Bubbles in Space

What can I say about S.C. Jensen? Here is an author that knows how to deliver! I have already reviewed one of her works, "The Timekeeper's War", here in this blog. But her latest offerings are absolutely stunning! Bubbles in Space is a futuristic, Cyber-Punk adventure with a Detective-Noir bent that really packs a punch.

• For any who enjoys a gritty private eye tale, with it's dark, film-noir tone and course, hard-hitting first-person narrative, replete with witty slang and pithy dialog, this is the series for you. 
• For those of us who love to speculate on futuristic possibilities with a cyber-punk bent, these tales really deliver. 
• For anyone looking to find a strong feminine hero that muddles through all that life throws at her and still comes back punching, despite her own faults, this set of stories hits the mark.

That S.C. can package it all up in a complete series and make it approachable to nearly everyone, is a marvel! Let's set the stage. 

Betty "Bubbles" Marlowe is a P.I. in HoloCity, a future world where people can get the latest cybernetic replacement body parts for the right price. Where virtual pets are a reality and they communicate with you as easily as any living person via A.I. programming. Due to an injury she received on the HCPD force, which nearly took her life, through the nearly divine intervention of her dearest friend, she has received a new cybernetic replacement arm. Now, on the mend both as a wounded, former police officer and a recovering alcoholic, Bubbles faces a new chapter in her life taking on the hard-hitting role of a private detective.

The series starts off with "Tropical Punch". Bubbles is still new to the PI gig when she gets a case from a mysterious woman who winds up dead. Worse yet, her former partner on the force is doing everything in his power to keep her off the case and now she is framed for the murder. She escapes to a cruise ship in space to investigate further and solve the mystery of the dead woman. Yet, everywhere Bubbles goes, the woman appears again and again. Can she solve the mystery in time? And how exactly does the Humanist cult figure into all of this?

I've just read the second book in her series, "Chew 'Em Up" and oh boy, does it pack a punch!  Bubbles never faced a tougher case than this new one. Nor one so close to home. Her dearest friend Rae, the woman who saved her life and helped set her on the path to her new career is in trouble. With Rae's life on the line and social media fanatics hounding Bubbles, placing her in harm's way and making every effort to get the act on video, she makes the decision to take her friend and find sanctuary off-world. But is it hope or is it Hades? Only time will tell. Enemies turn out to be allies and friends show their darker sides.

If you haven't heard of S.C. Jensen before, look her up and read her work. 

You will never regret it! And please leave her a review. Oh, and don't forget to check out her website, "SCJensen.com". Where you can join her book club and get a free copy of "Dames for Hire", a prequel to the "Bubbles in Space" series.

Run to Ius - Book Cover

Release date is near at hand! I thought I'd give a quick glimpse at the front cover for the book. Let me know what you think!

Excerpt from Run to Ius

It's Memorial Day, 2021 and I've finally finished the edits for "Run to Ius'. It has taken nearly two years of story collection, five rounds of edits and a Beta read return to get to this point. After much consideration of advice received, and re-reads and polish edits, I have concluded that to push the story to further pages would in many ways detract from the impact of, or at the very least dilute the message. As such, I am content to deliver this tale as a novella.

 

"Run to Ius" is a story of a man's struggle to keep his family safe amid world-wide crises, corruption, pandemic and even person-to-person conflict. It is a Sci-Fi/Noir story told from the standpoint of a single person, Jak Wilder, who's character arc evolves from a meek-mannered husband and father, through various stages of grief, insecurity and guilt, to eventually rise as a pivotal person in a global revolution.

 

I'm in the final stages now of putting together a cover, a book blurb and promotions. My inclination is to self-publish, as I did with my first book, "Sparrow's Flight", book one of a fantasy series on which I am actively working with book two expected to be ready to release this Fall. But that one has yet to reach a wide enough audience to garner much attention.

 

Whether or not to continue to self-publish or rather try my hand at the traditional route has been a major struggle for me. I would gladly welcome any comments on the matter. But first, let me post a tiny excerpt of the story. A taste of what you, the reader can expect:

 

The Snow Elf

Crystals, in the darkness, fall,
A mist of wispy white.
While silence covers one and all
And nothing stirs, and nothing stalls
The snowflake in its flight.
 
Alone in thought, the Snow Elf rocks
Before a meager fire.
With blanket cover, lap to socks
He sips his tea to ticking clocks
Too weary to retire.
 
In solitude, for many a year
He’s lived within the wood.
Among the pines and polar bear,
He keeps a herd of tiny deer
In reindeer moss for food.
 
But as the snow falls light to earth
He knows the time draws nigh
When eight, among his little herd  
Will, chosen, leave his home and hearth
And once more, take to sky.
 
And all alone, he’ll pace the floor
And worry through the night.
Until the dawn breaks at his door
And those few chosen are once more
Returned from their great flight.
 
And for his service to the king,  
What does the elf receive;
What song of him, do others sing?
The childhood joy his reindeer bring
On every Christmas Eve.

Haunting Season

Autumn. 

 The time when farmers bring in their crops for harvest. Leaves lose their ability to process chlorophyll and the sugars turn them to brilliant shades of color. Trees shed their leaves and bare their limbs to the heavens in preparation for their winter dormancy. Vegetation decay wafts along the breeze, now chilled by the close of summer and the onset of cooler days. Hunters prepare for their annual field trips into the wild to lay up stores of meat for the on-coming winter. Preparations are made for the upcoming festivals and young people return to their usual scholarly activities.

Fireplaces are swept and furnaces cleaned in anticipation of seasonal use. In the towns and cities thermostats are turned up and across the countryside, wood smoke rises from chimneys in welcome of Fall. But invariably, folks gather around their respective hearths, warm toddies in hand to listen to and tell their favorite spooky stories.

I remember, as a boy, long days in the fields bringing in the vegetables, shucking corn and helping my mother with the canning. Then, with my father, uncles and cousins making those trips into the woods to hunt for game. I didn’t enjoy the work, as a youth. I didn’t understand the necessity of the tasks. But, I sure welcomed the hot meals such activity afforded me and my brothers. We never wanted for food, though we sure worked hard enough to gather it. But therein lies the lesson.

In today’s society, of fast-food and disposable everything, it is easy to forget or fail to consider the effort required to make such a luxury available. Yes, food and warmth are a luxury. But a hard won one at that. And that, my friend, is why this is my favorite time of year. A time for remembering just how fortunate one is to have a home, hearth and food on the table. And friends and family with which to share stories.

To celebrate this season, at a time when we all seem to be locked up in our own demesnes, I have released my first chapbook, "Haunting Season". It contains 39 poems of horror, ghostly tales and strange or fantastical creatures. IT is out immediately on Smashwords and on Amazon in both eBook and Print-On-Demand.

Please check it out and leave a review. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Sci-Fi Adventure Review:Albert Jenkins and the Lost Cityby Lazarus Gray

I am an author who likes to dabble in mixed genres. This can complicate matters as readers like to follow their favorite genres when selecting books to read. Thus half or more than half of my stories may well go unread by those readers. However, when a story comes along that satisfied both the excitement of an adventure story and the technicality of Sci-Fi, it gets my notice. Especially when it blends to two so easily. 

Albert Perkins and the Lost City is an excellent adventure story that marries both the archeological/geological adventure with futuristic science fiction. It sells on Amazon for a very reasonable price and makes for an excellent debut novel by my friend Lazarus Gray. 

It takes place in the Australian Outback and centers on an aboriginal geologist and his two young crew caught up in a major disaster that leads to an incredible surprise find; an ancient city buried beneath the sands of the Simpson dessert. 

His mentor, and chief supporter is a peered lady of England who had taken him under her wing as a boy and fostered his dreams and education. When an earthquake destroys most of Australia, she and her butler, Jeeves (a very likable chap himself) race to the outback to find, and if necessary rescue their friends. 

 What the five encounter and discover in the desert changes them and their lives forever and brings hope for the future of Earth and humanity. But whether humanity embraces the ideal of the "Second Level of Knowledge" or not, depends on the courage and the compassion of the intrepid geologist and his friends. 

Lazarus Gray brings a heartfelt optimism to his story and has produced a genuinely approachable and easy-to-read adventure that mixes genres seamlessly. I look forward to reading more of his work. I hope you do too. You won't regret it.

Freedom

Whispers carry lightly on the wind beyond the village wall.

Boots and buckles rustle in the alley past the tavern hall.

Torches cast a fevered view

Of sea and tea now set to brew.

“For Liberty or Death!” We few

rise up for one and all.

As fire from a Tory rifle fells a youth too soon his due

We stand and answer Freedom’s call!

 

Hounds and trackers haunt the forest searching through the rainy night.

Hunting for a family running from a life of toil and plight.

But fortune, should the weather hold

will favor more than just the bold

and free them from the rain and cold

to break the slaver’s might.

For Friends of Harriet will carry, on the railroad, young and old,

all who long for Freedom’s right.

 

But blood is oft the price to pay to balance what is right from wrong.

To keep the flames of Liberty within the heart still burning strong.

And soldiers come, and soldiers go

And heroes often fall to foe

But hope remains for those that know

the cost, yet strike the gong.

The bell of Liberty will ring as voices raise once more to sow

the seeds of Freedom’s song!