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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Book Review of Equinox~ The Second Book of Ascension

Book Review of Equinox
     The Second Book of Ascension
             Sponsored by Enchanted Book Tours



Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

Book blurbs and covers

Equinox – The Second Book of Ascension
Can you see the story breathing?
The Keep
The most beautiful city on the great Mountain
The pinnacle of Maelir culture
The home of the Inner Sanctum
The place where secrets hide

The fate of the Mountain hangs in balance at the time of Equinox, and even the Keep can no longer remain untouched. The Maelir are desperate to defend it, the Faemir to demolish it, the windriders to claim it. But unknown to them all, a dark force has already emerged from the chaos to seize power.
As Atreu and Verlinden strive to decipher the power of the Talisman that has defined Atreu’s Ascent, Teyth and Valkyra are locked in a desperate battle that neither of them can win. At a time when darkness and light are in perfect equilibrium, when Maelir and Faemir must find a way to break the deadlock and avoid annihilation, the world’s fate lies in the Book of Ascension.

Eclipse – The Lost Book of Ascension
Can you see the story breathing?
What happens if after the winter solstice, the days keep getting shorter?
And shorter?
Until there is an eternal night?
What happens as the darkness grows?
And the creatures of dusk take control of the Mountain?
And the quest for the third Book is the only hope?
The Mountain is in its death throes as the Nazir send their wraiths to finish what the dusk-rats and grale had begun. Soon there will be no daylight to protect the Maelir and Faemir, and with each twilight there are fewer places to hide. Will the Mountain finally collapse under its own instability or will Atreu and Verlinden’s descent find the words of salvation in the Lost Book of Ascension?


Zenith – The First Book of Ascension
Can you see the story breathing?
Imagine
A mountain so great it takes a year to travel from base to summit
A sun so powerful it drives you into madness if you look at it
An ascent so vital it determines the fate of the world
A summit so precious it holds the key to the divine
The world of the great Mountain is unstable. Giant pillars erupt from the surface and yawning chasms form unpredictably underfoot. Since the Maelir first stood on its slopes in the distant past, they have sought to still its anger and control its power. Each year, twin brothers are chosen to make a perilous journey to the summit. If they survive they will be witness to Zenith, and the secrets will be revealed to them.
When Atreu and Teyth embark on their Ascent, their Talismans lead them onto conflicting paths that will ultimately set brother against brother. And this time the Ascent itself is in peril as unknown forces that have long craved the power of Zenith will stop at nothing to make it their own even if it means destroying the very thing that sustains all life the Mountain itself.

Author Bio


Dirk Strasser has written over 30 books for major publishers in Australia and is an Active Member of the SFWA. He has won multiple Australian Publisher Association Awards, a Ditmar for Best Professional Achievement, and has been short-listed for the Aurealis and Ditmar Awards a number of times. His short story, “The Doppelgänger Effect”, appeared in the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology, Dreaming Down Under. His acclaimed fantasy series The Books of Ascension – including Zenith and Equinox – was originally published by Pan Macmillan in Australia and by Heyne Verlag in Germany and has been re-published by the Macmillan Momentum imprint, this time including the “lost” third book. His fiction has been translated into a number of languages. His short stories include “The Jesus Particle“ in Cosmos magazine, “Stories of the Sand” in Realms of Fantasy, and “The Vigilant” in Fantasy magazine.  His most recent sale was “The Mandelbrot Bet” to the 2014 Tor anthology Carbide Tipped Pens, edited by Ben Bova and Eric Choi. He founded the Aurealis Awards and has co-published and co-edited Aurealis magazine for over 20 years.


Links

Twitter: @DirkStrasser

Buy the books!

Book Excerpts
Equinox excerpt: Chapter Seven

Praether felt a strange tingling down his back as he unlocked the last chamber of the librum. It was as if he was suddenly given a vague awareness that something had just changed, or was about to change.
He opened the door and walked in.
‘I thought you would be here,’ he said.
An old man stood ankle-deep in dust by the bookshelf. He looked up from his reading and half smiled. It appeared as if a grey mist had started to snake its way up the Reader’s body.
‘Wait,’ cried Praether. ‘Don’t go.’
The mist continued no further.
Praether gasped. ‘Something has changed,’ he said, more to himself. And then to the Reader: ‘Why have I been able to stop you disappearing this time?’
The Reader raised his eyebrows as if to say, I think you know.
Praether shivered. ‘No … no I don’t.’
The Reader motioned the arch-librer to come closer.
Praether walked slowly towards him, kicking up small swarms of dust with each step, until he stood so close he could have reached out and touched him. The mist started to twist its way up the Reader’s legs as he slowly handed Praether the Book of Maelur.
‘Tell me – please,’ said Praether. ‘Tell me what has changed.’
The mist continued up his torso, and his body began wavering in front of Praether’s eyes.
‘Please, wait,’ cried Praether.
The Reader opened his mouth. ‘Read,’ he said, and Praether drew a sharp breath – it was the first word he had ever heard the old man speak.
The arch-librer watched the mist claim the remainder of the Reader’s body. As his face faded, Praether could still make out the strange half smile. For a brief moment it was as if a human-sized cloud floated just above the floor, and then it dissipated into nothingness.
The tingling sensation Praether had felt on entering the room now shot through every nerve. As he looked down to read the words on the page, he knew what had changed.
Somehow, in some strange way, he had become part of the story.

Review: 


This is a very difficult series to read.  It is, at times, difficult to understand and at other times shows great truths.  I read it and find myself wondering if I like it or not, which is a strange way to read a book...at least for me.  I am finding great truths and intersting ideas, but also leave the reading very confused.  It is one of the few books that I cannot sit and read for long periods of time.

I recommend reading these books for yourself.  I give this book 4 out of 5 clouds.  It is well written and really makes you think for yourself.

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Book Review of Memories with Maya

Book Review of Memories with Maya
Sponsored by Booksniffers Reviews




Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

Title: Memories with Maya
Author: Clyde Dsouza
Genre/Age Range: Science Fiction, 17+
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: February 27, 2013

Blurb: 

A story of one man's determination to HACK his destiny, even if it meant challenging Divine Providence...

The story looks at how augmentation technology will affect emotions, intimate human relationships, and our very evolution as a species.

"EMOTIONS ARE LIKE A VIRUS, a common cold...disrupting the flow of logic in the mind." Daniel reminds himself.

Dan's work involves creating commercially viable AR solutions. The recession and an explosion of data-cops is drying out his streams of income.

He turns to close friend, Krish, a researcher in Artificial Intelligence, in the hope that they can come up with ideas for the Entertainment market. His girlfriend, Maya, and her family return to their homeland after her father passes away.

Dan and Maya continue their relationship via Dirrogates (Digital Surrogates), experiencing human touch through haptics. Krish gets a job at the prestigious A.I.R.I. Using AIRI's lab, Krish and Dan, create an advanced visor with Augmented Intelligence built in.

They dub it "Wizer."

A Board member at AIRI sees potential in the Wizer other than what Dan and Krish have in mind.

At a test in a nightclub, things go wrong...

Can the Wizer "insure memories" and be a catalyst to accelerate the journey toward eventual Singularity?

The (subtle) underlying philosophy in the story is about preparing the common man for our eventual Technological Singularity. If the goals of Transhumanism are to be embraced, they need to be explained to everyday people, in everyday language and using everyday settings. Only then can a road-map for Transhumanism be built.

Memories with Maya also poses the question: Can we transcend the Human Lifecycle?

The plausible science in the story details how AR & AI will merge to create Digital Surrogates in our own likeness - our DIRROGATES. 


Author Information: 

Clyde DeSouza is a Creative Technology Evangelist. He explores tech advances in Augmented Reality, Real-time Game engines and Stereoscopic 3D and their influence on human perception. His non fiction book: "Think in 3D" has been seen on a growing number of film-sets and is used as prep reading by Directors and Cinematographers.

His second book: "Memories With Maya" is a fiction novel in the hard science/metaphysical genre. The story look s at the impact Augmented Intelligence will have on intimate human personal relationships and our very evolution as a species.

Contacts:


Purchase Links:




Other Tour Dates: 

March 3

March 4

March 5
Dark Novella (Promo)

March 6

March 7

March 10

March 11

March 12

March 13

March 14


Review: 

This was a very strange book. It was very similar to the movie about the guy that falls in love with his computer.  It was kind of about love and loss and the strange things grief does to people.  The book was an interesting mix of techno-speak and romance.  I’m still not sure if I liked it, but it definitely made me think about life, love, and what people are willing to do for love.

I give this book 3.5 out of 5 clouds because it was very well written but the story was difficult to follow at times and confusing.



This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Book Review of Falling: Book One of the Girl With Broken Wings Series

Book Review of Falling: Book One of the Girl With Broken Wings Series
Sponsored by Innovative Book Tours

Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share my review of this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.


Blurb : 

The intellectual challenge of college and the warm embrace of a serious boyfriend have given Maya the wings she needs to break away from her bookish and shy reserve. Her ideal life comes crashing down when she and her boyfriend are accosted by a stranger. A stranger with glowing hands.

Maya's boyfriend is killed. She is kidnapped. Changed.

A rescue comes, but not soon enough.

Maya’s senses sharpen, her body becomes strong and agile, and she develops the ability to visually see the emotions of those around her as colorful auras…beautiful auras…tempting auras.

And then there’s the song…

Now, Maya must struggle to control the murderous appetite that fuels her new abilities, accept her altered condition and learn to trust two vigilante half-brothers she never knew she had. As she joins the battle against a secret network of powerful and destructive beings that call themselves "Angels", Maya vows to find and destroy the one who changed her.

On the bright side, at least Maya's oldest half-brother has stopped trying to kill her.
About the Author:

J Bennett is a professional copywriter, as well as a novelist. She lives and writes in Southern California.

Works by J Bennett
Girl With Broken Wings
Falling (Book One)
Coping (Novella, 1.5)
Landing
(Book Two), To Be Released Jan 2013

The Vampire’s Housekeeper Chronicles
#1 Employment Interview With A Vampire (Short Story)
#2 The Vampire Hunter Comes to Call (Short Story)
#3 Duel With The Werefrog (Short Story)


Contacts:

ONLINE LINKS:

BUY NOW LINK:



You can also learn more about J Bennett at her blog, www.ShyWriter.com; her website, www.JBennettWrites.com; or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/jbennettwrites.

Amazon Kindle copy
Nook Code
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/119290
Excerpt:

FALLING
Excerpt From Book One of the Girl With Broken Wings Series by J Bennett

Chapter 6
“Your head,” the boy with elf eyes murmurs as he puts me into a car. Then, “this is, um, awkward.” He can only get me half in. I hear his steps moving quickly around the back of the car. He opens the opposite door and pulls me the rest of the way across the back seat.
“Thank you,” I say. I want to touch the blue glow around him. This will soothe the pain inside of me. Not pain. Hunger. Great, gaping hunger. I am shivering, still sweating. The strap of my bra has fallen to my elbow.
“Do we, uh, have a blanket in the trunk or something, Tarren?”
“Get in the car.”
I hear sirens. They sound closer than they could possibly be. Just like I think I can hear the boy’s heart thudding in his chest, but that can’t be real.
“Yeah, it’s a warm night. She’ll be fine.” The door by my head closes. I flinch at the sound. After a moment it opens again.
“Seatbelt.” He leans over me, grappling with the buckle under my back. His heart is a drum.  I hear the whoosh of air in and out of his lungs. I smell him, the sweat on him, the damp of his clothes. Glowing spirals of blue cloak his body like colored steam. I must touch the color. I am moving my arm, dizzy with even this effort but desperate. He is so close. My hands grow hot. Something is happening to them. The skin of my palms is puckering, splitting open.
“There we go.” The boy is gone. The door closes. I keep reaching up hoping to catch any lingering wisps of the glow. The skin furls back over my palm, seaming itself up into a dark X across the center. The car is moving. Every breath smells like blood. I’m giggling like a maniac, but only in my head. I shove my hands under my body, because this will somehow help. I’m still burning to death, by the way.
The driver whispers to himself, “We had him. We had him.”
The one with the backwards ball cap and elf eyes says, “Look, we got her; that was the whole point.” He turns to look at the driver. “We’ll kill Grand some other time.”
The driver doesn’t say anything, but the color ratchets around him, bright along the edges. I close my eyes, but I can still feel the skin pulling away from my palms again. 
“Your eye is swelling up,” the passenger says.
“I’m fine. You?”
“Ankle. Just twisted it a little. I’ll throw some ice on it whenever. No cops behind us. We need to switch our plates when we stop. Ditch the guns too. We left shell casings. Damn shame, though.” The passenger pulls a gun from his belt, hefts it in his hand. “My guy went through a lot of trouble to get this baby. Not that you care. Anyone can get Glocks.”
“Put that away,” the driver says. “We’ll cover cleanup later.”
The passenger turns to stare at me. I watch the delicate shades of blue pulse around him.

“We should probably get her a shirt,” he says. The driver doesn’t reply, but his eyes flick up to the rearview mirror when we stop at a light.
After a while, the elf turns to the driver and asks, “Is there any way this isn’t going to totally fucking ruin her life?”
I can’t stop shivering. My body jerks, so that I fall back painfully onto the buckle. The fire is starting to separate. There’s the part ripping up my bones and evaporating my blood, but there is something entirely different lifting out of the flames. This is an exquisite hurt, all neural and twitchy. It’s hunger, but not like a hunger I’ve ever known before. This hunger is cutting me wide open with a song, carving out its own channels in my brain and snuffing out the human parts of me.
I think that I am going to die, and I don’t want to, except that I do, because Ryan is dead, at least I think he is, but maybe he isn’t, because he can’t be. He can’t be.
The hum of the car seems so loud, and the passing street lamps blaze like sudden flares in the night.  We leave behind the highway and then the street lamps and then the other cars. I cry, but these are silent tears, hot by the time they tip over my chin. We sail through the night for a long while, and the tears eventually dwindle. All that is left is the hunger growing louder and louder in my bones.
Eventually, the car stops. The driver gets out. The door by my head is wrenched open. He grabs my shoulders and pulls. The seatbelt digs into my hips, and I cry out.
“Damn,” he mutters. He grabs my wrists in one hand and pins them against the back of the seat while he leans over and undoes my buckle. The passenger side door opens.
“Jesus, where are we? You gotta piss?”
The driver pulls me roughly out of the car. I hit the ground and curl my legs into my chest. There is only the hunger and the pain and the shadow of Ryan lingering behind the trees that edge each side of the road.
The driver pulls a gun from his waistband, and I am not afraid. The amber glow is so bright around him that it looks like some sort of unnatural fire. Everything is fire. I stare at the scar running along his jaw and recognize him. The enforcer of Avalon levels his gun at me. The blood stains across his shirt and jeans are already turning dark. In his eyes I see a cold that I would never be clichĂ© enough to call arctic except that I can’t think of anything else. There’s a lot of blood on him.
“Tarren, no!”
Pant legs intrude into my visual field.
“She’s infected. We have to do it now while she’s weak.”
“One shot Tarren. She only got one shot. She’s like…a hybrid or something.”
“We can’t take the chance.”
“Yes we can, because, uh, because you could use her in your research. She could be, like, the key. The hybrids are always the key in, you know, stuff.”
“We’ll take the body back to Lo’s lab.”
“Cold hearted bastard! She’s blood.”
“His blood.”
“Our blood. She’s our blood Tarren.” The elf boy’s voice has gone harsh. “She’s our family, and you can pretend that you don’t care about anything anymore, that you’re suffering the weight of the entire world on your shoulders, but you’re just afraid. Fuck you. I’m not moving.”
“You done?” The gun doesn’t move.
“Yeah.” The elf takes a shaky breath. “I mean no! She could help us. Think about it.  She’ll get strong. She’ll get fast. She can fight with us. We can…”
“And the hunger?”
My protector turns and looks at me. I can hear how fast his heart is beating, the faint rush of blood as he clenches his fists. The light around him swells. So blue with sudden streaks of lavender lashing across. The song. They act as if they can’t hear the music flowing in hot torrents all around us.
“We’ll buy her rabbits,” he says finally.
“She’ll lapse and feed on humans.”
“No, she…”
“THEY ALWAYS FEED ON HUMANS.”  The enforcer’s voice echoes into the trees. He pulls in a deep breath. “You know that. She is Grand’s daughter. He’ll come after her again and by then she’ll be strong. I’ll take care of it. Just get out of my way.”
“I’m on fire,” I say for no reason. I lift myself up to my elbows with difficulty. I don’t know which one I want to prevail. A bullet would be quicker than this slow burn.
“No.” The legs in front of me step a little wider. “No,” the elf says again. “We’ve crossed a lot of lines, but I’m not going to let you cross this one. She may feed on humans one day, maybe not. Until she does, she’s an innocent, and we don’t kill innocent people. Not today. Not ever. She deserves a chance; I don’t care who the fuck her parents are. If she crosses over, I’ll kill her myself, but not today.”
The enforcer keeps his gun steady.  “Gabe,” he says.
“I’m not moving.” Gabe spreads his arms. “If you’ve got to kill her, then do it, but I’m sick of this shit. You kill me first, ‘cause killing innocent people is what bad guys do. I’m not a bad guy, and I’d rather be dead then see you turn into one.”
I hold my hands out in front of me and stare at the new dark slits running through my palms.
“Am I a monster?” I whisper. “Is that what this is?”
“No,” Gabe looks at me over his shoulder. “Well, kinda, but we’re going to help you. We’re family.”
Tarren lowers his gun. A slow descent.
***
Visit www.JBennettWrites.com to download an extended sample of Falling. For news and updates about the series or “Like” the series on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jbennettwrites

Review

Unique take on Angels. I seem to be on a streak of missing children returned.  But this sister was adopted into a wonderful family and doesn’t remember her birth family.  And now she has been found, but she isn’t exactly as she was when she left… and I don’t mean that she is older.  No, she has been changed into something different.  And she is falling or fallen, depending on how you look at it.

Definitely a unique book.  I truly enjoyed reading all the different take on things.  I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 clouds.


This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.