Tag Archives: Action Adventure

Chase The Rabbit by Steven M Thomas.

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Chase The Rabbit: Gretch Bayonne Action Adventure Series Book #1 Kindle Edition

by Steven M. Thomas (Author), Haans Peterson (Illustrator), Nick Russell (Foreword)
From the barrooms of New York City, to the movie studios of Hollywood, Steven M. Thomas has crafted a tale of intrigue that captures the early 1930’s as freelance writer Gretch “Bay” Bayonne attempts to unravel the mystery of why a dedicated family man would abandon his life for no apparent reason. Along the way he encounters movies stars, Nazis, and newspaper tycoons, and barters a banana for a mysterious gold key stolen by a runaway monkey on a walkway atop the magnificent dirigible Graf Zeppelin. This first book in the Bay series is sure to grab readers from the first page and will not let go until the last!

Looking for a book to cuddle up to on this first cool weekend.

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David Winter Mysteries – Fly Paper Soup Kindle Edition

by Cleve Sylcox (Author), Lee Sylcox (Editor), Vickie Jacobs Struckmann (Editor)
13 reviews 4.9 Average.

Attorney, David Winter kicks back on the Florida beach soaking in the sunshine and watching the ladies stroll by. When his old Army buddy, Sean asks him to defend his aunt in a murder case, David doesn’t think twice and leaves the sun and sand for Missouri’s ice and snow to help his old pal. Seems Aunt Sharon’s past time was killing husbands and getting rich off their insurance policies. Not even Sean’s generosity—a BMW 528i with chauffeur, 100 grand plus expenses and a luxury apartment–all at David’s disposal—can save Aunt Sharon from the needle!

The more David investigates, the more accomplices keep coming out of the woodwork. When he’s shot, drugged and hit over the head, David takes it personally—but that’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg! He faces a startling truth, which nearly destroys him and his faith in all he holds dear. But lady justice isn’t blind and unforgiving of those who shake her scales. As an instrument of law, David must once again become the hardened soldier honed on the battlefields of VietNam and stand toe to toe with unscrupulous prosecutors, and a judge wanting a quick trial. Buckle your safety belt…you are in for a wild ride.

“Loved the suspense and dark humor in Sylcox’s story. A quick read that I could easily see adapted for TV or a movie. I look forward to reading the next David Winter mystery.”

“What a fun read. A likable protagonist, witty dialogue, a twisting plot and a cast of characters that come at protagonist David Winters from all angles. The prologue alone made it worth buying!”

“The story line moves right along and keeps the reader involved through the developments. There are a couple of good twists in the plot, although an astute mystery reader will find them lurking in the background and have guessed them. The more challenging puzzles are the killer’s identity and motivation.”

Interview with Vikki Kestell

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Interview with Vikki Kestell

Thanks for inviting me to this interview, Cleve! I appreciate the opportunity to connect with new sci-fi/fantasy readers.

  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Well, I actually wrote my first book during one of the darkest periods of my life. It was 1988. I had a pen and a notebook and wrote in that notebook everywhere I went. In three months I had a complete story—and was amazed.

Someone offered to let me use their computer—a Commodore 64! (Woah!) If you don’t know what a Commodore 64 is, let me say that a) it didn’t even have a hard drive, b) each time you used it you had to reinstall the software into (wait for it!) a whopping 64k of RAM, and c) you had to save your writing to five-and-one-half-inch floppy disks! In any event, I learned to use it and have been a technophile ever since.

When I wrote my first book it proved to me that I could start and complete something difficult, and it gave me the courage to go back to school at age 39. I worked and went to school for the next 14 years! I earned my bachelor’s degree in English/professional writing, took a semester off and went back to earn a master’s degree in communication, took two years off and went back to earn a Ph.D. in organizational learning and instructional technologies.

But after working and earning three degrees, guess what? I figured I could write more books! LOL! That is exactly what I am doing now.

  1. Who are your favorite authors?

So many to choose from! Let’s see. I can mention Tom Clancy, Dick Francis, Vince Flynn, Michael Crichton, Brad Thor, James Patterson, and many more. You can see that my reading appetite is varied but tends toward action/adventure and thrillers.

  1. Tell us a bit about your books.

Most of my books are historical fiction. Nanostealth is a new series and a new genre for me, but not a new interest. I love good sci-fi and “hard-science” sci-fi best of all. That’s prolly why Stealthy Steps is an example of contemporary hard-science sci-fi. Not only is the science cutting edge, the setting is real.

I worked for the Department of Defense’s Nuclear Weapons School on Kirtland Air Force Base here in Albuquerque. Among other things, the school taught military personnel how to respond to nuclear or dirty bomb attacks. Part of the school’s instruction was conducted in the old Manzano Weapons Storage Facility where much of the nation’s nuclear stockpile was once stored.

The Manzano facility is composed of a labyrinth of tunnels carved into a small mountain located on the base. The facility inside the mountain was built during the Cold War and includes some very secret “devolution” caverns. Those devolution sites were intended as safe locations for the president to direct the government in the event of a nuclear attack. They were later abandoned without ever being used. They sit empty today.

The first time I set foot in the tunnels I thought, “This is the setting of my next book.”

  1. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

Hard to say, because I don’t like to think backward. I prefer to think forward. That said, I often think, “Gee, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when . . .” usually followed by an unsolved crime or a secret meeting between world leaders. Actually, the invisibility that Kari struggles with in Stealthy Steps came out of just such thoughts. Can you imagine what you could see and overhear if you were invisible?

  1. What attracts you to writing in your genre?

A genre to me is more the setting than the objective. My characters are real to me. I could put them in any genre and they would thrive, but the genre and setting allow my characters “license” that they could not get in another setting. Most of my readers tell me that, in addition to loving my unpredictable plotlines, they become emotionally invested in my characters almost immediately.

  1. Are you planning to participate in any anthologies? Any hints about your story?

I don’t have plans to contribute to an anthology now, but Nanostealth is definitely going to be a three-book series:

Stealthy Steps, Nanostealth | Book 1 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UZEDYVS

Stealth Power, Nanostealth | Book 2, fall 2016

Stealth Beyond Borders, Nanostealth | Book 3, 2017

  1. What do you like to do to relax?

My husband and I have taken up zip lining! We did eight lines in Hawaii over the rain forests on the Big Island and just came back from the Sacramento Mountains in southern New Mexico where we rode the Wind Rider at Ski Apache.

  1. What are you currently working on?

My next release is Tabitha, a story of the Great War. It releases November 2, but is on preorder now at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015HTU4Y0

  1. How can readers connect with you?

I’m always on Facebook, but I’m frequently on Twitter, too. My readers can connect with me on my website (http://www.vikkikestell.com/), on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/TheWritingOfVikkiKestell), or follow me on Twitter @faithfilledfic.

 

Interview with Jex Collyer

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Interview with Jex Collyer

  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m a SciFi writer from Lancaster, UK. I’m a lifetime fan of Star Wars and have always been drawn to narratives that are larger than life. I studied creative writing to MA level and then last year released my first book, Zero, with Dagda Publishing. Zero is book one in the Orbit Series and is character-driven Scifi, described as ‘James Bond meets Firefly’. It made it into Northern Soul Magazine’s ‘Best Reads of 2014’ and the sequel, Haven, is due out on the 24th Oct, which I can’t wait for.

  1. Who are your favorite authors?

That is mighty hard to choose! But I think my absolute favourite authors aren’t actually SciFi. They were formative in developing my taste in fiction as well as my own style of writing and they are Robin Hobb of the Fantasy Farseer Series and Anne Rice of the Vampire Chronicles. They helped me realise that I like my fiction, whether I’m reading or writing it, character-driven, human, gritty with a healthy amount of darkness thrown in.

  1. Tell us a bit about your books.

I’ve had enormous amounts of fun writing the Orbit Series. As I mentioned earlier book one, Zero, came out last year and book two, Haven, is out on Oct 24th. Zero can be found on Amazon and Haven will be up there too as soon as it’s launched.

The series follows the story of Kaleb Hugo, a soldier in a military establishment called the Service that governs the Earth and her orbiting colonies in the not-too-distant future. Hugo holds a prestigious position and has a glittering career ahead of him, until he makes a controversial decision in battle and is publically discharged but secretly re-assigned to captain the undercover black ops vessel the Zero. The Zero is manned by an unruly crew of orphans and misfits who look to their wry and unconventional commander Ezekiel Webb for leadership. During the course of their dangerous underground missions, Hugo comes to experience a whole new way of looking at the world, the Service and himself.

During the course of the series, fate conspires to lead Hugo and Webb down ever darker and more dangerous roads. Both men have to constantly re-learn what it is to depend and trust one another as well as watch their step in the myriad and convoluted politics of the world they live in, where revolution is always just round the corner.

  1. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

  1. What attracts you to writing in your genre?

I like really down-to-earth, realistic, human narratives but I LOVE them set against a larger-than-life backdrop. I find genre fiction so much more interesting and it lets me have much more fun with my characters. Besides, I’ve always had an overly-fertile imagination and so general or literary fiction tends to leave me a little unstimulated.

I write my novels in science fiction in particular just because it’s a life-long love of mine, ever since watching the Star Wars films as a child. I find spaceships, lasers, other planets and the infinite amount of possibilities they offer too tantilising to pass up.

  1. Tell us a little about your books. I see you like to delve into many different genres.

As well as the Orbit Series I have had my short fiction (sometimes this is fantasy, horror, speculative or dystopian as well as Scifi) featured in a number of other publications. I enjoy all sorts of genre fiction and use short stories as a chance to stretch my story-writing muscles and try something different. I particularly like to dabble in horror around Halloween time, so watch out on my wordpress (http://jcollyer.wordpress.com) as I often like to post a free ghost story for the occasion.

I find contributing to anthologies and publishing free shorts in different genres helps me to keep my hand in with all the genres I love, and there are a lot of them, as well as a useful way to keep those story telling techniques keen.

  1. Are you planning to participate in any more anthologies? Any hints about your story?

The dystopian SciFi ‘No Way Home’ anthology  that featured one of my stories and came out in March this year did so well that the collective is discussing releasing a follow up anthology called ‘Crime and Punishment’. I have already drafted and submitted my story.  It is set in future of our own planet and is about a newly retired military counsellor, Felix Dalton, who has been roped in to persuade a young man accused of murder to explain to his accusers just how he managed to kill seventeen people without touching them. He claims powers of the occult, but Felix suspects there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

  1. What do you like to do to relax?

Relaxation, ha! I think I remember that. Writing novels takes up most of my spare time. When I do get ahead and find some time for myself I like to walk in the countryside and read.

  1. What are you currently working on?

I’m currently drafting book 3 in the Orbit Series. I’m having tremendous fun and suspect this will be my favourite book so far. It is due out summer 2016.

  1. How can readers connect with you?

I love speaking to readers and writers as well as fans of SciFi, Fantasy or genre fiction in general. Hit me up in any of the following places:

http://www.facebook.com/jscollyer

http://www.twitter.com/jexshinigami

http://jcollyer.wordpress.com

Interview with Drew Wager

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Interview with Drew Wagar

  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a quiet little village in the east of Kent which is little changed even today, buried in the heart of the Kent countryside. It’s a beautiful part of the world. I work in the city of London by day for ‘Lloyd’s of London’ – the insurance market. The commute gives me a chance to write, I exclusively use the train journey to put my stories together. I’m married, with two teenage sons, a dog and a cat. My favourite colour is dark green!

  1. Who are your favorite authors?

Anne McCaffrey is probably top of the list, with Arthur C. Clarke a close second. I adore Dickens, but my favourite book is actually ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne Du Maurier.  Tolkien is in there of course, along with some lovely books from my childhood written by Diana Wynne Jones.

  1. Tell us a bit about your books.

I primarily write character stories. I’m not big on description, preferring to let readers’ imaginations do all the heavy lifting. What I do like is creating interesting but flawed people and putting them into extraordinary situations. I’m not a genre writer, I’ll give anything a go, but I tend to always have my characters taking part in big events, which are often beyond their control. I love the conflict, the angst and the adventure this can give.

I’ve done SF and contemporary drama and both work well for me. It would be straightforward for me to move my stories into any epoch or setting; ancient, modern or futuristic. It’s all about the people.  That said I do tend to clash different world views together in my stories to act as scene setters. Religion against science is a common theme for me.

I’m also very keen on avoiding gender bias in my stories. I feature a lot of female leads, because I find they’re under represented, particularly in SF. These women aren’t  defined by the men around them, they lead and drive their own adventures.

  1. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

Assuming I could be who I wanted to be I think I would travel back to Edwardian or perhaps late Victorian England. I’d love to be the Lord of a Manor somewhere, several hundred acres of manicured gardens to tour about, with staff at my beck and call for tea and cakes whenever I might feel the need. I’d still want my laptop and a wifi connection though!

  1. What attracts you to writing in your genre?

Well, I try not to be defined by genre, but most of my output has been in SF to date. I’m a big fan of SF regardless and I adore the whole ‘going where no one has gone before’ vibe. I’m also an amateur astronomer, so space has a certain allure. SF often gives you a chance to poke at certain biases and moirés in society without it being immediately obvious that is what you are doing, so you can make quite serious statements under the radar and get people to think.

  1. Tell us a little about your books. I see you like to delve into many different genres.

The first book I had published, Torn, was something of a response to the religion vs science debate that was raging in the middle 2000 years. I found that both sides of the debate weren’t really being fair to each other and it had descended into rancor and flame-baiting in most places I reviewed online. The story took a proponent of each side; a young Christian woman newly ‘born again’ and a rather jaded scientist who had recently lost his wife to a car accident. In short, they meet, the sparks fly and they try to work out where they’re both coming from.

In the world of SF, I was fortunate enough to be in the right place and time to pick up an official licence to write for the famous computer game ‘Elite’. It’s a major UK franchise, with the first installment being launched back in 1984, and the latest incarnation ‘Elite: Dangerous’ coming out in 2014.

My story, ‘Elite: Reclamation’ is set in the year 3300, with big empires, space battles and overarching politics of the ‘Dune’ and ‘Foundation’ flavour. My book fleshed out the ‘Imperial’ faction, with a young spoilt brat of a woman in the upper echelons of that society being brought low by intrigue. Through many perils she not only sees the strange and wonderful ‘Elite’ universe, but she also learns humility and the value of friendship through her adventures.

My latest book ‘Emanation’, is a SF adventure much in style to Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon series, (minus the dragons I might add). Here we have a people lost on a strange planet, lacking the understanding of the technology that brought them there, and unaware that a huge calamity is about to descend upon them…

  1. Are you planning to participate in any anthologies? Any hints about your story?

I’ve done a couple already actually. I had a short story published in the anthology ‘Fusion’ a few years ago, and I’ve got another coming out later this year.

As for my current story, it’s kind of a mix of post-apocalyptic SF, mixed with some fantasy elements in a rather strange, but scientifically plausible world in orbit around a very strange star. It should appeal to the scientists, the adventurers and those who love seeing characters grow, change, overcome difficulties and in one particular case, suffer a drastic psychosis.

It also features a strict matriarchy, which gives me a chance to explore a society where men are not the dominant decision makers. The women of this caste have a unique ability which sets them apart.

  1. What do you like to do to relax?

I’m fortunate enough to own a small woodland not too far from my house. A walk there with my dog gets me away from the crowds and the technology. It’s a great place to escape from modern life. It’s very much off the beaten track, so lovely and quiet.

In other times I have an old convertible car which, when it’s working and it’s not raining, provides a pleasant way to tootle about Kent’s beautiful countryside.

  1. What are you currently working on?

I’m working on the sequel to the book I’m just about to launch – 24th of October to be precise! I plan on it being a 5 part saga. The first book is ready to go and I’m working on book two right now. The whole thing should take me until 2019 to finish… and then there could be prequels. We’ll see how it goes!

  1. How can readers connect with you?

I have my main website and blog at www.drewwagar.com,  an FB page at facebook.com/drewwagarwriter and you can tweet me at @drewwagar . My website has a mailing list from which I punch out a newsletter every couple of months when ‘big’ news happens.