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Welcome to my place in the blogosphere!
feel free to explore the Flight Deck and check out my books and website.
Then fasten your seatbelts, sip a glass of something sparkling and let's chat awhile!
I hope you'll stop by again for guest authors and spotlights from time to time.

Beloved Enemy joined Starquest and Children of the Mist to continue the Destiny Trilogy and I'm thrilled to announce was shortlisted for the R.N.A. RoNA Awards 2017, awarded 2nd Runner up in the RONE Awards 2017 and was the winner in the SF/Fantasy category of the 'Best Banter Contest'.

Sunday 8 October 2017

Robert J Sawyers Science Fiction Collection - Spotlight and #Giveaway


Golden
Fleece
by
Robert J. Sawyer
Genre:
SF Mystery

Winner of the Aurora Award for best novel of the year. Named best novel of
the year by The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.


MURDER
IN SPACE


Starcology Argo. A superstarship on a mission to a distant world. Controlled by
a monumental computer named JASON, the Argo proceeds flawlessly . . .
until death strikes its sleek decks with sudden and mysterious
precision.

Astrophysicist Diana Chandler is dead of radiation. Her body lies in the Argo's
ramfield — where hydrogen ions are funneled into the engines.
Chandler's death has been deemed suicide. But her ex-husband, Aaron
Rossman, isn't so sure. As he probes further, he becomes certain that
Diana's death is a matter of murder — and that the murderer is JASON!

Now Rossman must face the unthinkable: why would an artificial
intelligence conceive and execute that most heinous of human crimes?
And if so, can a mortal mind take on a cunning computer . . . and survive?




End
of an Era
by
Robert J. Sawyer
Genre:
SF Fantasy

Paleontologist Brandon Thackeray is eager to find out what killed the dinosaurs.
With a newly developed, still-experimental timeship, he will be able
to do what no human being has ever done: stand face-to-face with a
living, breathing dinosaur. But he and his partner (and rival) Miles
"Klicks" Jordan discover that they are not the only
intelligent creatures on Earth at the end of the Cretaceous. There's

a war going on and the dinosaurs are right in the middle of it.


Please note that this book is not part of The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy.
It is a stand-alone novel set on Earth.





Starplex
by
Robert J. Sawyer
Genre:
SF Adventure

The only novel of its year to be nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula
Awards. Starplex won Canada's Aurora Award for best novel of the year.



For nearly twenty years Earth's space exploration had exploded outward,
thanks to a series of mysterious, artificial wormholes. No one knows
who created these interstellar passages, yet they have brought the
far reaches of space immediately close. For Starplex Director Keith Lansing,
 too close.


Discovery is superseding understanding. And when an unknown vessel — with no windows, no seams, and no visible means of propulsion — arrives
through a new wormhole, an already battle-scarred Starplex could be
the starting point of a new interstellar war . . .






Frameshift
by
Robert J. Sawyer
Genre:
SciFi Thriller

Frameshift won Japan's Seiun Award and was a finalist for the Hugo Award.


Pierre Tardivel is a scientist working on the Human Genome Project with the
Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Burian Klimus. A driven man, Pierre works
with the awareness that he may not have long to live: he has a
fifty-fifty chance of dying from Huntington's disease, an incurable
hereditary disorder of the central nervous system. While he still has
his health, Pierre and his wife decide to have a child, and they
search for a sperm donor. When Pierre informs Dr. Klimus of their
plan, Klimus makes an odd but generous offer: to be the sperm donor
as well as to pay for the expensive in vitro fertilization. Shortly
thereafter it transpires that Klimus might be hiding a grim past: he
may be Ivan Marchenko, the notorious Treblinka death-camp guard known
as Ivan the Terrible.


While digging into Klimus's past with the help of Nazi hunter Avi Meyer,
Pierre and his wife discover that Pierre's insurance company has been
illegally screening clients for genetic defects. The two lines of
investigation begin to coverage in a sinister manner, while they
worry about the possibility of bearing the child of an evil, sadistic killer . . .




Factoring
Humanity
by
Robert J. Sawyer
Genre:
Science Fiction

In  2007, a signal is detected coming from the Alpha Centauri system.
Mysterious, unintelligible data streams in for ten years. Heather
Davis a professor in the University of Toronto psychology department,
has devoted her career to deciphering the message. Her estranged
husband, Kyle, is working on the development of artificial
intelligence systems and new computer technology utilizing quantum
effects to produce a near-infinite number of calculations simultaneously.


When Heather achieves a breakthrough, the message reveals a startling new
technology that rips the barriers of space and time, holding the
promise of a new stage of human evolution. In concert with Kyle's
discoveries of the nature of consciousness, the key to limitless
exploration — or the end of the human race — appears close at hand.


This edition includes a reading group guide.




Robert
J. Sawyer
 — called "the dean of Canadian science
fiction" by The Ottawa Citizen and "just
about the best science-fiction writer out there these days"
by The Denver Rocky Mountain News — is one
of only eight writers in history (and the only Canadian) to win all
three of the science-fiction field's top honors for best novel of the
year:
the
World Science Fiction Society's 
Hugo
Award
,
which he won in 2003 for his novel 
Hominids;the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's 
Nebula
Award
,
which he won in 1996 for his novel 
The
Terminal Experiment
;and
the 
John
W. Campbell Memorial Award
,
which he won in 2006 for his novel 
Mindscan.
According
to the US trade journal 
Locus,
Rob is the #1 all-time worldwide leader in number of award wins as a
science fiction or fantasy novelist. Recent honors include the
first-ever 
Humanism
in the Arts Award
 from
Humanist Canada, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
from the Governor General of Canada, the 
Hal
Clement Award
 for
Best Young Adult Novel of the Year (for 
Watch),
and a 
Lifetime
Achievement Aurora Award
 from
the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association — the first
such award given to an author in thirty years, and only the fourth
such ever bestowed.
The
2009-2010 ABC TV series 
FlashForward was
based on his novel of the same name, and Rob was a scriptwriter for
that series.
Maclean's:
Canada's Weekly Newsmagazine
 says, "By any
reckoning, Sawyer is among the most successful Canadian authors
ever," and The New York Times calls him
"a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific
extrapolation." The Canadian publishing trade journal Quill &
Quire
 named Rob one of "the thirty most
influential, innovative, and just plain powerful people in Canadian
publishing" (the only other authors making the list were
Margaret Atwood and Douglas Coupland).
Rob's
novels are top-ten national mainstream bestsellers in Canada,
appearing on the 
Globe
and Mail
 and Maclean'sbestsellers'
lists, and they've hit #1 on the science-fiction bestsellers' lists
published by 
LocusAmazon.comAmazon.caAmazon.co.uk,
and 
Audible.com.
His twenty-three novels include 
Red
Planet Blues
TriggersCalculating
God
,
and the "WWW" trilogy of 
WakeWatch,
and 
Wonder,
each volume of which separately won the 
Aurora
Award
 —
Canada's top honor in science fiction — for Best Novel of the Year.
Rob
— who holds honorary doctorates from the 
University
of Winnipeg
 and Laurentian
University
 —
has taught writing at the 
University
of Toronto
Ryerson
University
Humber
College
,
and 
The
Banff Centre
.
He has been Writer-in-Residence at the Richmond Hill (Ontario) Public
Library, the Kitchener (Ontario) Public Library, the Toronto Public
Library's 
Merril
Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy
Berton
House
 in
Dawson City, the 
Canadian
Light Source
synchrotron,
and the 
Odyssey
Workshop
.
Rob
has given talks at hundreds of venues including the 
Library
of Congress
 and
the 
National
Library of Canada
,
and been
keynote
speaker
 at
dozens of events in places as diverse as Los Angeles, Boston, Tokyo,
Beijing, and Barcelona. He was born in Ottawa in 1960, and now lives
just west of Toronto.


Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!




For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Saturday 7 October 2017

#WeWriWar, Snippet Sunday - Children Of The Mist: Tamarith


Welcome to Weekend Writing Warrior and 8 Sentence Sunday, the weekly hop for everyone who loves to read and write! We've got a variety of genres and talented writers just waiting for you to come sample their work.

Writers share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet on Sunday each week. Be sure to visit the other writers - they're listed below:

If you'd to share your own 8-10 sentence snippet, whether published or not, follow the link and sign up. It's a great community to be a part of! 

I'm currently sharing excerpts from Children Of The Mist the second book in
The Destiny Trilogy. This is set on Niflheim, a planet close to the heart of Jess, who features in the first book. The heroine is one of her closest friends, Tamarith.

 Thanks so much to everyone who has been following this series, and left comments xx

This snippet carries on a bit further from last week's snippet which you can read 
HERE  As usual I have used some creative punctuation, not in the published version, in order to comply with the sentence count.

Welcome, Vidarh, not quite how we were expecting you to arrive. 

The young woman, at whose feet he had fallen, was pleasing to look at, even if her expression was one of bemusement. He'd formed a vague picture in his mind and thought she would be attractive, although he had not expected her to be so stunning. Large, dark eyes framed with feathery lashes lit up her delicate features. Thick black hair in a long braid reached almost to her feet, and the close-fitting riding gear she wore emphasised a petite, shapely figure.

Tamarith smiled, an action that made her seem even lovelier, and extended her fingers in the Nifl custom. How did you do that? The question whispered in his mind, and he sensed no one else heard it.

I'll tell you later, he telepathed, also withholding his reply from the others. I'm not entirely sure myself, I've only managed very short distances previously. 

BLURB
Two minds united against a common foe. Two hearts afraid to show their love: Long ago Tamarith fell in love with a man she can never have, and is convinced she will never love another. However, she cannot help but be intrigued by a handsome stranger whose psychic powers exceed even her own.

Vidarh seeks only to find his true purpose in life and to win the regard of his father, who eschews his son’s psychic abilities. Thrown together by a common threat to their planet, then torn apart by an evil greater than any they could have imagined, can Vidarh save the lovely Nifl woman who has captivated him, before it is too late?

Will Tamarith and Vidarh overcome the deadly enemy who threatens to destroy all they know and love? Will they find the happiness they both seek? Or are they fated to live their lives alone?



***
Purchase all three books (or just one, they stand alone, while sharing some of the same characters)  at https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01MRY3XXT












For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Thursday 5 October 2017

The Ydron Saga - Spotlight


Awakening
The Ydron Saga Book 1
by
Raymond Bolton
Genre:
Paranormal Epic Fantasy


How does a world equipped with bows, arrows and catapults, where steam 
power is just beginning to replace horses and sailing ships, avert a conquest from beyond the stars? Prince Regilius has been engineered to combat the Dalthin, a predatory alien species that enslaves worlds telepathically, and to do so he must unite his people. But when his mother murders his father, the land descends into chaos and his task may prove impossible. Faced with slaying the one who gave him life in order to protect his world, he seeks a better way. Set in a vast and varied land where telepaths and those with unusual mental abilities

tip the course of events, Awakening goes to the heart of family, friendship and betrayal.
EXCERPT
In this scene, Prince Regilius, or Reg as he’s called by his frinds, is fleeing the city of danYdron. At this point in the story, he has become inexplicibly telepathic and clairvoyant and is overwhelmed by the thoughts of its citizenry:

Reg was awash with faces. Their stories came upon him like a flood. Wave followed wave and inundated him to the point of drowning. These were not simply imaginings. They were beyond any concepts he had ever known and many were contrary to his way of thinking. As he fought to retain stable footing in what was rapidly becoming a maelstrom of misery and despair, he grew uncomfortably aware of the vividness and intensely personal feeling each experience brought. These were not other lives. Each seemed to be his own. It was he, Regilius Tonopath, who had been beaten, who drank, who failed and despaired. It was he, the heir to the throne of Ydron, who was the robber, the washerwoman, the child. On one hand, he knew this could not be, and contrarily he recalled each life with the clarity and certitude with which he knew each step and turning of the palace corridors.

Beneath this misery, simmering steadily to the surface, arose ever new and alien thoughts. Immersed as he was in these lives, his perceptions of things familiar were changing. Soldiers, his lifelong protectors, were not to be trusted, but rather, feared. No longer guardians and enforcers of the law, they were the source of brutality and kidnappers of husbands and children. Women hid Themselves from the helmet and shield of the throne.

It did not pay to be successful outside the palace walls. Any surpluses or gains were sure to be confiscated. One could never quite pay one’s tax. The collector made sure of it. When one had managed to acquire a little more than one’s customary lot, a visit from the taxman was inevitable. Since none ever knew how the news got out, each suspected his neighbor. It probably was true spies were everywhere. A word in the right ear would likely put food in an empty belly, so distrust abounded.

Reg’s head hurt and he trembled as he drove through the horror. He could not believe any of this could be true in the land his family ruled, but the images were relentless. This flight from danger had become a plunge into reality. He was unprepared for and unable to come to terms with what each moment drove home. Had he been so sheltered he could not see his world as it was?
Somehow—he knew not by what providence—the roadster hurtled on without incident. Even when he tried, he could barely focus on his surroundings. Carts, streets, banners, men, women and children all blurred into a stream, while the dreams or revelations—he could not say which—bombarded him until he was lost in the confusion. He no longer knew where he was, yet the car careened onward.

Eventually he passed through the city’s outermost wall. He did not remember the gate or the guards, but the density of outer danYdron thinned into scattered farms and villages and his head began to clear. He breathed deeply, with only dim recollection of his purpose as the cacophony of sights and sounds receded. Like a badly beaten fighter trying to see through senses numbed by countless blows, staggering toward his corner and his seconds for relief, Reg drove westward. Familiarity kept him on his path, though his mind was still dazed, unaware of the road spinning under the wheels and away behind him.

Thought Gazer
The Ydron Saga Book 2

Everyone who touches you transforms you, if only a little. But if you enter
their minds, think what they have thought, in effect do what they have done, how complete will that transformation be?



If he had been born an ordinary man, his family would be safe--safe as 
anyone can be in a land torn apart by war. It is his singular gift, however, that causes his wife and children to be imprisoned and held hostage and him to be used as a tool. Caught up in a struggle between opposing warlords and refusing to play the game, Peniff elects to take the moral high road. This is the story of a man, in all other ways ordinary, rising above his fears to do what he must. Can he free his family before his betrayal comes to light? Moreover, what will he
become before his journey is over?


Foretellers
The Ydron Saga Book 3

In a world facing two divergent futures—eventual freedom or complete
domination—too many unmade decisions cloud the yet-to-be. Those who can see even a tiny portion of the inevitable wield great power.



In this world where young and old, rich or poor, are at the mercy of armed marauders and the armies of the powerful, a warlord’s wrath forces a mother and daughter to flee for their lives. Despite being prescient, they cannot foresee all that lies ahead. Quickly separated, their every effort centers around reunion and survival. Without losing sight of these goals, one of them foresees that, if
she travels to the conflict’s center and lends support to one of the two major powers, she has the ability to influence the final outcome.

Foretellers, the third volume of The Ydron Saga, is the second book of Awakening’s prequel trilogy.


Triad
The Ydron Saga Book 3

Heroic battles are not always won by the mighty. There are times when even
the least likely among us play decisive rolls. Less able physically than anyone he knows, but paranormally unique, Bardik is recruited by a pair of psychics in the hope that, by combining his talent with theirs, they can turn looming defeat into victory.



In this, the concluding chapter to The Ydron Saga, a young man who has lost the use of his legs—someone whom earthly culture labels paraplegic—agrees to lend his telekinetic talents to the effort to bring down a tyrannical warlord.

Raymond Bolton lives near Portland, Oregon with his wife, Toni, and their two cats, Georgie & Sophia.



Regarding his debut novel, Awakening, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author, Mike Resnick says, “In Awakening, Raymond Bolton presents
us with an intricate and interesting problem, characters you care
for, aliens who are alien, and a carefully-thought-out future.”

Matthew J. Pallamary, author of Land Without Evil and Spirit Matters said,
“Raymond Bolton’s genre shattering Awakening is a skillfully
woven hybrid of science fiction and fantasy that brings cultural
conflict to a whole new, thoroughly believable level that goes
straight to the heart of what really matters.”

International award-winning author of the Daimones Trilogy, Massimo Marino,
endorsed Awakening, saying, “Bolton navigates through the plot
lines and the mixed genres (Science Fiction but not exactly, Fantasy
but not entirely, Paranormal but not completely) with the clear
gesture of the conductor of a large orchestra. A new voice and author
who is bound to grow a faithful readership.”

Finally, Britain’s BookViral.com states, “it’s a grand debut. An
ambitious and well considered SF crossover [that] breathes
originality into the genre.”



Raymond's goal is to craft gripping stories about the human condition, whether they are set here or another world. He has written award-winning
poetry and four novels. Awakening, an epic, was released in January, 2014, and Thought Gazer, an adventure and first volume of a prequel trilogy, was released on January 1, 2015. The third in the series, Foretellers, came out on March 1 , 2016. The trilogy’s conclusion, entitled Triad, aired January 1, 2017. Awakening was recently translated into Spanish and was released as El despertar – La  Saga de Ydron on July 1, 2015. Amazon has already listed El despertar as the Number One New Release in Ciencia Ficción.



Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!









For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Saturday 30 September 2017

#WeWriWar, Snippet Sunday - Children Of The Mist: Can Vidarh save himself?


Welcome to Weekend Writing Warrior and 8 Sentence Sunday, the weekly hop for everyone who loves to read and write! We've got a variety of genres and talented writers just waiting for you to come sample their work.

Writers share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet on Sunday each week. Be sure to visit the other writers - they're listed below:

If you'd to share your own 8-10 sentence snippet, whether published or not, follow the link and sign up. It's a great community to be a part of! 

I'm currently sharing excerpts from Children Of The Mist the second book in
The Destiny Trilogy. This is set on Niflheim, a planet close to the heart of Jess, who features in the first book. The heroine is one of her closest friends, Tamarith.

 Thanks so much to everyone who has been following this series, and left comments xx

This snippet carries on a bit further from last week's snippet which you can read 
HERE  As usual I have used some creative punctuation, not in the published version, in order to comply with the sentence count.


Vidarh is in a perilous situation, capsized in an underground river and caught in the current. He desperately needs his guide, Tamarith, to send him the co-ordinates of her location

Tamarith! Into his head came a shimmering picture of mountains and a snowy plain beyond, like the one he had recently crossed. A path before the mouth of a cave wound down the declivity to the plain, he closed his eyes and forced himself to concentrate on the image, while trying to keep his head above the water.


The mountains and the plain solidified in his mind. He saw a group of people gathered at the entrance to the cave, halfway down the craggy slope with four sturdy ponies stood tethered a short distance away. 


Vidarh struck a barrage of water with a force that winded him.Myriad rainbow colours flashed before his eyes, and for a nanosecond, he sped through a vortex of black nothingness, sucked through the eye of a raging whirlwind. He hit hard ground and rolled over onto his side. A few moments passed before he could catch his breath and scramble to his feet. He stood in embarrassment, aware of the slightly shocked expressions on the faces of the three people gathered before him.


BLURB
Two minds united against a common foe. Two hearts afraid to show their love: Long ago Tamarith fell in love with a man she can never have, and is convinced she will never love another. However, she cannot help but be intrigued by a handsome stranger whose psychic powers exceed even her own.

Vidarh seeks only to find his true purpose in life and to win the regard of his father, who eschews his son’s psychic abilities. Thrown together by a common threat to their planet, then torn apart by an evil greater than any they could have imagined, can Vidarh save the lovely Nifl woman who has captivated him, before it is too late?

Will Tamarith and Vidarh overcome the deadly enemy who threatens to destroy all they know and love? Will they find the happiness they both seek? Or are they fated to live their lives alone?



***
Purchase all three books (or just one, they stand alone, while sharing some of the same characters)  at https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01MRY3XXT












For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join