Friday Featured Spotlight ~ The Write Reads Blog Tour: HomeAdrift by Soheil Mirchi

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Friday Featured Spotlight ~ The Write Reads Ultimate Blog Tour: Generations by Noam Josephides

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The Write Reads Ultimate Blog Tour Review ~ Generations by Noam Josephides

For eight generations, the Thetis has been a peaceful haven, carrying the last remnants of humanity on a journey to resettle on a new planet. Nearing its final destination, Thetis is seemingly a egalitarian, tolerant and united. A society ready for a new beginning.

But when a strange extortion attempt targets the ship's leader, that idyllic façade begins to crack. And when SANDRINE LIET, the introvert Archivist tasked with investigating the case starts poking around – the prime suspect mysteriously disappears.

Nobody disappears on the Thetis.

Sandrine is pulled into a web of intrigue and deception, sending her on a direct collision course with the most powerful people on the Thetis. Every step she takes, her suspicions of a grand and far-reaching conspiracy grow - as are the personal consequences for her future if she keeps pursuing the investigation.

Generations by Noam Josephides ~ Book Review

For eight generations, the Thetis has been a peaceful haven, carrying the last remnants of humanity on a journey to resettle on a new planet. Nearing its final destination, Thetis is seemingly a egalitarian, tolerant and united. A society ready for a new beginning.

But when a strange extortion attempt targets the ship's leader, that idyllic façade begins to crack. And when SANDRINE LIET, the introvert Archivist tasked with investigating the case starts poking around – the prime suspect mysteriously disappears.

Nobody disappears on the Thetis.

Sandrine is pulled into a web of intrigue and deception, sending her on a direct collision course with the most powerful people on the Thetis. Every step she takes, her suspicions of a grand and far-reaching conspiracy grow - as are the personal consequences for her future if she keeps pursuing the investigation.

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Generations

 

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The Akseli

Simone has hunted and slain psychotic vampires night after night for hundreds of years and desperately needs a change. When the leader of the Immortal Guardians offers her an opportunity to guard ten mortal women who are venturing to another planet, she dives right in and finds traveling into space and meeting amazing alien races just as exciting as she'd hoped… until an enemy attacks. Simone saves everyone she can before she's thrust into an escape pod and the ship explodes. Alone, fearing some—if not all—of her friends have been killed, she vows to seek vengeance.

Despite his fierce reputation and propensity for violating the law, Janwar has formed a friendship with strait-laced Prince Taelon of Lasara. When the prince's ship is destroyed, Janwar joins the massive Aldebarian Alliance-wide search and rescue mission and soon locates the Gathendien ship that launched the attack. An odd thing happens, however, as he and his crew stealthily approach it. The lifeforms inside begin to perish, two or three at a time in quick succession. Much to his surprise, someone else has reached the ship first: one of the very Earth women he hoped to rescue.

Fascinatingly fierce, Simone bands together with Janwar and his crew to search for her missing friends and wreak havoc upon those who wish to harm them. She also widens eyes, drops jaws, and sparks laughter and mischief as she banishes the warriors' world-weariness and makes each day seem like a new adventure. The friendship that grows between Janwar and Simone swiftly deepens into love. But the enemy warriors they face are tenacious and boast more weapons in their arsenal than the alliance knows. Can Janwar, Simone, and such a small crew vanquish them?

The Purveli

 

Parasites

 

Parasites is a YA science fiction, solarpunk exploration novel that takes place at the end of the universe, just as it slowly starts to contract in the ‘big crunch’. On the planet Lyra, humans evolved late, on a resource-poor world, in a resource-poor solar system. The Lyrans master space flight, only to discover that their nearest worlds have also been stripped of resources. The population begins to decline, until a scientist discovers a technology allowing people and vehicles to travel through ‘thinnings’ – patches of space linking universes.

Kael and Alessia are explorers, charting where the thinnings go and bringing valuable resources back to Lyra, trying desperately to extend the lifespan of their home world. Alessia’s father, Ben, set out two years ago to uncover another species’ reference to a ‘solution’ to the big crunch problem – but never returned. A chance discovery leads Kael and Alessia to a clue, prompting another expedition to see if they can avoid the mistakes of the past and help to unravel the mystery.

Kael, Alessia and their gruff bodyguard Basteel retrace Ben’s steps, seeking closure for Alessia, a solution for Lyra and together begin a voyage through wild, weird and wonderful planets.

The Segonian Spotlight

We are out-of-this-world excited to be celebrating this release from Dianne Duvall with our readers today by participating in the blog tour! THE SEGONIAN is the second book in Dianne's sci-fi romance series, Aldebarian Alliance.  Keep reading to find out more about the title below. Click HERE to reserve your copy of The Segonian today!

The Segonian Blitz

The second stand-alone novel in Dianne Duvall’s thrilling new sci-fi romance series full of action, humor, and happily-ever-afters is out today! Grab your copy of THE SEGONIAN on Amazon or at any of your favorite online retailers!

The Lasaran

Book source ~ Purchased

The Lasaran

Aldebarian Alliance, #1

Dianne Duvall

21 April 2020

Paranormal | Sci-Fi | Romance

460 Pages

Colonies Lost

Book source ~ ARC.

My review is voluntary and honest.

Colonies Lost

Ian J. Malone

12 June 2018

Sci-fi | Mystery

314 Pages

Intraterrestrial

 *Book source ~ ARC. 

My review is voluntary and honest.

Intraterrestrial

Nicholas Conley

16 January 2018

Sci-Fi | YA

236 Pages

                                                                                    

Curiosity Quills Tour ~ Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon

Title ~ Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon

Series ~ Please Don't Tell My Parents, #2

Author ~ Richard Roberts

Cover Artist ~ Ricky Gunawan

Publisher ~ Curiosity Quills

Published ~ 29 January 2015

Genre ~ Middle Grade | Sci-Fi

Pages ~ 338

Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N

Book Description

Supervillains do not merely play hooky.

True, coming back to school after a month spent fighting - and defeating - adult superheroes is a bit of a comedown for the Inscrutable Machine.  When offered the chance to skip school in the most dramatic way possible, Penelope Akk can’t resist. With the help of a giant spider and mysterious red goo, she builds a spaceship and flies to Jupiter.

Mutant goats.

Secret human colonies.

A war between three alien races with humanity as the prize.

Robot overlords and evil plots.

Penny and her friends find all this and more on Jupiter’s moons, but what they don’t find are any heroes to save the day. Fortunately, they have an angry eleven year old and a whole lot of mad science…

About the Author

Richard Roberts has fit into only one category in his entire life, and that is ‘writer’, but as a writer he’d throw himself out of his own books for being a cliche.

He’s had the classic wandering employment history - degree in entomology, worked in health care, been an administrator and labored for years in the front lines of fast food. He’s had the appropriate really weird jobs, like breeding tarantulas and translating English to English for Japanese television. He wears all black, all the time, is manic-depressive, and has a creepy laugh.

He’s also followed the classic writer’s path, the pink slips, the anthology submissions, the desperate scrounging to learn how an ever-changing system works. He’s been writing from childhood, and had the appropriate horrible relationships that damaged his self-confidence for years. Then out of nowhere Curiosity Quills Press demanded he give them his books, and here he is.

As for what he writes, Richard loves children and the gothic aesthetic. Most everything he writes will involve one or the other, and occasionally both. His fantasy is heavily influenced by folk tales, fairy tales, and mythology, and he likes to make the old new again. In particular, he loves to pull his readers into strange characters with strange lives, and his heroes are rarely heroic.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Walking on Wednesday with Audios ~ Earth Unaware

Title ~ Earth Unaware

Series ~ The First Formic War, #1

Author ~ Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

Narrator ~ Stefan Rudnicki

Publisher ~ Macmillan Audio

Published ~ 17 July 2012

Genre ~ Sci-Fi

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

Earth’s denizens have been moving off Earth and onto mining ships to mine metals and minerals from asteroids out past Pluto.  The mining ship El Cavador has spotted something on their ‘eye’ or telescope that is approaching Earth’s system and fast. It could be a comet or some such thing, but since when does a comet slow as it approaches a system? That’s the worrying thing. However, when a corporate ship captained by Lem Jukes bumps them from their claim on an asteroid El Cavador forgets about the incoming object in their attempt to survive the damage to their ship. The destruction and death that is about to happen rests squarely on the corporate ship. If they hadn’t been greedy and bumped El Cavador then they would have had much more warning about the danger bearing down on them.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Captain Wit O’Toole is recruiting for the multinational MOPs (Mobile Operations Police), taking only the best of the best. Their motto is “Train for any contingency.” After seeing some really good faked alien invasion footage on the internet, Wit decides that an alien invasion falls under ‘any contingency’, so he gets his men training. Let the First Formic War begin.

Guest reviewers today:

My 16-yr-old daughter A

My 14-yr-old son T

My 13-yr-old son K

This is the first time we’ve listened to an audio with more than one narrator and it’s a hit. Everyone loves the narration of this audiobook, but they especially love the narrator who does Wit’s voice (though he also does a few others).

Everyone also agrees that the beginning was slow and boring. They didn’t like all the whining Victor did about Alejandra having to go to another ship because they seemed to be getting a little to close for being cousins. However, once Lem bumps El Cavador the action picks up until the end.

Also in agreement is their opinion that Wit is an awesome character with mad skillz and that he was pretty smart and not crazy for training his men to fight an alien invasion. They can’t wait to see the MOPs kick some alien ass in the next book.

They believe Victor was pretty brave to take a quickship to Luna base. A & T said they aren’t ever leaving Earth (me either for that matter), but K said he’d go to outer space in a heartbeat. Well, he does love astronomy, so I shouldn’t be surprised. The 7 month trip in the quickship lead to the discussion of bone loss and zero gravity vs bone density and gravity. I hope I explained it right. We were in the car and I had no Google to consult. lol

All-in-all a great sci-fi book. The kids are looking forward to listening to Book 2, Earth Afire.

Time Turner Tuesday ~ Freedom's Ransom

Title ~ Freedom's Ransom

Series ~ Catteni, #4

Author ~ Anne McCaffrey

Publisher ~ Putnam

Published ~ 1 May 2002

Genre ~ Sci-Fi

*Book source ~ My home library.

My Rating ~ 4 bites

Having overthrown the Eosi overlords in Freedom’s Challenge, the survivors on Botany, Earth and all the other newly free planets must figure out a way to do more than survive. They need to thrive and in order to do that they need things that the Catteni have looted for the Eosi. Once again, Zainal steps into the breach and comes up with a plan to help all the planets. But is it too far of a reach?

Being free of the Eosi is only the first step and who knew what it would take to get Earth up and running again, not to mention finding what the people of Botany need in order to stay in communication with Earth, Catten and the other planets. I sure didn’t grasp the massive undertaking until Zainal, Kris and everyone else had to tackle it in this book. The clever way they go about it is ingenious and the fact that coffee has become a major form of payment says a lot for its caffeine addictive qualities. I personally can’t stand the stuff, but if it can addict the Catteni enough to use it as payment for much needed technological goods then have it I say. All of the bargaining and trading and rebuilding is endlessly interesting. And the idea of using Botany as a vacation planet has merit. All-in-all a great ending to a favorite series.

Walking on Wednesday with Audios ~ Star Trek: 2009 Movie Tie-In

Title ~ Star Trek

Author ~ Alan Dean Foster

Narrator ~ Zachary Quinto

Publisher ~ Simon & Schuster Audio

Published ~ 12 May 2009

Genre ~ Sci-Fi

*Book source ~ Purchased at Audible.com

Our Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble out of 5

Space, the final frontier. Or is it? When an insane revenge-bound Romulan flies a war ship into not only Federation space, but into the past he breaks what might be the final final frontier…time. Nero’s heinous actions change the Federation’s past and everything, or just about everything, is new again in this reboot of the Star Trek franchise.

My guest reviewers for today are:

My 16-yr-old daughter A

My 14-yr-old son T

My 13-yr-old son K

My kids and I listened to this audio a few years after we saw the movie. So, while we saw the movie in 2009 and we do have the DVD it wasn’t fresh in our minds at the time of the listening.

Everyone agreed that the book was awesome, funny, action-packed and had more detail than the movie. Everyone also agreed that narrator Zachary Quinto was good and they liked when he did Spock’s voice best. Of course they would since he was the one portraying Spock in the movie. *rolls eyes*

A said that she enjoyed that the book had more detail than the movie while K said he didn’t care about the extra detail and T was neutral on the subject and asked if we were done yet. *sigh*

A stated she liked the book more than the movie, K liked the movie more than the book and T liked them both equally and said he was missing football on tv.

Is everyone getting an idea of what it’s like around here? lol

All-in-all the consensus is: This story is awesome as a book or movie.

Time Turner Tuesday ~ Freedom's Challenge

Title ~ Freedom's Challenge

Series ~ Catteni, #3

Author ~ Anne McCaffrey

Publisher ~ Putnam Books

Published ~ 1 May 1998

Genre ~ Sci-Fi

*Book source ~ My home library.

My Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble out of 5 

The dropped survivors on Botany have come a long way from those first days when they had virtually nothing. They are living very well with many comforts of home and they are at the brink of ending the Eosi domination of several species and many planets and Kris Bjornson and Zainal are at the center of things. Making a good life on Botany isn’t enough for Zainal though. He intends to destroy the Eosi for enslaving his people for two thousand years and for enslaving other worlds as well. However, the final piece of the plan will only work at great sacrifice to himself. Will his plan work and, more importantly, will he survive it?

Once again I’m plunged into the fight for survival, the fight to free Earth, Botany and many other planets and how everyone works together for the greater good of the community. It’s an awesome ride. All of the pieces of the puzzle come together and if they do so a little too neatly I’m not going to argue. I love this series and I love watching how everyone handles their part of the Great Plan despite overwhelming odds. A fast-flowing plot, great writing and wonderful characters keep me engaged from beginning to end. Anne McCaffrey always has so much going on and yet manages to keep the books to a reasonable length. There’s just no way to summarize her stories without going on and on about everything that’s happening. All I can say is this; open to the first page and hang onto your britches. It's going to be a wild ride.

Time Turner Tuesday ~ Freedom's Choice

Title ~ Freedom's Choice

Series ~ Catteni, #2

Author ~ Anne McCaffrey

Publisher ~ Putnam Books

Published ~ 1 January 1997

Genre ~ Sci-Fi

*Book source ~ My home library.

My Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble out of 5

In Freedom’s Landing after Kris Bjornson, Zainal, Chuck Mitford and hundreds of others had been dropped on a distant planet to colonize it for the Catteni they discovered it was inhabited by automated machines farming the land. Taking apart the machines to create usable items for themselves they’ve made a pretty good life for themselves.

However, they want more and need to get out from under the Catteni’s thumb. With Zainal’s help they intend to strike back at the Catteni and in doing so strike at the Eosi who have controlled the Catteni for two thousand years. With some strategic planning and a lot of luck they intend to free the Catteni and Earth from Eosi domination.

This story picks up where Freedom’s Landing left off. A probe has been sent to the whoever farms Botany and Zainal has made it plain to the Emassi who came to retrieve him that he was dropped and he will stay. Since he has refused to return and face his duty, his brother must take his place and be subsumed by an Eosi Mentat. The towering hatred Lenvec feels for Zainal intrigues the Eosi named Ix and soon Ix is consumed with the curiosity about the  planet Botany and finding Zainal. Since it is quite unusual for an Eosi Mentat to become obsessed this behave starts to draw the attention of other Eosi.

In the meantime, the Botanists are setting up a three stage plan to free themselves from the Eosi and the Farmers of the planet help protect them from attack by encasing the planet in a protective Bubble after they have acquired a scout ship and a cargo ship. The Botantists are allowed to go in and out of the Bubble, but nothing else is allowed in. Since the Farmers live according to the ‘Do no harm.’ rule, the Bubble is the extent of their help.

There is so much going on in this book that it’s hard to know where to start. Zainal’s refusal to leave, Lenvec’s subsumption by Ix, exploring Botany, a visit by the Farmers, several more slave drops on Botany by the Catteni increasing their population by thousands, a raid on Barevi, building homes, having children, adding one more ship to the fleet and planning how to stop the Eosi make for a jam-packed book. Even with everything going on the story flows along smoothly and at a good clip. I love watching it all come together and look forward to the next book to see how it’s all going to play out.

Time Turner Tuesday ~ Freedom's Landing

Title ~ Freedom's Landing

Series ~ Catteni, #1

Author ~ Anne McCaffrey

Publisher ~ Ace/Putnam

Published ~ 24 May 1995

Genre ~ Sci-Fi

*Book source ~ My home library.

My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5

Kris Bjornsen was going about her day at Denver University when the Catteni attacked Earth. Scooping up citizens by the thousands from 50 cities around the world the Catteni ships took their new slaves to Barevi, a planet used by the Catteni for R&R and a depot for their purloined goods from around the galaxy. Kris manages to escape her new ‘master’ and is hiding out in the wilds of Barevi when a chance encounter with Zainal, an Emassi (or high ranking Catteni), changes her life yet again. Gassed during a riot she and Zainal are dumped onto an empty world the Catteni have chosen for the aliens to colonize. Terrans make up the largest group, but there are also Deski, Rugarians, Turs and Ilginish. Fortunately for them, they have Zainal who knows a little bit about the initial survey of the planet. Unfortunately for Zainal, no one likes Catteni and there’s a large consensus to kill him. Chuck Mitford, a retired Marine, takes charge of the motley crew and makes a command decision to keep Zainal alive. For now. With only knives, hatchets, blankets and ration bars, they have to work together to survive on an alien planet.

I love, love, love this book. There’s something about survival books I really like and I think it’s because I put myself into that situation and wonder how well I’d do. But this isn’t just any old survival situation on Earth where you can hope to eventually find civilization. Cell phones, a grocery store, a bed, hot water, a toothbrush. Forget it. This is an alien planet. Completely unknown. What is safe to eat? What will kill me? Are there dangerous animals? Is there shelter? What kind of weather is to be expected and how long are the days? Or nights? Back to basics in a way that’s hard to do on Earth anymore.  

I’ve read this book (and the whole series) several times over the years and I’ve enjoyed it each and every time. So much to do and so much to explore with people and aliens who are strangers. The book mostly follows Kris as she survives on the planet they name Bounty and once again it kept me enthralled the whole time. The world is unique, the writing is wonderful and I love the characters. There is action, mystery, humor and even romance. All-in-all an excellent sci-fi adventure.