Kiku's Quest Now Available in Hard Back

Kiku's Quest Now Available in Hard Back

Just got publication notice that Kiku's Quest 

is now available in Hard Back!

My latest review can be seen on Amazon too:

kelly 

5.0 out of 5 stars A very enjoyable read!

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2021

The author's knowledge of sci-fi, coupled with a vivid imagination that knows no bounds, has truly created a book for all ages. This is an easy to follow storyline that provides well thought out twists and turns that will keep the reader wondering what comes next.

mybook.to/Kiku

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Spotlight on Forgive Us by E.T. Gunnarsson 5/31

In this debut thriller by E.T. Gunnarsson, the war between nature and humanity has no winner. Humanity's drive for energy and technology was its downfall. In a polluted world, survivors fight and endure the world destroyed by their ancestors. From what was left, they will rebuild and struggle to make a better place for their descendants.

Three time periods, four characters, each fighting for their future. Oliver, a lone survivor, raising civilization from the ashes of the wasteland. London and Rose, nomads, forced into the strife between Patria and New Uruk. Simon, a technician on the Arcadis Space Station, joins the revolution against the Leaders. Each trying to survive in a story that intertwines in a new, cruel world.

Q&A with E.T.

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Or what first inspired you to write? I was fifteen when I decided to start writing for real, and it was around that time I started my high fantasy world. A year later, I started Forgive Us, but I do not remember what made me decide to make the book.

 2. What do you think makes a good story? This is something you can’t really pinpoint. I played a game called Journey (2012) which has no dialogue and no words in the game. It’s just music and pictures, but paints a beautiful story all together.

 Hollow Knight (2017) is another game I played where there’s no real, linear story, but somehow it makes a beautiful world. What makes a good story is hard to decide, and it all depends on how something clicks.

3. How does a new story idea come to you? Is it an event that sparks the plot or a character speaking to you? A new story idea can come out of nowhere. I have a short story in the works that was inspired from staring at a shower drain. It sounds ridiculous, but I think it might be a good story.

For something like my high fantasy world, new stories come from piecing together a  logical history and wanting to tell that history through a character.

4. Is there a message/theme in your novel that you want readers to grasp? There are a few messages in Forgive Us.

●     War is horrible is a major point that I try to bring across with my book.

●     Another is that tyranny should not be endured, but rather broken. Regarding tyranny, I also tried to show what real tyranny is, rather than fighting nothing for no reason.

●     The biggest message in Forgive Us is to consider the health of the planet. In Forgive Us, there’s a layer of trash below the sands, the ocean is brown and black, and the sky has a pollution haze. For the reader, I say just don’t be disgusting about your trash and recycle. No one appreciates a plastic bottle on the side of the road.

5. What was your greatest challenge in writing this book? Again, discipline. I went weeks occasionally without touching Forgive Us when I was writing it, which is something I regret now but also was a valuable lesson on work ethic.

 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Warp Speed by Travis S. Taylor

Persevere through the technical jargon and you’ll find a good story and hopeful plot. A black belted scientist and mentees invent a warp drive.  That drive becomes the focus of an international plot and mayhem and death follow.

Taylor’s technical expertise seems to get away from him in some of the passages.  I’m not sure if it is accidental or intentional.   If your eyes glaze, push through, he writes a good story.  Anson, the main protagonist, demonstrates a real reaction to being assaulted.  Whether said assault is on his person, his friends, or his nation, he takes it personally and reacts accordingly.

His references to books that were on both our TBR piles were entertaining.  I liked Anson’s willingness to think big.   I also liked the strong female characters.  

I recommend the book.

I just read some of the reviews on Amazon and was surprised.  Reading fiction you need to be able to suspend disbelief.   It’s fiction, the author isn’t perfect but it’s fiction.  If I want reality I’ll read non-fiction.  This wasn’t a great book but it was an enjoyable read.  

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Spotlight on CATCH-42: A Novel about our Future by Felix Holzapfel

                                                    Author Q&A

 

1. What is your education/career background?
   When I turned eighteen (which is similar to turning twenty-one in the US), I left my hometown to finish school in Cologne. The deal with my parents was that I needed to take care of myself. So, I went to school in the morning and worked in the afternoon. By coincidence, I ended up working for an IT service company. The CEO liked me for some reason and became my mentor. He provided opportunities that back then were unlikely at my age. Once I finished school, I decided to work full-time for a while to save some money and escape the financially strained situation under which I’d lived since I left home. After three years, I went to Cologne University of Applied Sciences to study economics. At the same time, I founded a digital marketing agency named conceptbakery with my brother Klaus. A few months after founding the company, one of the leading telecommunication providers in Germany liked our rebellious way of thinking and asked us if we wanted to work for them. This collaboration opened up plenty of new doors for us and our business. Soon I decided to put my studies on hold and focus on our business—and my studies are still on hold today.

2. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Or what first inspired you to write?
   I'm the youngest of four, so I needed to talk a lot to get heard at all. I guess that's one of the reasons I’ve been a good storyteller ever since I was a little kid. When I finished first grade, my teacher commented on my report card that I fascinated my classmates with my stories. I’ve also loved reading since I was little, but I was never a good writer. One day, my friend Jana read one of my business plans and told me, "Felix, your stories and your ability to express yourself are amazing, but your writing is horrible! Have you ever thought about shortening your sentences? You know, turning one sentences into two, three, or even four or more?" This straightforward advice, which none of my teachers ever gave me, improved my writing significantly.
   
   

 

3. What do you think makes a good story?
   I enjoy stories that combine an intoxicating plot with elements that teach me something or make me think. I also love stories that turn complex and demanding topics and knowledge into something I want to learn more about. And if people have something to tell, memoirs can make good stories, too.

 

4. What inspired your story?
   Three main elements inspired me:
   
   First, my having worked for two decades in the IT and digital marketing industry.

While explaining the latest trends to an elite audience, I thought that parts of IT are knowledge everyone should have—especially in our day, when technology is omnipresent and about to change some of humanity’s fundamentals.

Second, after selling our company, I took a one-year sabbatical to travel the world with my wife and our two children. I visited creative hotspots and benefitted from fascinating conversations with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and other inspiring people. Many of these inspirations found their way into the book.

Third, we returned home in February 2020, just before Covid-19 changed the world. This extraordinary stroke of fate influenced what I had been thinking about and added new ideas to my initial concept for this book.

5. Is there a message/theme in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
   Yes! Don’t ever think you’re not capable of influencing the bigger picture. If everybody felt that way, a few would paint the bigger picture for all of us—a picture that’s not likely to match our expectations. If we each contribute our little piece, the bigger picture of our future will become more significant, more colorful, and more beautiful than we can imagine. Contributing is up to all of us.
   
   With this book, I want to encourage as many people as possible to think—from radically new perspectives—how humanity, technology, the economy, and our society might develop in the future. Even better, I want people to think about how they would like our world to change and how each of us can become an active part in the decision-making process that has already begun.

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

The Charnel Prince (The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone Book 2) by Greg Keyes

The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes

Keyes does good work.  I enjoyed the book.  There are a wealth of characters and some of them die.  Treachery and disturbing rites abound.  Keyes provides serious depth and color to his characters.  There is action, magic, as well as monsters, knights, musicians, and interesting animals. 

This is a rich and occasionally disturbing fantasy.  I am impressed with Keyes.  The series is good and he does a decent closure but leaves the story open for the next book.  

I recommend it. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

ARC Riders Fourth Rome by David Drake and Janet Morris

This is a time travel police book.   They don’t refer to themselves as police but the guidelines seem to be that Arc Riders are tasked with keeping anything in the past from changing or threatening their existence.

The characters are not memorable.  The book jumps from 9 AD to 1992 and to sometime in the future which is the home of the Arc Riders.   The jumping back and forth was confusing.  The plot seemed thin and incomplete.

This is part of a series and perhaps if I had read more of the books I might feel differently.

I didn’t care for the book but I finished it so I didn’t hate it.

 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

The Born Queen by Greg Keyes

It's rare that I find myself having an entire series reviewed in sequence.  That wasn't planned. 

This is the final book of the three-book series.  Once again, Keyes shows little regard for the health and well-being of his characters. Lots of death and mayhem and adventure and action are abundant.

Anne, Austra, Cazio, Aspar, and Winna find solutions to their problems.   Music plays a surprising part in the plot.   Music has power and it is not surprising that Keyes recognized that and included it in his story.  

Grudge keeping seems to be a feature in the entire series.  They make the Hatfield and McCoy feud pale in comparison.

I couldn’t imagine that Keyes could get all of the myriad characters and their issues wrapped up but he did and he did it successfully.

I enjoyed the book and the series. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned