Apophis-Into the Folds of Darkness

Apophis – Into the Folds of Darkness

by Raj Anand 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Sci-fi, Science Fiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

January, 2022: A dark monstrous twin-headed apparition – Apophis – feverishly races past the expanse of the Milky Way galaxy and bolts to the edge of the solar system. Recklessly accelerating, the sinister rock-dyad enters the gravitational keyhole of the blue planet and continues its resolute inebriated journey – to soon arrive with an apocalyptic impact on Earth.

December, 2012: Five sentient beings born in different cities – New York, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Azores Islands and Istanbul, discover amongst haunting memories of their phantasmal past lives, that it is their destiny to save humanity from the evil forces unleashed by the alien fiends – the Skyllats.

And now, the reincarnated 9-year-olds must rely on their shared, ancient wisdom to prepare humanity for the war across the galaxy that is imminent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

The Barred Spiral Milky Way Galaxy

At the Edge of the Solar System

January 17, 2022 (Earth Time)

A dark monstrous apparition, slingshot from across another realm, camouflaged in a jagged, charcoal black rock, adroitly surfed the gravitational waves of the universe. Feverishly racing past the expanse of the Milky Way galaxy, it bolted to the edge of the solar system and arrived from above the plane of the ecliptic – gyrating closer to the sun.

The dark fiend continued its charge forward, cutting across the path of Venus – nearly crashing onto it, before it deftly decelerated and reached a stable orbit in a retrograde rotation around the pale-yellow planet. This tenacious temporary satellite immediately scrambled to steal a fragment of the protesting planet’s enormous momentum. Catapulted along the plain of the ecliptic, recklessly accelerating at an impossible speed – it shattered, splitting into two.

The newly formed rock dyad – a small black moon orbiting a sphere of death – pulled free from Venus. It continued its inebriated journey, salivating at the opportunity to rain a resolute chaos upon an orphic azure-blue bubble still 40 million kilometers away.

Unbeknownst to the alien rock dyad, a faint sliver of gold orbited nearby. The 7.5-meter-tall and 3.2-meter wide Sentinel Space Telescope clothed in a gold foil, with a giant heat-reflector shield strung along its back; cooled to 40 degrees Kelvin by a two stage, closed cycle Stirling cryocooler. Its 0.51-meter aluminum mirror, dutifully scanned any and all Inner Earth Objects larger than 90 meters in diameter that ever dared to fly across its 200-degree angle of regard.

The Sentinel Observatory, alarmed by the presence of the ghostly twin-headed monster, recorded the black rock dyad’s trajectory, shape, size, mass, and rotational dynamics, before it urgently sent a coded message to its home base in southern Japan.

A Word From the Author:

1. What have you got coming soon for us to look out for?

I have begun writing the second book of The Kleos Chronicles, the chapter outline is nearly done and research on aspects of the story is underway.

In parallel I am also working on a novella, a raucous, feisty comedy fully of profanity, based on a contemporary version of the famous Greek tragedy – Oedipus Rex. I had written a profanity-laden short story some time back based on the two principle characters Oedipus Rex and Pytho the Clairvoyant. 

In the novella Oedipus is OEDIOT and Pytho – PHYTHOG – a clairvoyant dog! The story begins as they together walk late night on the streets of New York in the early 1980’s….

2. What book has most influenced your own writing?

I am not sure that I can answer that, because I have an eclectic taste in books ranging from Science Fiction, Philosophy and Greek Tragedies. But given the context of this my first book APOPHIS – Into the Folds of Darkness, I would submit that a book that had a deep influence was The Celestine Prophecy written in 1993 by James Redfield.

The book delves into spirituality and our connection with the divine through a series of Insights – a wonderful piece of storytelling! I remember reading it in 1995-1996 and thinking that if I ever wrote a book, then I would love to follow a similar technique. Where an exciting adventure is layered with philosophy and a deeper insight into the meaning of life.  

3. First book you remember making an indelible impression on you.

I would have to say two books made a deep impression when I was around 15 years old. Lust for Life by Irving Stone and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. The first of course was based on the life of Vincent Van Gogh and his inner battles with his art and reality. It portrayed the epic journey of an artist, who struggled for much of his life, to reside within an uncommon world of beautiful colors, landscapes and reflections of nature that has captivated us, ever since.

The Fountainhead, hooked me immediately with its vivid storytelling and the struggle of another artist, in this case an architect - Howard Roark. I think I finished the book in three days straight – I just could not put it down! In some ways the epic story writing of Ayn Rand has been an influence in my writing too. Although, my high school English teacher warned me several times to not get too close to Ayn Rand, but I still did read all of her books.

4. How do you develop your plot and characters?

Well, I am certainly not a Pantzer, that’s for sure! Once I am clear on the subject of my story – the larger idea! Then I chart out an extensive research program, flesh out the characters, understand the space where the story will take place, and outline the underlying message of the story. At times this process and methodology takes many months and in the case of APOPHIS – over one and a half years of pure research, before I began to write the book.

Once I sense that this process is complete, then I begin to write the first draft. But the actual writing process remains instinctive, intuitive and at times illogical. I let the characters speak, go down lanes that I could not have imagined during my research. Often, I stop writing and get back to my research, because the character or the characters have decided to take a different path or journey. 

But at all times, I let the characters decide… on what should happen next.

5. Describe your writing space.

When I am in the thick of things, and setting out the story and the chapter outline. I prefer a brightly lit room with an expansive window, surrounded with books, several pin-up boards and writing boards. 

By the time I finished writing APOPHIS, there were more than fifteen pin-up and writing boards on the walls of my study. I had added dozens of books to my library, collected hundreds of articles, YouTube videos, several series of lectures by renowned Professors of Science Fiction, Chinese history, Indian history, Egyptian history and Greek history.

-->

Given that I still work in the paper world and not completely in the digital world. By the end of writing APOPHIS, I had ten large notebooks full of notes and writings; and twelve box-files full of photocopies and notes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Savinder Raj Anand is an architect and has been teaching Architecture & Design at various Universities in India for more than 12 years. A long-distance runner with a wanderlust to explore the world, and write stories that traverse across diverse cultures. He lives in Goa with his daughter, a dog, and two cats. 

Inspired by his then 18-month-old daughter – when she quoted Socrates – while they together sat in a children’s bookstore in Bangalore (LIGHTROOM) in early January of 2015, he has completed this – his first book – as she turns 7 years old.

The book is $0.99 During the Tour

https://www.rajanandbooks.com/

https://www.instagram.com/rajanandbooks/

https://www.facebook.com/rajanandbooks/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXPA0eY42VQ

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dream Phaze

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Matt Watters will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Everyone dreams.

All Saxon Zynn wanted to do was dream, not for himself, but for everyone. Back in 2037, Saxon stated, ‘Dreaming is a reality to be experienced.' A decade of research later and his Dream Immersion technology is poised to become the major entertainment medium of the 21st century, but will unforeseen obstacles prevent him from achieving his purpose?

Dream Phaze is about the inception of engineered dreams and the evolution of indulgence. Set at the crossroads of alternative realities in the near future, it plunges into a world where every human desire, no matter how heroic or evil, can be fulfilled… dreaming just became an adventure.

Read an Excerpt

‘Is that achievable, Saxon?’ Walt asked.

Saxon sat silent for what seemed like minutes. Everyone waited for his response. Responsibility sat heavily upon his face as he wiped sweat from his top lip. His decision would either propel the project at breakneck speed or keep it on the existing timeline. ‘We still have months of testing but…possibly. We’ll have to cut a few corners, increase content production, but we’ll have the bare bones ready for a limited soft launch.’

‘You may not want to hear this, darling, but there are benefits from this unexpected situation. The media gaze has shifted away from Tremaine Group issues and focused on ZynnComm. We can feed this media storm and whip it up into a hurricane of public anticipation. The speculation on social media is nothing short of phenomenal. ZynnComm is trending worldwide; we can’t buy this sort of publicity,’ Margo added.

‘Okay,’ Walt sighed. ‘Then it’s agreed. I know this isn’t how you wanted the project to play out, Saxon, but I agree with Alfred and Margo, we need to move quickly on this and bring the release forward. Alfred, ramp up all unit production, and Margo, instruct PR to organise a few controlled leaks through the usual channels. We need to capitalise on this.’ He turned back to Alfred. ‘Tell Chen from security I want his report on yesterday’s meeting by tomorrow.’

‘Yes, Walt,’ Alfred answered.

‘Saxon, you need to light a fire under your content teams.’

‘Will do.’

‘Have you decided on the name for our retail distribution division?’ Walt asked.

‘Lucid,’ Saxon answered.

‘That was my choice too,’ Walt concurred. ‘The two of you need to stay put for the next week or so while marketing leaks the imminent product launch,’ he suggested to Saxon and Margo. ‘Ah, and Margo, we’re going with Gerber Global Advertising as our exclusive partner for product placement in experiences. Your negotiating and recommendation was spot on, thank you.’

‘GGA will be very lucrative for ZynnComm,’ Margo assured them.

‘Users still have the final choice if they want advertising, correct?’ Saxon asked Margo.

‘Of course. Ad free experiences will attract a slightly higher premium.’

About the Author: Matt lives in Sydney, Australia and works as a course developer and writer in the Community Services sector.

'This narrative began as a short story in 2014. Over subsequent years it evolved through several plot, character and title iterations until Dream Phaze emerged as an episodic series published online in 2018. These episodes, collectively known as Germination, are now an ebook.

Dream Phaze - Imagination, the second ebook in the series, will be released in September 2020.

Matt is a member of the Australian Society of Authors and Alliance of Independent Authors.

Dream Phaze website: http://www.dreamphaze.com
Buy Dream Phaze- Germination here: https://books2read.com/dreamphaze1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dreamphaze/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dreamphaze1
Goodeads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19559598.Matt_Watters

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Harvest

Harvest

byOlga Werby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE:   Science Fiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Almost a century after Keres Triplets asteroid impact and subsequent nuclear exchange almost ended all human life on Earth, a strange artifact is discovered on one of the moons of Saturn. Who should be sent to the outer reaches of the solar system to initiate the first contact with an alien culture? Dr. Varsaad Volhard, an evolutionary-socio-historian, is chosen to help the world understand the alien civilization that left an artifact some thirty thousand years ago, before humans even learned to farm, at the time when other human species still walked the earth. While Vars prepares for the mission, her father, Dr. Matteo Volhard, discovers nanobots among the microplastics he studies. The bots are everywhere and seem to have been created to bond with human cyber implants. Why? Matteo is made to keep his discovery a secret...as well as his and his daughter's true origins. Both were donated to a Human DNA Vault as babies. Matteo was raised as a Seed before leaving with his young daughter to study ecology around the world. Who knows what? Who is in control? How does one communicate with non-human intelligence? People seem to die in gruesome ways as their cyberhumatics go haywire on Earth and on Luna and Mars colonies. Is Earth under attack or is it all just a cosmic misunderstanding? Vars needs to use all she knows to solve the mystery of the ancient civilization on Mimas, as her dad battles the alien nanobots at home.

Author Interview:

1. Did you always want to be an author?

I first thought I was going to be a children’s book illustrator when I grew up. Then I was “taught” a thing or two. I freaked out and double majored in math and astrophysics, working at NASA while still in college. I decided that I wanted to be an astronaut. But I was a girl, and soon after graduation I was runover by a car and now have to use a cane to walk. I don’t think these should have been showstoppers (being a woman certainly was). I still wanted to go into space… But then I get to do that by writing about it. I go fartherin my books than I can in any of the latest rockets. So I’m living my dream, right?

2. Tell us about the publication of your first book.

I wrote my first full-sized fiction book in 2009, “Suddenly, Paris,” with my partner and husband, Christopher. (We survived the project and even wrote a few more books together! That’s the power of love.) 

I wanted to write about a strong, smart girl who was up to the task of saving the world by herself, if necessary. In some ways, it was a rebellion to “Twilight.” As a teacher, I saw lots of middle school girls reading that book. When asked, they tended to reply that what attracted them the most to “Twilight” was the idea of someone loving a girl like that and providing for her and protecting her. From the psychological standpoint, the relationship described in “Twilight” is not a healthy one. No girl/woman should feel like she is going to die if her current romance doesn’t work out. I wanted to write a character that showed another example. In “Suddenly, Paris,” the heroine was very much in love, but she was willing to fight and to save the world. She was willing to do what’s right. She didn’t sulk…well, not much.

“Suddenly, Paris” went on to win a few awards, including being placed on the Long List for The James Tipree Jr. Award in 2016. You can read the first few chapters of here: https://interfaces.com/blog/suddenly-paris/

So that was my first book. Since then, I’ve focused on developing strong characters, interesting plots, and ideas that are heavily influenced by real science and current events. I’ve even written a sequel to “Suddenly, Paris”: “Coding Peter.” Humans learn best when information is wrapped in a compelling story. I also wanted to write about people that are not the usual heroes of books—homeless kids, misfits, grandmothers, mobility-impaired, autistic, the underclass of our society, the forgotten. Fiction is great at developing empathy. I wanted to turn the full power of fiction into empathy engine! Sounds a bit preachy, I know, but I think my stories are good and fun to read in addition to being meaningful.

3. Beside yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

I read. I read voraciously and in many different genres. I read scientific articles. I read academic papers (I also write those). But I write in the genres of science fiction and magical realism. I believe a story needs characters that are believable and to whom people can relate. I find that the books I like least have one thing in common—characters that are not sympathetic. If a reader doesn’t like the main character(s), how are they going to enjoy the book? 

When we read, we place ourselves into the fictional world of the book. We try on for size the problems and joys the characters experience in the story. If there is no one in a book worth caring about, then the story is ultimately a failure, in my opinion. That’s true for movies and TV shows, too. People like to read about people they admire or empathize with. Take that away, and what’s left are some flat caricatures of people, explosions, and perhaps some interesting locations. That’s not enough to hold the reader’s interest.

So which authors do I like to read? Well, that very mush depends on whom I reading now. In general, I like Orson Scott Card for his amazing ability to plot and construct a compelling story. I love Brandon Sanderson because he always gives a good story and he is very generous with his advice as an author. I love Brent Weeks because he is great at magic systems. Patrick Rothfuss for his “The Slow Regard of Silent Things.” Scott Lynch for the “Gentleman Bastards” series. Claire North for her imagination! Octavia Butler for fierceness and clarity of vision. There are so many amazing authors out there, not all of them write fiction or science fiction.

4. What's the best part of being an author? The worst?

Authors are lucky to devote their lives to creating fictional universes and amazing characters to populate them. There is a breathtaking freedom to play and explore imagination. It feels like if you are a writer, you will never grow old. You get to live forever, because some parts of you stay behind in the minds others…strangers you’ve never met! But writers today have to do more than just write. 

A modern writer has to do so much more to envision new worlds and conjure up new civilizations populated with all sorts of interesting people that we all care about. She has to promote and market her books. She has to talk about herself and hopefully inspire readers to pick up her book next. She has to be on social media and post and tweet and talk, talk, talk, talk… For a shy individual, this is a very hard thing to do. I try…

5. What are you working on now?

I’m currently finishing up “God of Small Affairs.” In some ways, this is the opposite story from “Harvest.” While “Harvest” focused on real science and extrapolated it as far as possible, “God of Small Affairs” is about mythology, about gods who walk the earth and help shape the human race into what it has become. It is a more intimate story. It focuses on a small town in Wisconsin and it’s aging population that is in the process of becoming irrelevant due the pressures of progress. During a murder investigation, a god tries to find the best path into the future for this community. It’s a human drama with a mythical twist.

You can read the first few chapters of “God of Small Affairs” here:https://interfaces.com/blog/my-books/god-of-small-affairs/

I hope to release “God of Small Affairs” in a few months.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

“The exton controls are not responding!” Marc shouted into his exoskeleton spacesuit helmet.

His exoskeleton was the heavy-duty dirt-and-boulder-mover type. Move a ton with exton. Right now, Marc was really just an intelligent bulldozer with life support. But the suit had disconnected from his D-tats, the personal computing device tattoos embedded in his lower arms and jaw, and his directional controls were busted. Now his exoskeleton acted with a mind of its own, moving him away from the construction site and out into the open Martian landscape. He needed to get back to the Malfy–an affectionate acronym for Martians Live Free, a city-sized habitat being built for the next wave of planetary immigrants.

“Marc?” his SB responded from the inside Malfy’s operational center. “What’s on the fritz this time?” Every contractor working outside was in constant communication with a personally assigned safety buddy. “I can’t seem to toss the controls over to my side.” In an emergency, Marc’s SB could take over the controls of his exton and bring him in, even if he was unconscious.

“I’ve got nothing!” Marc was more irritated than scared. This was his second equipment failure in as many months, and their group of union builders had reported three more to the management since the start of the project about two hundred days ago. It was always the same MO: at the end of a shift, the movement controls failed to respond to their operators’ commands, taking the builders out into the desert; and yet, after the rescue when the equipment was checked out, the engineers found nothing wrong with the extons. The first time it happened to Marc, he was even accused of faking the failure to get extra time off for hazardous conditions. As if construction work on Mars wasn’t dangerous in and of itself. Fortunately, Marc’s supervisor made everyone carry extra oxygen and a spare battery pack after the first few incidents. Just in case. Inconvenient for sure, but it was better than being stuck out of breath without a heater among the Martian dunes in minus 125 degrees Celsius.

“Send someone out to get me,” Marc said. “It’s an official request.”

“Are you sure, Marc? You know if they don’t find anything again—”

“I’m telling you, I’ve got nothing. Everything is dead on my side.”

“Yeah, mine too,” Marc’s SB agreed. “I’ll get Greg out there. But he won’t be happy. He just got his exton off and you’ll be cutting into his three days off period.”

“Tell him that I’d go if it was him out here. And tell him to hurry up about it.” The earliest he could expect Greg to arrive would be at least an hour, probably more–it took time get these darn things on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Olga Werby, Ed.D., has a Doctorate from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on designing online learning experiences. She has a Master's degree from U.C. Berkeley in Education of Math, Science, and Technology. She has been creating computer-based projects since 1981 with organizations such as NASA (where she worked on the Pioneer Venus project), Addison-Wesley, and the Princeton Review. Olga has a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Astrophysics from Columbia University. She became an accidental science fiction indie writer about a decade ago, with her first book, "Suddenly Paris," which was based on then fairly novel idea of virtual universes. Her next story, "The FATOFF Conspiracy," was a horror story about fat, government bureaucracy, and body image. She writes about characters that rarely get represented in science fiction stories -- homeless kids, refugees, handicapped, autistic individuals -- the social underdogs of our world. Her stories are based in real science, which is admittedly stretched to the very limit of possible. She has published almost a dozen fiction books to date and has won many awards for her writings. Her short fiction has been featured in several issues of "Alien Dimensions Magazine," "600 second saga," "Graveyard Girls," "Kyanite Press' Fables and Fairy Tales," "The Carmen Online Theater Group's Chronicles of Terror," with many more stories freely available on her blog, Interfaces.com.

Links:

http://www.interfaces.com/blog/

amazon.com/author/olgawerby

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4056895.Olga_Werby

https://www.facebook.com/OlgaWerby/

https://twitter.com/OlgaWerby

http://Pipsqueak.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDE3BNceupMYgvoaoAps2mg

https://www.linkedin.com/in/olgawerby/

Selected Book Links on Amazon:

“Harvest”:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8HGKWN/

“Becoming Animals”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078P6BB6K/

“Suddenly, Paris”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014OM5158/

“The FATOFF Conspiracy”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014S0W4WO/

“Twin Time”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZM578L/

“Lizard Girl & Ghost: The Chronicles of DaDA Immortals”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FBR7Q1T/

“Coding Peter”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LFP45WC/

“Pigeon”:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014TZ1TQA/

“Fresh Seed”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FFDZNYB/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

Olga Werby will be awarding 2 books to a randomly drawn commenter (LIZARD GIRL AND GHOST and SUDDENLY, PARIS) via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Inanna Phantom

Inanna Phantom

by Hawk MacKinney

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE:   Science Fiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

The threat of rift invasions seem long passed. Plentiful harvests abound. The Murian first-contact Terato Outpost has grown into the sprawling Terato-Murian Terminus Terato with a hub of relay portals reaching across the vast uncharted galactic expanses and connecting with its eon-extinct Lantaraan prehistory.

An exploratory Terato-Murian Jupiterr outpost is established on the gas giant seventh planet, and its quantum and gravitational energies are used to power outpost portals for an archeological survey of the fourth planet, Eorthe.

The Lantaraan database aboard Terato’s ancient Downday moon shows that one or more planets of the Solaris planets have apparently been lost. Expanded archeological records on other Lantaraan orbital bodies in the Solaris system show the fourth planet from the star—Eorthe—to be a sterile wasteland. Except it is not. Eorthe’s civilization is not to the level of the Murian Empire, but it is far advanced to those of a pastoral Terato. Terato and Eorthe form the confederated United Terran League under the nominal figurehead leader of League High Judikarr Eklam a’Qoc.

Jupiterr outpost expands into a major League stronghold, Jupiterr Base, when civil unrest erupts in the League, the unexpected return of rift intrusions threatens, and the Murian Emperor Klarvko Celo is assassinated.

As they prepare for confrontations with an unknown ancient enemy, the internal tensions on Myr and Eorthe push Murians and Teratoans to dangerous discords.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

The first anomalies were logged by remote nanoparticle quantum-field sensor arrays positioned on uninhabited dwarf planets, moons and long-orbit asteroids of the star systems of the League. The inconsistencies were short sub-fracture durations and were seismically unremarkable. Across the League’s far-flung frontier systems, seasoned operators monitored the encoded decryption of the scan-logs. Through decades of use, the linknet had become indispensable; supplanting the slower interstellar particle entanglement-based trans-light travel. Linknet protocols established allowances for such random background fluctuations with standard deviations measured against system parameters. The diverse configurations of the link systems were accepted as fail-safe.

Senior specialists assigned to Terminus Terra II protocol-consoles maintained continuous scans for minor time-sync misaligns. Scan records were stored in Murian-designed crystals in tiered sublevels of mantle crust beneath Terminus and in Myraa City. Link schedules of freight shipments, personnel, and communications remained on tight schedules.

The erratic anomalous spacetime oscillations data was logged. The ruse was almost perfect. Except star-core substrate logs registered converter power for the unsanctioned personnel requisition of translinks coordinates for specific network portals. It was a simple oversight but one that had sa s'Blikova'at consequences. Besides, waiting one more day wouldn’t matter.

            

The following morning Marleen and her three sons would be alone.

Chatting With the Author

  1.Did you always want to be an author? Absolutely – from day-1 & the first serial mystery written for my 6^th grade class paper (a weekly one-page biggy). I luved writing it. I was hooked.

2.Tell us about the publication of your first book. 

Moccasin Trace - historical romance, prequel to the Moccasin Hollow mysteries, and my first book published by a traditional, royalty-paying publisher.

The construct of Moccasin Trace involved many aspects of the tale told. The historical had to be well-referenced, then re-referenced several more times after the so-called expert at a major university edited out colonial parishes except for Louisiana - which wasn’t a colony! Parishes stayed in the manuscript – censoring history is ethically brain-dead-dumb & NOT permitted. The political had to be considered BUT only as a background for setting & supporting characters. The emotional aspects of it being a romance – a love story that changed lives in the conflicts& upheaval of the American Civil War and gave strength to bloodlines that reached across generations into the lives of other characters. All the genres – all in bundle. The writing was the fun – multiple editing was a great learning experience – publication was a business arrangement. Marketing was the work – but that’s another tale.

3.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in? I don’t write in genres – it limits the expections of the tale being spun. 

4.What's the best part of being an author? Using words from countries beyond the river/mountain culture I grew up in to breathe life into make-believe worlds on this planet & others that NASA is discovering. This applies both to my science fiction series and my mystery series.

The worst? Not enough time to create the worlds & characters & fantasies being explored.

5.What are you working on now?

            Sci-fi - The Cairns of Sainctuarie

Vol I – The Bleikovat Event - published

Vol II – The Missing Planets - published

Vol III – Inanna Phantom - published

Vol IV - [galley edit]

            Mystery thrillers - The Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series

            Bk I – Hidden Chamber of Death - published

            Bk II – Westobou Gold - published

            Bk III – Curse of the Ancients - published

            Bk IV – Dead Gold - published

            Bk V – [galley edit]

            Bk VI – [3^rd edit]

            Bk VII – [draft edit]

            Historical Romance - Moccasin Trace - published           

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Hawk has authored several works of fiction including a historical romance Moccasin Trace which was nominated for both the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award. His Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series and his Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series have received national and international attention.

With postgraduate degrees and faculty positions in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. His professional writing includes articles on chordate neuroembryology, and aerospace research on muscle metabolic behavior in multi-orbital environments.

www.hawkmackinney.net

Book Video: https://youtu.be/MUnhN8U0Zp0

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ HawkMacKinney

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/698008.Hawk_MacKinney

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Inanna-Phantom-Cairns-Sainctuarie-Book-ebook/dp/B07Y2DQRT3/ref=sr_1_1

Barnes&Noble.com: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inanna-phantom-hawk-mackinney/1133914447?ean=9781732918252

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

Hawk MacKinney will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway