. With trembling fingers, she caressed his jaw. The sensation was everything she’d hoped for, bristly and rough, unexpectedly intimate.

Garret sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. When his lashes lifted, his eyes gleamed like obsidian fire. Then his mouth was on hers. He pressed his hard, strong body into hers, trapping her fully against the wall.


About the Author
C.J Burright is a native Oregonian and refuses to leave. A member of Romance Writers of America and the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal special interest chapter, while she has worked for years in a law office, she chooses to avoid writing legal thrillers (for now) and instead invades the world of paranormal romance, fantasy, and contemporary romance. C.J. also has her 4th Dan Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and believes a story isn’t complete without at least one fight scene. Her meager spare time is spent working out, refueling with mochas, gardening, gorging on Assassin’s Creed, and rooting on the Seattle Mariners…always with music. She shares life with her husband, daughter, and a devoted cat herd.


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RABT Book Tours & PR

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Tour Kick Off: Steel Heart by RJ Blain #blogtour #giveaway #nowontour #urbanfantasy #fantasy #paranormal @SneakyBookLady



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Jesse Alexander, #2
Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
Publisher: Pen & Page Publishing
Date Published: December 25, 2019

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With the Hope Diamond locked around her throat, Jesse Alexander finds herself in the unfortunate position of being a walking national treasure. With the Starfall stone poised to pulse and flood the world with more of its magic, she must figure out how to remove it before she becomes its pawn yet again.

Unfortunately, the stone has a mind—and plans—of its own. Add in a determined tiger, a wolf out for revenge, and an ultimatum to find her clan's missing Starfall stone, and it will take all of Jesse's wit and cunning to survive with her life—and her heart—intact.




RJ Blain suffers from a Moleskine journal obsession, a pen fixation, and a terrible tendency to pun without warning.

In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until satisfied.


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December 26 - Valerie Ullmer - Excerpt
December 26 - Jazzy's Book Reviews - Spotlight
December 27 - Acme Teen Books - Review
December 27 - Nana's Book Reviews - Spotlight
December 28 - Nesie's Place - Excerpt
December 28 - Stephanie's Book Reviews - Spotlight
December 30 - Just Books - Excerpt
December 30 - Tea Time and Books - Spotlight
December 31 - Java John Z's - Guest Post
December 31 - Silver Dagger Scriptorium - Spotlight
 January 1 - The Avid Reader - Interview
 January 2 - The Bookworm Lodge - Spotlight
 January 2 - Maggie Mae Blogs - Review
 January 3 - Dina Rae Writes Stuff - Spotlight
 January 3 - Cuzin Logic - Excerpt
 January 4 - Book Junkiez - Spotlight
 January 6 - Texas Book Nook - Review
 January 6 - Momma Says to Read or Not to Read - Spotlight
 January 7 - A Life Through Books - Interview
 January 7 - Beach Bound Books - Spotlight
 January 8 - Truly Trendy - Review
 January 8 - Sylv.net - Spotlight
 January 9 - Momma and Her Stories - Excerpt
 January 9 - Crossroads Reviews - Spotlight
 January 10 - Alyssa Faye's Blog - Interview
 January 10 - Stephanie's Life of Determination - Spotlight
 January 13 - Eileen Troemel - Spotlight
 January 13 - My Reading Addiction - Interview
 January 14 - On a Reading Bender - Review
 January 14 - Drops of Ink - Spotlight
 January 15 - Novel News Network - Excerpt
 January 16 - The Indie Express - Review
 January 16 - Mythical Books - Excerpt
 January 17 - Writer and Authors -  Review
 January 17 - Book Reviews by Virginia Lee - Spotlight
MORE DATES COMING SOON...
 January 24 - RABT Reviews - Wrap Up


RABT Book Tours & PR

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Book Blitz: Alexandria by BDL #promo #excerpt #inspirational #political #fiction @AuthorBdl


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Inspirational Political Fiction
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing

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Her biggest victory came at the finish line, but her greatest triumph was the End Game. Ruth is a legendary runner of the late twenty-first century whose biography inspires a dynamic political rebellion in a dystopic Judeo-Christophobic America. Her incredible World Class Life Story is paralleled by a quest to salvage her beloved nation from annihilation. But, she must first find a way to embolden a new generation of patriots to make a stand.

Alexandria ambitiously explores what happens in this type of society. Will this be the end of America? And freedom? Are you ready to see how this provocative epic tale unfolds? So get set. Get ready. And gear up for the spellbinding dramatic “End Game”.



Praise for Alexandria: World Class Life Story

"Alexandria: World Class Life Story by BDL is a narrative with powerful religious and political themes and a conflict that is phenomenal. . .In this novel, the author makes a powerful prophecy: the US might be headed for doom if it continues to drift away from the religious convictions of its founding fathers." -Divine Zape-Readers' Favorite - 5 Stars

"The prose is elegant, the voice upbeat, and the author's unique way with words is one of the interesting things that make the narrative very enjoyable.  Alexandria: World Class Life Story is an inspiring story beautifully told, purpose-driven, and with a message that addresses the ills of contemporary American society." -Romuald Dzemo-Readers' Favorite - 5 Stars

"Author BDL writes well on the over-arching themes of the tale, from political discussions to riots, resistance and the power of celebrity as an influence in today's world. . . Overall, Alexandria: World Class Life Story is a challenging but rewarding political read." -K.C. Finn-Readers' Favorite - 5 Stars




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Excerpt

Chapter 1—Section: The Spring of Grace

THE YEAR 2156, A YEAR Ruth never imagined she’d ever see. One of realizing the sixth year of her centenarian status. The year she was to reach her 106th birthday and accordingly had heard from the Lord in recent months regarding the end of her life. She knew that she didn’t have many years left and as a special favor, he’d given her the heads up to make preparations. A final “get your house in order” sort of deal. After much prayer and careful deliberation by Ruth, God revealed that he was going to grant her requests to see her next grandbaby, who was expected by her great-grandson, Quin, and his wife, Anna Winkler. In line with that promise, prayer also revealed something else just as important to Ruth—she needed to spend her last years writing her official biography. In all her years, it was definitely an anomaly to have not done so by then. . . So being led to write about her life changed something that’s normally done for self-memorialization into an ordained task that was steeped in the necessity for passing down legacy and inheritance to the following generations. A directive for reasons not yet fully disclosed to Ruth initially but would undoubtedly fit into a master . . . agenda.

Being alive for over a century amounted to a lot of life lessons learned over the years. While Ruth didn’t comprehend every detail of those plans for writing her life story, she discerned that it may not have had anything at all to do with her. But instead maybe everything to do with something or someone else. Or maybe even perhaps more far reaching than any single individual. And that’s exactly what occurred to her a few days prior as she sat down for breakfast one morning. While watching the news, there was an endless cycle of headlines that framed the political climate of the nation and the rest of the world . . .

POTUS Daniel Stuart led off the news on that morning as he embarked upon a six-continent tour . . . in order to mark his second term in office. One would think that he must’ve been a quite popular president to be reelected and that certainly had a ring of truth to it. But the question waged on as to whom was he popular with? Well in short order, not with those from the Jewish-Christian heritage. For POTUS Stuart wasted no time in fulfilling campaign promises which made many of his supporters very happy. No doubt . . . he was the golden boy to those groups of American citizens and, apparently, the majority as well because again he was elected to the highest office twice.

So one could imagine how happy the masses were when he banned. . .

. . . According to the EO, those policies were a means of safeguarding non-believing employees as a protected class under federal EEOC laws (Employer Equal Opportunity Commission) and furthermore prevented overall hostile working environments for all personnel employed, appointed, and elected into the federal service. Just as well, those standards were also adopted by many private employers and such polices were implemented by them to uphold those practices locally. But ironically this standard didn’t seem to apply to . . . There were even incidents of people being fired for saying “bless you” to sneezing co-workers. However, to say “curse you” instead was permissible as revealed in a court transcript where the issue was litigated. According to the legal scholars, the latter had absolutely no religious connotation to it unlike the former. Needless to say, the defendant’s doom was sealed by a credible witness who observed the encounter and attested to the facts under oath. As a result, the defendant’s removal was upheld and was required to pay punitive damages and court costs.

Such laws were extremely technical in structure. So much so that those in opposition felt the ever-tightening noose of government intrusion upon individual freedoms and thereby found them overburdening and overreaching. But unfortunately, those in that particular group were a small minority as compared to the majority . . . citizens. For this reason, violations were punishable by administrative, civil, and sometimes criminal sanctions such as job removal, punitive fines, and prosecution respectively. The White House Christmas Tree was done away with and he successfully led the charge to eliminate God from The Pledge of Allegiance. At his inauguration POTUS Stuart used the constitution of a non-religious freedom organization when sworn in instead of the Bible, Torah, or other similar book regarded as holy and sacred. And though initiated by previous administrations, this president was believed to play a key role in the destabilization of American . . .

Certainly, Ruth was not a fan of POTUS Stuart.

*Her greatest victory wasn’t at the finish line, it was way more important. One icon. One purpose. A contribution to the ultimate fate of her beloved nation. Read more of Alexandria: World Class Life Story.


About the Author

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BDL is a proud American from the Southeast, who wrote this story to finally have a say. To create and control the outcome of some grand narrative. BDL had a blast writing this epic story and hopes that you will find it entertaining.


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RABT Book Tours & PR

Monday, December 23, 2019

Book Blitz: Termination Shock by Gillian Andrews #promo #scifi #spaceopera #excerpt


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Book One of Interstellar Enforcement Agency
Space Opera (Scifi)
Date Published: First of December 2019

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In a galactic meltdown that threatens spacetime itself, the universe needs superheroes.  On offer:  a Spacelander with a slight attitude, an irritating protégée who talks back and vast alien beings who may span the cosmos but who have quite a problem communicating with other species.



The learning curve might be too steep.

Ryler Mallivan’s comfortable life as an upstanding young freighter captain has just imploded.  Avaraks are storming the training ship he is on and the bullets being fired are not blanks.  Interstellar war has broken out and unless he moves fast they will all be as stone dead as the instructor lying at his feet.

But this is one conflict they can never escape. The cause of the trouble is far closer than they know and will bring Mallivan and his ragbag fledgling crew under ferocious attack from all sides.

They are going to need all their wits about them if they are to stay alive. And they have to, because there is nobody else to save all their worlds from a doomsday weapon which is set to obliterate the entire cosmos.

Just how much can one lone spaceship do?




 Excerpt

 Chapter 1


Sammy was glowering and Mel was looking down at the decking. Neither of them thought I knew how to lead a squad. They were right, but I wasn’t about to tell them so.

 Sammy cleared his throat with a sort of huffing sound. “They’ll send someone else, Rye,” he told me, trying to seem helpful and not denigrating, something he could use some practice at.

 I gestured with my M596 long barrel, making a huge effort not to sigh. “Just aim at the Avaraks, Sammy. Let’s get the job done.” I didn’t have to say the same to Bull Cunningham. He was in his element, eyes shining, carelessly notching up accurate shots at the enemy. Despite being a Terran Flatlander, he was one of those souls born to be a marine. He hadn’t got there yet, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t take him too long. If I hadn’t had two weeks seniority on him he would have been leading this team now. He would probably have done it better.

 For a moment I considered handing the job over to him, but the small Tyzaran girl clutching at my uniform made me focus. She hadn’t been in our remit, but having found her huddled shaking in a doorway, I knew I had to try to save her. There was no way she should have been here. All the visiting Tyzaran dignitaries had been hastily evacuated twelve hours earlier. She had just leapfrogged to my top priority.

 The sounds of inter-vessel torpedoes hammering old Commorancy continued. The ancient hull plating was shivering with transformed kinetic energy, making it hard to concentrate.

 I kicked Wolseley’s legs out of the way. No man left behind, I thought fiercely. Yeah. Like that had worked out well. Our intrepid leader wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. He was missing most of his torso. I couldn’t have taken the remaining bits of him with us, even if I had wanted to.

 Major Wolseley hadn’t thought much of my insistent suggestion to fall back and regroup. He was old school. Gung-ho and give your all for the ship; what do you think we train you for, and so on. Rewards in heaven, I supposed. I’m a Spacelander too, but I didn’t believe in all that claptrap. He should be proving or disproving it pretty soon, I calculated. He must be hammering at the pearly gates about now. I hoped he found his misplaced stubborn heroism worth it.

 Unfortunately his rigid sticking to the rules had now left those of us remaining in combat with little choice. We could die or we could fight. Half the Avarak intruders had taken advantage of the delay to advance from the port side, trapping us in the corridor between the main engine room and the EM core, and we sure as fitz weren’t going to be retreating anywhere now.

 As for Captain Tevis … I didn’t think we would be seeing him anytime soon in this corridor. Not that I knew him. I knew of him. He’d been responsible for the death of one of my uncles. His specialty was keeping his own head down and persuading others not to. The captain would have more pressing work somewhere else on the ship. Somewhere more protected, my subconscious snarked. I tried not to think about it. Like it or not, I was now the de facto head of this decimated squad. I had better things to do than wonder where Commorancy’s just-give-me-my-decoration captain had got to.

 Mel’s eyes were sidling towards Sammy. She was wondering whether to mutiny or not.

 I cocked the firing mechanism and pointed my gun at her. She rolled her eyes, but at least that brought them back in my direction. She pushed the barrel of her own M487 XRS against her shoulder and squinted down the corridor at the invaders. The sound of her firing was just one more boom amongst the juddering metal which screeched its demise. If we didn’t clear this position soon we were lost. Tears were streaking down her cheeks. I wasn’t sure if they were of rage or fright. It didn’t matter. All she had to do was keep firing. If she didn’t I might shoot her myself.

 I turned to cover our rear. Poor old Commorancy was groaning like a collapsing whale. This ship wasn’t going to last much longer.

 A computer voice suddenly crackled into life over the ship’s loudspeaker system. “Abandon ship. Abandon ship. This is not a drill. Proceed to your nearest exit port and board the shuttles in an orderly fashion.”

 Thanks a lot. Would if we could. I guess the announcement was one step better than ‘we are about to abandon ship leaving the rest of you to die in this old bucket’, which is what our esteemed captain really meant.

 Mel wavered. My back was jammed up against hers. I could feel her gun go quiet as she processed the information. A bullet hit Sammy, who collapsed on the floor.

 I snarled backwards at her. “Keep firing, damn it! Don’t you even think about taking your finger off that trigger!”

 I felt, rather than heard, the gasp of outrage, but my words were effective. She started to return fire again. I squashed the Tyzaran girl between me and Bull. She was half our size. At least we could act as human shields for her. She was cringing at the sounds and the flashes of gunfire, her crest sticking out rigidly from her scalp in panic.

 I tugged at Sammy’s shoulder lapels, dragging and pushing him slightly to one side, where a small doorway gave him a little better cover. I couldn’t spare the time to look at him. I just kept returning their fire. The shuttles in the stern cargo hold might as well have been ten kilometers away. We were not going to get there in time. I was pretty sure our part in this newly born war was just about over. I was pretty sure our part in life was just about over.



About the Author

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Gillian Andrews is also the author of the award-winning Ammonite Galaxy series, and Kelfor, the Orthomancers.  She is English but lives in Spain, and is passionate about Cosmology.  She likes to write upbeat space opera with strong protagonists and complex aliens.

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RABT Book Tours & PR

Book Blitz: Broken Exit by K.N. Palmer #promo #thriller


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Thriller
Publisher: Grosvenor House Publishing

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Terrorists have targeted the Prime Minister in a Post BREXIT Britain and Barnaby Aitken finds himself on the run, rescued from certain death by a father out with his son for the day.

As the security services mount a rescue, the terrorists are always one step ahead.

Will the PM see out the night or can MI5 discover who is behind the plot and get to him in time?

An explosive and enthralling ride through political divides and the desire to stay alive.



About the Author

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K.N. Palmer is a self-published author based in England. His first book BRoken EXIT is a finalist in the 'First Novel' category of the 2019 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Competition.


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RABT Book Tours & PR

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Release Blitz: Derek Hyde Knows Spooky When He Sees It by E. Michael Lunsford #promo #releaseday #newrelease #middlegrade #paranormal #giveaway @INtensePub @lunsfordmichael




Derek Hyde Series, Book 1
Middle-Grade Paranormal
Date Published: 12-21-2019
Publisher: INtense Publications LLC

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Twelve-year-old Derek Hyde isn’t thrilled that the spookiest old mansion in town is about to become the Hyde Funeral Home & Used Coffin Outlet. Especially since he has to live there with his mortician parents, Jack and Formalda.

Of course, being driven in the family hearse to his first day at middle school doesn’t exactly add whipped cream to his broccoli.

As if things couldn't get more horrific, an evil classmate named Nussbaum attacks him in the cafeteria with a plate of beef stroganoff. Seems this kid used to love living in the old mansion himself, but got yanked out after accidentally blowing up his own mom and dad. With his chemistry set. Now his dead parents are stuck as ghosts and Nussbaum is a foster kid stuck on revenge, vowing to get even with Derek’s family for taking over his haunted home.

Derek desperately craves a nice place to live, but a couple of minor details stand in his way—just some blood-curdling apparitions that scare the pants off him and a classmate bent on landing him in his parents’ embalming room. As a client.


About the Author



E. Michael Lunsford is the author of an award-winning play, Scary, Scary Night, and a book of wacky kid’s poems, Sometimes I Get My Shoes on Backwards, winner of the Readers’ Favorite International Book Award. His debut novel is the first of the funny Derek Hyde series of spooky middle grade books published by INtense Publications. Michael is also a musician, composer, inventor, entrepreneur and chief cook & bottle washer who works and lives with his wife and love of his life in San Carlos, California.


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RABT Book Tours & PR

Book Blitz: Pandora's Eyes by James M. Corkill #promo #scifi @Jamesmcorkill




Alex Cave Series, Book 5
Science Fiction

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The color of your eyes will determine if you live or die!

When an alien spacecraft is discovered under the ice in Greenland, geophysicist Alex Cave is called in to investigate and makes contact with the artificial intelligence named Pandora, who claims ownership of our world for her genetically superior race of humans.




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Other Books in the Alex Cave Sci-fi Series:





Dead Energy
The Alex Cave Series, Book 1

Oil starts to disappear around the world, and the only clue is a dollar-size crystal found in the hold of an empty oil tanker.

Alex Cave quit the CIA for a less stressful life as a geophysics instructor. At least, that was his plan.

While on vacation sailing the waters of the Puget Sound, Alex sees a brilliant flash of neon blue light from an oil tanker and changes course to help. He discovers there was no explosion, no one on board, and the oil has mysteriously vanished without a trace. The bodies of the missing crew are found in the snow on Mount Baker, but there are no footprints leading in or out of the area.

Oil supplies begin to vanish without a trace and society starts to crumble.






Cold Energy
The Alex Cave Series, Book 2

Sudden freezing temperatures threaten a catastrophe that will affect the entire world!

Geophysicist Alex Cave is called in to investigate the situation. He leads a small group of volunteers on the high-tech research vessel named Mystic in a desperate attempt to remedy the situation before civilization faces ecological disaster, but some of the crew have their own agenda.






Red Energy
The Alex Cave Series. Book 3

Geophysicist Alex Cave discovers alien technology on one of the Aleutian Islands!

Before he can take device to a safe location, it’s stolen and taken to COBRA, a top-secret research facility south of Yellowstone National Park. The scientist in charge has no idea what she’s dealing with and things go horribly wrong.

Alex goes back in time to stop the super-eruption, but starts a chain of events with far worse consequences for his new love and her little girl.





Gravity
The Alex Cave Series, Book 4

The moon suddenly moves two-thousand-miles closer to Earth!

The tidal affect is destroying shorelines around the world, and Geophysicist Alex Cave is asked to find the reason. He leads his team on a harrowing journey from Iceland to Nevada, but they don’t realize they are being followed by Janice Sloan, a ruthless woman dealing in stolen technology.

Sloan finds what Alex is seeking, and takes it to a private research complex in the Nevada desert belonging to billionaire scientist John Essex, who is fanatical about conquering outer space and mining the moon. When she turns it on, satellites start falling from the sky and the International Space Station is pulled from orbit.










Excerpt

Chapter 1


GROOM LAKE, NEVADA:

Alex Cave stares out the window of his sparsely furnished room in the barracks. Sagebrush covered desert and low mountains stretch away in all directions. The heat causes the air to shimmer, as he watches the CIA’s latest experimental stealth drone race down the runway and climb into the sky.

He grins, knowing that even the government’s most clandestine service is unaware of the alien spacecraft in Hangar 5. Since he discovered it in a dormant volcano of one of the Aleutian Islands, his life hasn’t been the same. At least things have settled down for now, he thinks.

His phone rings and he recognizes the image of a man with curly gray hair, Doctor Henry Heinz, his good friend and boss here at the base. “Hey, Doc.”

“I think you had better come down here right away,” he says with a slight German accent.

“I’ll be right there.”

He hurries from the room, down the hall to the stairs, and moments later, steps into his friend’s office. “What’s going on?”

Henry looks up at the tall man with wavy-black hair and dark blue eyes. “I have recently received a copy of a recording from the International Space Station. It was taken yesterday afternoon, shortly after the launch of a new satellite called the SV1, for Space Vacuum One. I looked through their permits, and they claim it is an efficient way to collect the space debris currently in orbit.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

When Alex moves around to see the image on the monitor, his eyes go wide as he stares at the strange looking contraption as seen from the ISS. A ten-foot-long, orange octagonal cylinder with solar panels is floating among the stars, but what gets his attention is the twenty-foot-long, pewter-colored torpedo protruding from the center. “I see why you called me down here.”

“That looks like one of your devices, Alex.”

“I think you’re correct. The other three should already be here.”

Alex thinks about his best friend, Okana, who is searching for the last alien device in the Bering Sea. He’s the engineer and submarine driver onboard the high-tech research ship, Mystic. He and Okana were special agents and partners in the CIA, and his best friend got him out of Russia in one piece after his wife’s murder. Like him, Okana retired from the CIA and is now working for millionaire Mike Tanner, a private researcher, and owner of the Mystic.

Henry enters a command into his computer. “The inventory shows we have three of them. One from the Pacific Ocean, one from the island, and one from the spacecraft in Hangar 5. According to this, they arrived nine months ago.”

Alex stands. “Let’s go, Doc. I need to see for myself.”

He leads Henry to the elevator, and once inside, waits for him to insert his key into the control panel.

Henry presses a button and feels lighter as the car descends below the facility. “Why would someone want to put one in space? We do not even know what they do.”

“Uh, that’s not exactly true, Doc. I know they’re capable of great destruction.”

The door opens, and Alex hurries down the hallway. “The last door on the right, correct?”

Henry doesn’t answer as he tries to keep up.

Alex stops in front of a large steel door and waits while Henry enters a code and stares into the retina scanner. When he hears the click of the lock, he shoves the door open, enters the room, and slides to a stop. There’s only one of the twenty-foot-long cylinders in the room. He spins back to Henry. “Damn! Let’s get back and see if we can find out how that company managed to get their hands on them.”



***



EASTERN WASHINGTON. SV1 CONTROL CENTER:

Paul Carter, the day shift supervisor, stands behind a young man and a woman sitting in front of the computer monitors. He looks up at the two large televisions mounted to the wall. One shows live images from SV1’s on board cameras. The other screen shows the live video from the space station, about two-miles away. He places his hand on the man’s shoulder. “All right, Scott. Let’s see what she can do.”

Teresa Tylor, the night shift supervisor, turns her head to look up at Paul. “So you’ve decided the SV1 has a sex?”

“Hey, I’m from the old school, remember? All right. See what it can do.” He looks down at Teresa. “Are you happy now?”

She grins. “Yes, thank you.” She turns to Scott Brackenbury, one of the engineers on the SV-1 project. “Ready when you are. Let’s fire it up.”

Scott feels his heart rate increase. “Thrusters on standby. Sending command now.”

Carter stares intently at the images from the cameras, but doesn’t see anything happening. A moment later, the small end of a spinning funnel-shaped distortion appears off the pointed end of the SV1. When he looks at the image from the space station, the distortion looks like a tornado in space. “Good work, people. We have a stabile attraction cone. The debris we’ve selected for the test is within a two-thousand-foot radius of the field. Let’s start with the harmonic resonance frequency to attract carbon atoms.”

Scott enters the command into his computer. “All set.”

Teresa studies the data on her monitor. “Verified.” She presses a button. “It’s on.”

Carter stares at the wide-angle image from one of the SV1 cameras on the wall monitor. He notices a flash of reflected light, and smiles when a slowly rotating silver object enters the cone. “That looks like some kind of wrench.”

Scott looks up from his monitor. “The field is holding. We’ve caught it!”

Teresa captures a still image of the wrench and does a recognition comparison. “It’s one of the tools used by the Hubble telescope repair team. It’s been floating around up there for several years.”

Carter’s eyebrows bunch together in thought. “I wonder how it ended up in the debris cloud created by China destroying one of their satellites.”

Scott looks over at Teresa and up to Paul. “We’re attracting more material. It’s working. We should have this section cleared in a few hours.”

Scott sits up when he hears a soft beeping from the computer speaker. He types in a command to mark that point in the recording, while he tries to find the cause of the alarm. It appears to be a second resonate frequency, oscillating 180-degrees out from the one in use by SV1. A few moments later, it’s gone. That was strange.



***



NORDIC VOLCANOLOGICAL CENTER. REYKJAVIK, ICELAND: NORDVULK.

Estelle Burkhart studies the flashing warning light on the monitor. It shows a large geologic disturbance two-hundred-miles north of the Beauford Glacier. “This cannot be right”, she whispers with a strong Icelandic accent.

She hurries from her lab down the hallway to the Director’s office and taps on the open door. “Do you have a minute?”

Jeffery Sliven indicates for her to sit down. “Of course.”

Estelle sits in the chair across the desk. “We had a significant event sixty-miles north of us in the Atlantic Rift. The odd part is that it was only a surface disturbance, about one-hundred meters below the crust.”

“That is strange. Is there any other indication of unusual volcanic activity?”

“Not that I can tell. It lasted thirty-seven seconds and stopped.”

“All right. Let’s send a ship to check the area for anything unusual. Who do we have available?”

“I think Terry and his people are doing research not too far from that area.”

“All right. I’ll have him stop and check it out before he heads back.”

Estelle stands. “Hopefully it is not a prelude to a new volcano forming above that section of the rift.”



***



ALIEN SPACECRAFT. SOMEWHERE INSIDE THE POLAR ICE SHEET:

Seth feels a soft breeze across his face when he gasps for air. A sharp pain from unused muscles erupts in his chest, easing slightly with each shallow breath. Even the muscles in his eyelids feel stiff as they slowly open, his irises adjusting to the artificial red light inside the narrow capsule. It takes a few tries to get his vocal cords working. “Pandora?”

“I am online, Captain.” A female computer voice answers through his neural implant.

“Are the surface conditions habitable again?”

“Negative.”

“Then why did you take me out of stasis?”

“I detected an object in orbit with similar technology as our own, and I have been trying to interface with its operating system. The signal is sporadic and it’s urgent we make contact. I initiated override protocols and brought the ship to the surface.”

Seth almost sits up. “That means our people have returned. Open this stasis chamber and let me out. We need to make contact with them.”

“The device appears to be malfunctioning. This indicates there is no one to correct the problem. “

“I don’t care. Open this chamber.”

He feels his platform moving and the red light blinks off. “Bring main lighting up in seven angstrom increments. How long has it been?”

“You have been in stasis for one-hundred and twenty million years.”

Seth is stunned and stares up at the elevated roof of the control room. His mouth opens, but he doesn’t know what to say. He has never heard of anyone being in stasis for such an extended period of time. “Are the rest of the stasis chambers intact?”

“Yes, Captain.”

Shadows slowly grow inside the main control room as the lights come on. With great effort, he manages to sit up on the slender bed, and slowly stands up. He grabs the open door for the chamber when a rush of vertigo threatens his balance. Once everything stops swirling, he eases his way along one wall to a beverage dispenser, filling a small cup with water and draining it in two gulps. He fills it with green liquid containing electrolytes and drinks more slowly.

He looks around the interior of the forty-foot circular room, then stares up at the white ceiling. “Pandora? Activate transparency.”

Blue-white ice suddenly appears to be resting on top of the spaceship, filling the room with pale translucent light from the surface. “What are the outside conditions?”

“The atmosphere contains exceedingly high levels of toxic gases. Surface conditions indicate this planet is undergoing an ice age. There is no nourishment available at this location.”

Seth sits down in front of the control console and visually checks Pandora’s status. She is correct. He looks up at the ice, and releases a deep sigh of frustration. The ice age could last for thousands of years. “Great. You woke me up, but we can’t wake everyone else up and start over. Any recommendations for this situation?”

“Return to your stasis chamber until this location is habitable.”

He eases his way back onto the narrow bed. “Very well. Close the chamber.”

“Closing chamber.”


About the Author



Bestselling and award-winning author James M. Corkill, is a Veteran, and retired Federal Firefighter from Washington State, USA. He was an electronic technician and studied mechanical engineering in his spare time before eventually becoming a firefighter for 32-years and retiring. He began writing in 1997, and was fortunate to meet the famous horror writer Hugh B. Cave, who became his mentor. He now lives in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina.

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