Blog Archives
A Treacherous One
Reborn follows the harrowing journey Lexil takes to find freedom in a dystopian future. What was the inspiration for the setup to this thrilling story?
The inspiration came at a writing conference called When Words Collide. I find writing events very good for my creativity. Between sessions I saw a meme on my phone about gingers. While I do not have red hair, many of my friends do, and it made me ponder what they thought of the stigma. That led me to thoughts about my much-hated freckles. Though I didn’t know it at the time, I’m quite certain the story was also influenced by my mother’s illness.
Lexil was a dynamic character that I rooted for throughout the story. What were some ideals you wanted her character to embody?
I wanted her to be someone a reader could know in real life. She has no extraordinary skills with a weapon, or unnatural intelligence. But she is extraordinarily perceptive and compassionate and bravery is something that comes to her out of necessity. Most importantly, she is a character who learns and grows throughout the story.
The Wastelands in the story were ominous and well crafted. What were some sources that influenced its creation?
I tried to think of hazards that were both natural and supernatural. I wanted an eerie feeling, as well as a treacherous one. I have written other fantasy novels and was able to create even better creatures than I had before.
What is the next story that you are working on and when will it be available?
The sequel to REBORN is in the editing process and I’m hoping to have some short stories published soon. In the interim, I’ve launched a podcast with fellow author Miranda Oh called “Quill and Ink: A Podcast for Book Lovers.”
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Qubit’s Incubator
![Qubit's Incubator by [Charley Brindley]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61kXBvToH9L.jpg)
A young and bright girl named Catalina Saylor is put to the test in a company called Qubit’s Incubator, in which she’ll have to prove that her idea is a viable solution to problems and can be patented, all within 30 days. She’ll have to navigate the coldness of corporate culture and brutal competition that comes from her new coworkers, the constant gaze of her boss, and the ticking time that seems to consume itself quicker every time she glances at the clock. Qubit’s Incubator tells the tale of a young coder that has been wronged by a loved one and now seeks funding for her new project.
Qubit’s Incubator is a thrilling story, with a quick pace that keeps things moving along even when reading about the technical coding aspects of the story. Charley Brindley uses dialogue and characters to drive the story, with Catalina being a strong protagonist that gets by on her intelligence. Which is a welcome change of pace for strong female protagonists, to show that women can be strong in so many different ways. The coding felt realistic, but not overbearing, and served to give the book a technical flavoring rather than to make you feel out of place. Catalina is a very well-constructed character, with quirks that make the reader feel more connected with her, for example, the fact that she is always carrying her “lucky” charm resonated with me. The incubator was well designed and I enjoyed the eccentric names for the different ranks that existed within the company.
The other characters, or drones as the author calls them, gives a cold corporate feel which was fantastic in its ability to capture that feeling so completely, but it is a feeling you love to hate while reading. While this is how our main character feels at the start of the book, she’ll see that not all of them are like that, she’ll encounter people willing to help her instead of tear her down, and even the ones that seemed rude at the beginning aren’t that bad either. This slow evolution of characters is something I really enjoyed.
There was only one thing that I found odd; at the end of every chapter there is a picture of the character that was just described. The author is good at describing characters and this removes the opportunity for my imagination to fill in the gaps.
Qubit’s Incubator is a thrilling young adult science fiction novel that kept me interested in the protagonist and intrigued by the incubator.
Pages: 124 | ASIN: B088CP4XRV
Beneath The Surface
![Beneath the Surface: Book 1 in the Surface Series by [Alainna MacPherson]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kvkyHA2eL.jpg)
In a world where humans beings are no longer the dominant race and serve the alien M’Nai, one girl begins to notice what others don’t and dares to do what no one has rarely ever tried. She stands up to the race that has enslaved humans and finds that doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest, and change doesn’t always come easily. When you start the book, you are transported into a world that has been overcome with an advanced race of beings that swore to protect humans only to force them to work in mines and live in tents. Though they claim to be protecting humans, our main character Annabeth begins questioning her whole life when she falls for a M’Nai named Kane.
Beneath the Surface is a quick and gripping read that I found to be consistently entertaining. If instant love (or at least immediate feelings) is not something you enjoy reading, this may not be up your alley. If you do enjoy having two characters fall heavily for each other, you will enjoy reading about Kane and Annabeth and their electrifying journey. The story adds a unique twist to the love story and showed real problems that people face when two people (or in Kane’s case, beings) from different backgrounds come together. Not everyone is accepts what happens when two loves decide to pursue their passion. As such, the book will resonate with those who have felt that pain, and it will let others open their eyes to issues they may not have thought about before.
While this steamy dystopian romance felt rushed at times, I did find myself thoroughly engaged with the characters and was surprised at how deeply relationships and characters are explored. The plot, while predictable at times, was enough to keep me engaged throughout, wondering out wild possibilities the way L. Ron Hubbard does in his sci-fi novels. However, Annabeth’s character was my favorite throughout. I enjoyed that she had moments of sass and real courage, which is something I think should be more present in novels today. I was also able to enjoy that Kane genuinely cared for Annabeth and was willing to fight for love, which will resonate with the audience and help them enjoy this enthralling story.
Pages: 279 | ASIN: B087BBR2DQ
How Bad Things Can Get
Wolf Slayer is a thrilling blend of dystopian science-fiction, adventure, and political intrigue. What served as the inspiration behind the idea for this book?
The current political turmoil in the US is disturbing. Democracy is threatened globally by fascist oligarchs and autocrats. I believe most people are good, and would do something about it if they had the chance. My tale gives such a person that opportunity. I also wanted to show how bad things can get if we do not change our ways, and how humanity can tough it out and survive, like it has done throughout our history. The book is also the lead-in to a series of books where more threats will emerge, and where more everyday hero’s are given the chance to shine, like Matt Adams.
Matt Adams is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind his character development?
I was thinking of the hero Winston Smith in Orwell’s 1984. Matt is caught up in an oppressive political system. He comes to recognize it as evil, and he feels shame for the people he has killed while fighting for his country. His country mistreats him as a veteran, but in the midst of a terrible economic depression, gives him a dangerous job spying on a rebel organization. The organization opens his eyes further, and gives him the chance to really make a difference. Matt grows further as he escapes and flees to his native wilderness of Quebec. He meets the woman of his dreams, and the political system changed by his actions lets them live in peace. So, unlike Winston Smith, Matt fights Big Brother (a.k.a. Uncle Ernie), and Matt wins.
The story takes place in a dystopian future. What were some themes you wanted to focus on when creating this future world?
Climate change and over-population will destroy our world if unchecked. The 1% wealthy run our world, and always seem to win. They will always fight wars over turf, accelerating the end of civilization. But ultimately, the skilled hunter-gathers in remote regions will be the survivors. And with a bit of forethought and investment, we can arm the survivors with a cache of knowledge to re-build a better world.
This is the first book in the Master Defiance series. What can readers expect in book two?
Book Two will be titled ‘Martian Hermitage’. Earth continues to decline, and natural calamities wipe out the last vestiges of civilization. The people in Moon Base are stranded, but they have been secretly preparing for an exodus… to Mars. Mars is a dry, sterile, hostile place, but it has more life-giving resources than the Moon for tough, ingenious people. But Mars is not as it seems. It has been visited before, by a noble race fleeing an evil alien race. And so, the ‘Masters’ are introduced to the series, and more hero’s will be needed…
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When Matt Adams, a much-decorated army veteran, is offered the job of infiltrating and spying on a revolutionary party, he jumps at the offer. Scarred and blinded in one eye, his employment options would be poor, even if the economy wasn’t in meltdown.
Meanwhile, the President of the US, Ernie Wolf, is cementing his position of absolute power with the assistance of the thuggish bullies known as the Loyal Order of Patriots. President Wolf is flourishing, despite his cruel, vindictive nature. He disbands Congress and bans all media outlets, declaring himself president for life and effectively creating a totalitarian state. Wolf then turns his attention to warmongering, and to the destruction of the Second Chance spaceship, currently in orbit around the moon.
When Matt discovers the President’s intentions, he has a stark choice. He can do nothing and watch as the President destroys all hope for current and future humanity, or he can become a Wolf Slayer and help to save the Second Chance and avert war..
A Society of the Future
Liberty Bound follows Finbarl who is guarding a bastion of society when his life is turned upside down when he protects a boy from another guard. What was the inspiration for the setup to this intriguing story?
I drew upon observations from our own time. Specifically, I visited a local community hall surrounded by oppressive barbed-wire fencing. It struck me that the community reacted to fear, protecting itself against crime, but, in fact, doing more damage to themselves. They had avoided finding the harder, long-term solution, resorting to a short-term fix, with long-term negative consequences. I started to see other examples and thought about projecting it to its extreme on a society of the future, fear constricting and constricting over time, until only one community remained, epitomising all the consequences of this approach.
Finbarl is an interesting and well defined character. What were some ideas that guided his character development?
With the double-meaning of the books title, I wanted to explore the journey element both in terms of a literal journey and an inner quest of discovery. At the start, Finbarl reflects the flawed society he’s been raised in, brutal, stagnant, unfeeling and inhibited. Only the ancient books read to him as a youngster have seeded any independence of thought. However, when his eyes are opened by a traumatic revelation, his character can express and discover his true self. Though shaped by circumstances beyond his control, he finds clear purpose, discovers hope and love and by the end of the novel we see a very different Finbarl, passionate, vulnerable, inquisitive and selfless.
The novel explores society and social systems from unique angles. What were some themes that were important for you to capture in this story?
Fear is the central theme and how we use it as justification to imprison ourselves, limiting liberty. Walls exist everywhere in the story, literal and metaphorical, from the geography and climate, to social strata and psychological. A drug acts as the true ‘prison wall’ and this represents those things we think we can’t live without in modern society but which arguably do as much harm i.e. cars (freedom and pollution), gun ownership (protection and violence) or the internet (freedom to express ourselves and freedom to abuse others)
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am now working on the sequel to Liberty Bound, which is called Where Liberty Lies. I’m just over half way through writing it. With a good wind, I hope to have it finished by the end of the year. A trilogy is planned, each book exploring a key element shaping and inhibiting liberty.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Finbarl, a guard defending the walls of Athenia, fights to keep the flame of civilisation burning. It is the only world he knows and one he’s willing to die for.
But when he intervenes to protect a boy and his mother from a fellow guard, little does he realise his world is about to unravel, setting him upon a dangerous journey of betrayal, heartbreak and discovery.
Nathaniel M Wrey’s high-paced debut novel, Liberty Bound, explores how fear shapes and imprisons society and individuals. Liberty and the pursuit of liberty are portrayed throughout the landscape, the characters and narrative, exposing the complexities and contradictions of a topic as pertinent in today’s world as it has ever been.
Reborn
![Reborn by [Jenna Greene]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518axEVF8KL.jpg)
The beauty of books is that every reader gets to explore the artistic mind of an author. Jenna Greene in her book Reborn perfectly shares her thrilling fictional artistic imagination that is both exciting and heart stopping. Reborn follows the harrowing story of Lexil. She raised her baby brother after her parent’s passing, and she is naturally a protector, at her young age of sixteen she will do anything for the ones she cares about. She is sold into slavery by her elder brother, but she is positive and embraces her new fate. Branded docile and naive, Lexil will do anything for her new child friend Ceera who is barely five years old, and Finn a double-born with a dream of being free but no one else to believe in him. Following a strange and precarious path, they embark on a journey to better lands, and a free life, which they only heard of. But the path ahead is full of retrievers and tracers. They brave tough, hungry, cold nights together, always hoping that one day they will get to their destination.
Reborn expertly utilizes the theme of being ‘marked’ to indicate the baggage we all carry. Lexil’s drive to seek a better life is reminiscent of a better life that we all seek. And in this way we’re able to connect with Jenna Green’s compelling protagonist. Lexil was a character that was easy to empathize with, as she risks herself to save another, but also because her motivations are easily understood. Lexil endures brutal punishment, both in slavery, and her flight from it. So it makes the reader questions what would have been a better path?
The wasteland was an intriguing and well developed backdrop to this dystopian thriller. It’s barren but there is always the sense that danger is near and anything could happen. Having such delicate characters in a harsh landscape makes for some suspenseful reading. Jenna Green is able to slowly build up characters from one-dimensional personalities into enthralling people you enjoy following.
This is a thrilling science fiction story that will appeal to fans of the Divergent series or to readers who enjoy the thoughtful reflections reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984. It was a unique view at a dystopian future that is disturbing, but Lexil’s dangerous journey to seek the light at the end of a dark tunnel will ultimately inspire hope and entertain readers along the way.
Pages: 255 | ASIN: B07JZKCMLX
Wolf Slayer
The year is 2483. The economy is the worst it has ever been and the country is run by a Hitler-like President, Ernie Wolf. Retired Staff Sergeant Mathieu ‘Matt’ Adams is a retired sniper at the age of only 34. Matt jumps at the chance to take an undercover position in Akron, Ohio, of all places, as he is like most Americans at this time, just scraping by and will take any work he can get. His mission is to infiltrate a supposed rebel group called the Workers Social Club. President Wolf has made himself president for life and rids the government of Congress. He only allows one political party to exist, the Veteran’s Party, so all other groups must be squashed in whatever way necessary.
But after Matt is found out to be an undercover agent by the members of the Workers Social Club (an homage to rebellious groups of people during any tumultuous era in history), they offer him another position to consider, slaying the Wolf himself to try and save not only the country but a space ship currently under construction orbiting the moon that will take a group of humans to another planet to hopefully save the human race, something Wolf wants to destroy.
I absolutely loved this dytopian political thriller. Science fiction is my genre of choice because it is able to portray stark ideas in wild settings. Wolf Slayer is able to capture the magic of science fiction with though-provoking themes and authentic characters in a far off time. Even though this book is set almost 500 years in the future, there are a lot of similarities to today’s world and country. If you enjoy Jason Bourne and Shooter mixed in with a bit of science fiction, then you will love this book too.
Matt Adams is a character you can relate to and find yourself rooting for. What I loved most was the slow evolution of his character throughout the story as what he ‘knows’ is turned on its head. While President Ernie Wolf is your classic villain who is easy to dislike and even hate. There is never any confusion as to who you want to win and lose.
Wylie has definitely made a political statement with his book as there are so many similarities between this story and our current political situation. But he has managed to do it in a ‘Christmas Carol’-like warning. We must learn the hidden lessons from his story or be doomed to live in the world Matt Adams must save. Wolf Slayer is a sci-fi thriller for a modern audience.
Pages: 332 | ASIN: B07XPBFHRV
LITERARY TITAN 