The Missing Planets by Hawk MacKinney Virtual Tour and Giveaway

Hawk MacKinney will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour

The Missing Planets - The Cairns of Sainctuarie

by Hawk MacKinney

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BLURB:

Planet Terato has become a member of the assembly of the Confederated League of Allied Star Systems. The Murian Outpost Terato once commanded by His Imperial Majesty’s Lord High Chamberlain Herklo Korvo XXXIV is now Teratoan staffed and under the command of Teratoan Eklam a’Qoc.

From the uncharted reaches between galaxies, attacks of extraordinary weaponry come against Terato and the Myr worlds of the Murians. Terminus Terato’s expanded link-portals and converter power modules are virtually useless. Power loss, defenses, communications and travel are totally disrupted. High Chamberlain Korvo’s unexpected return to Terminus on a mission for His Imperial Majesty leaves him stranded on Terato. Attacks grow more massive, more unpredictable; spread across the worlds of the League, as an isolated Terminus struggles among the shattered rubble and whispering remains of an ancient Polity of star-walkers.

Family and friends are lost, empires and civilizations in disarray, Terminus and Planet Terato almost defenseless. Desperate for answers,  their worlds being overwhelmed by this remorseless aggressor, Eklam and Korvo reach across unexplored space in a despairing gamble and the last reserves of converter star-substrate, seeking one insignificant star system of gas giants and rocky inner planets for possible relics of the elusive Lantaraan Polity.

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EXCERPT

“... eastern radials unstable... strengthening vortices opposing orbital realignment...”

Parn’s head throbbed as his thoughts forced the converter toward more output. The power graph flattening with the unremitting decline as the quantum particles of the shell alloys began to disassociate. Output had reached max and was slowly dropping.

The sound of crashes and roars still louder—Ek knew Terminus couldn’t stand much more. “Once antimatter reaches the hub, the self-destruct will trigger.”

Screens blinked unresponsive. Drok shouted above the bedlam, “The Downday hasn’t attained minimum horizon-clearance. Targeting beams holding on standby. Unless the moon clears the horizon, the beams could refract; bounce off into space; never engage the receptors.” Converters shrieked like a wounded Teratoan swamp crawler. “Showing orbital irregularities... orbital constants vacillating,” eyes glued to the inputs. Puzzled at the unexpected readings coming from a source near the a’Qoc hamlet. “Receiving quick output bursts from the altar,” his tunic dusted with more debris, rivulets of sweat-puddled the dust-furrows of his face.

Ek said, “What type of altar outputs?”

Drok said, “Plasma components—unfamiliar readings.”

“The hub will lose power once the antimatter penetrates those last banks of converter,” Ek said. “Before we lose hub power I want you to go to the sublevel vaults housing the encode archives. Should a power failure warning be announced while you are there, backup power will last long enough. Be sure you are some distance away from the archive vaults before backup power is exhausted.” Reached a small odd-shaped crystal to Drok, “Use this to deactivate any security scrims, and duplicate the protocol crystals. No matter what you have to do, keep those crystals safe. If Terato survives and a Murian survey team returns, they’ll know what to do with those crystals. Those duplicates might be the only records to survive; their information could be vital for Myraa City—if Myraa City survives.”

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

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

With postgraduate degrees and faculty appointments in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. In addition to professional articles and texts on chordate neuroembryology, Hawk has authored several works of fiction.

Hawk began writing mysteries for his school newspaper. His works of fiction, historical love stories, science fiction and mystery-thrillers are not genre-centered, but plot-character driven, and reflect his southwest upbringing in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his serial protagonist in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series. Vault of Secrets, the first book in the Ingram series, was followed by Nymrod Resurrection, Blood and Gold, and The Lady of Corpsewood Manor. All have received national attention.  Walking the Pet is Hawk’s latest release in the Ingram series. The first book in another mystery-thriller series is scheduled for release in 2015. The Bleikovat Event, the first volume in The Cairns of Sainctuarie science fiction series, was released in 2012. Its sequel, The Missing Planets, has just been released.

www.hawkmackinney.net

www.sagewordspublishing.com  

www.archebooks.com  

http://youtu.be/IFbsl36LTC8

http://youtu.be/-m-H8pfoh-A

http://youtu.be/OvV8gqls688

http://youtu.be/tLOOHlQ3IYs

www.amazon.com   

www.barnesandnoble.com

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Visit the other blogs on the tour for additional chances to win:


May 25: The Reading Addict
May 26: Reviews by Crystal
May 26: Coffee Books and Art
May 27: Queen of All She Reads
May 28: Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews
May 29: Unabridged Andra's
June 1: fuonlyknew
June 2: Fantasy Pages
June 3: Rogues Angels
June 4: Lilac Reviews
June 5: Mixed Book Bag

Book Beginnings and The Friday 56

I'm linking up with Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings and Freda's Voice for Page 56. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Pick the closest book on your book stack and join the fun.

The Beginning: "Charles Oakes is Dead."

Page 56: Even though he'd never seen them before, he knew the type: political hacks. They hung around the fringes of power...."

From the latest Gaslight Mystery, Murder on Amsterdam Avenue by Victoria Thompson. This is one of my must buys. This is a series that releases one book a year. Wish there were more.

The Argent Star by Emerson Fray Virtual Tour and Giveaway

GIVEAWAY Information and Rafflecopter:

Emerson will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

THE ARGENT STAR

by Emerson Fray

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BLURB:

What happens when your decisions affect an entire universe?

Ren Argent wanted to be an archeologist and spend her life exploring the lost cities of Earth.  But when a new planet is discovered and her father is appointed King, she has to leave behind everything she knows to rule over a place she’s only heard of in legends.

Not long after her arrival she discovers there are insurgents hiding in the darkened forests and the planet is on the brink of civil war.  It won’t be long until the Monarchy steps in to “neutralize” the threat.

Will she be able to stop the hostile takeover?  Or will her actions ignite a rebellion across the universe?

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EXCERPT

“He wants you to marry soon, but I think he’ll be happier if you’re dead.”

Ren knew Garret was trying to get her to marry someone on Novae but she hadn’t thought he’d be happier if she was dead.  She didn’t think her death would benefit him in any way, actually.  Or anyone, for that matter.

“Garret might be a snake, but he would be happier if I just married someone,” Ren argued.

“He’d be happier if Elian was on the throne.”

That caught Ren by surprise.  “What do you mean?”

“Maks cannot be controlled,” Sheridan cut in, her voice low.  “He does what he believes is right and best for the people, not the Monarchy.  Elian is not as strong as Maks; he’d fold under their pressure.”

“Elian is plenty strong,” Ren said.  “And if he were the King then he would be great.  He would--”

“Be easily controlled,” Abetha interrupted, “at least Garret thinks so.”

Ren bit down on her bottom lip.  “No he wouldn’t.”  It was true though, and Elian had plenty of weaknesses they could exploit.  All they had to do was threaten to take away his machines and he would crumble.  But Ren wanted to think her brother had more integrity than that and shook her head.

“He would compared to Maks,” Abetha said carefully.  “The Monarchy is having trouble keeping Maks under their thumb.  He isn’t doing what they want here.”

“And what is it they want?” Ren whispered.  It was what she’d been trying to figure out ever since she’d left Earth.

In the darkness, Sheridan answered, “Control.

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

My Thoughts on the book:

I liked the concept of owning a star because someone in the past named it.  The story also had some other interesting concepts and a really good main character.  Ren helped carry the story.  The plot contained several surprises and set up the next book in the series.  An interesting read with several possibilities for the next book.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Emerson Fray currently resides in Hamilton, Ontario.  While most of her stories happen on other planets, she remains on Earth 24/7 hunting down hawks and bugs to photograph, as well as chasing her mother’s dog to reclaim stolen shoes.  A self taught Pokemon trainer and coffee lover, she spends most of her valuable time pinning recipes she will never make on boards she will forget about.

Amazon:  www.amazon.com/The-Argent-Star-M

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrayEmerson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emersonfray

Blog: https://emersonfray.wordpress.com

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Night of the Highland Dragon (Highland Dragons #3) by Isabel Cooper

Historical Paranormal Romance

From Goodreads:

Acclaimed author Isabel Cooper’s thrilling paranormal romance series continues with a sexy Highland dragon shapeshifter and an inquisitive hero…

William Arundell is a detective working for a secret branch of the English government. When a young man is found dead, William’s investigation leads him to a remote Highland village and the intoxicatingly beautiful lady who rules MacAlasdair Castle.

The charismatic Judith MacAlasdair is not what William expected. The only daughter in a long line of shape-changing dragons, Judith is wary of William and his unrelenting questions. However, when William’s investigation takes an interesting turn, they must put aside years of bad blood and a mutual distrust of outsiders to band together to save the British Islands from its deadliest foe.

Night of the Highland Dragon has two very interesting protagonist.   Neither are that young.  In fact Judith MacAlasdair is 180 years old even though she looks like she is in her twenties.  William Arundell is not that old but he is around forty.  They make a great pair.

The Highland Dragon series takes a slightly different approach to the paranormal.  It mixes the historical with the paranormal and the mix works.  While Judith is a dragon you see her more in her human form.  The mystery is front and center and allows both Judith and William time to become very well developed characters.  That is important as this is a character driven story and it takes two very strong people to pull everything off.

The world building is great and there is enough back story to let you know the history of Judith and the village where she lives.  William also has some back story but the agency he works for is more of a shadow than a reality.

I did wonder how they would get their HEA.  Judith is so long lived and William is a normal human but Cooper found a very elegant way to make their romance possible.  Night of the Highland Dragon is a great addition to the series and like books one and two features a great plot, good writing and wonderful characters.

Night of the Highland Dragon is book three in the series but it does a great job as a stand alone.  If you start here you will want to go back and read books one and two.  They feature Judith’s two brothers.

Sourcebook Casablanca published Night of the Highland Dragon by Isabel Cooper in 2015.

I received an ARC of Night of the Highland Dragon in return for an honest review.

Henery Gallant and The Warrior by H.Peter Alesso Virtual Book Blast Tour and Giveaway

THE AUTHOR WILL BE GIVING AWAY: 

$15 Amazon/BN GC

Sign up Using the Rafflecopter Below

Follow this link to Visit the other blogs on the tour.  The More you sign up the better your chances of winning.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/02/sbb-henry-gallant-and-warrior-by-h.html

HENRY GALLANT AND THE WARRIOR

by H. Peter Alesso

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

BLURB:

In the 22th Century, the people of the Solar System have banded together against an alien invasion. Unfortunately, they’re losing—badly.

As the only Natural remaining in the genetically engineered officer corps of the United Planet’s fleet, Henry Gallant has unique mental abilities that have proven essential to the defense against the Titan invaders. Nevertheless his fellow officers lack faith in him, and worse, he has angered prominent men by speaking truth to power.

Despite this, Admiral Collingsworth has given him command of the Warrior, the most advanced stealth warship in the UP arsenal, and ordered him to the alien’s main base to spy, intrigue, and disrupt their war capacity.

Gallant’s mission leads to risky battles and painful choices, but no choice is more personal, or intimate, than the choice to face one’s own death. And for Henry Gallant—a flawed young man in a hopeless situation against overwhelming odds—a dreadful decision looms before him.

He has only one saving grace—he is unafraid.

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

EXCERPT

Lieutenant Henry Gallant walked along the cobblestone streets of New Annapolis—head down, mind racing . . .

My orders say take command of the Warrior immediately . . . but no promotion . . . Why not?

He pondered the possibilities, but he already knew the answer. Though he had steely gray eyes, a square jaw, and was taller than nearly everyone around him, what distinguished him most was not visible to the naked eye—he was a Natural—born without genetic engineering.

By the time he reached the space elevator, the welcoming breeze of the clear brisk morning had brightened his mood and he fell into line behind the shipyard personnel without complaint.

Looking up, he marveled; that cable goes into the clouds like an Indian rope trick.

When at last it was his turn, the guard scanned his comm pin against the access manifest.

The portal light blinked red.

“Pardon, sir. Access denied,” said the grim faced sentry.

“Call the officer of the guard,” demanded Gallant.

The officer of the guard appeared, but was no more inclined to pass Gallant through. He touched the interface panel and made several more entries, but the portal continued to blink red.

“There’s a hold on your access, sir.”

Gallant asked, “A hold?”

“Yes, sir. Your clearance and authorization are in order, but SIA has placed a hold on your travel movements. They want you to report to SIA headquarters, ASAP.”

“I need to go to the shipyard and attend to important business before going to the Solar Intelligence Agency,” clarified Gallant, but even as he said it, he knew it wouldn’t help.

“Sorry, sir. Orders.”

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

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

As a scientist and author specializing in technology innovation, H. Peter Alesso has over twenty years research experience at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). As Engineering Group Leader at LLNL he led a team of scientists and engineers in innovative applications across a wide range of supercomputers, workstations, and networks. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a B.S. and served in the U.S. Navy on nuclear submarines before completing an M.S. and an advanced Engineering Degree at M.I.T. He has published several software titles and numerous scientific journal and conference articles, and he is the author/co-author of seven books.

You can visit his Web site at: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx

_______________________________________________

Author Social Media:

Author Web site at: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx

Goodreads Address: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/413852.H_Peter_Alesso

YouTube trailer for Henry Gallant Saga: SciFi Book Trailer: Midshipman Henry Gallant

Facebook for Henry Gallant Saga: https://www.facebook.com/MidshipmanHenryGallantInSpace

 

Amazon link for Volume 1 of the Henry Gallant Saga: http://www.amazon.com/Midshipman-Henry-Gallant-Space-Volume/dp/1482640325/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

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Teaser Tuesday - June 2, 2l015

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhyme.  
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:"
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book.   

The Teaser:

"This isn't over." In one sip he finished the grappa and then set down the empty glass."

Page 56

From Falling in Love by Donna Leon, a Commissario Guido Burnetti Mystery.

Time is Relative for a Knight of Time by Brett Matthew Williams - Virtual Tour and Giveaway

Brett will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

TIME IS RELATIVE FOR A KNIGHT OF TIME

by Brett Matthew Williams

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BLURB:

Meet Rolland Wright - a seventeen year old orphan living out of his car in rural Woodland Hills, California. Aside from grappling with the fact of being abandoned by his drunken father two years previous following his mothers mysterious murder, his life mostly revolves around finding a warm place to sleep at night. When one day he is attacked by men claiming to have killed his father, Rolland discovers a strange ability to slow the flow of time around him, beginning a journey that takes him to places outside of time, space, and eventually to the early 19th century to fight the sinister General Andrew Jackson. With the help of a rag-tag group of historical and mythical figures with various supernatural abilities of their own (Joan of Arc, Jesse James, etc) known as the Knights of Time, Rolland solves the mystery behind his mother's murder, falls in love, battles the evil Edward Vilthe - reaper of souls, and finds a home of his own in the paradise known as Eden.

          

The Time is Relative series chronicles the origin story of the mythical figure Father Time, beginning with the award winning first novel, Time is Relative for a Knight of Time. All dates and events are historically accurate. The participants... maybe not.

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

EXCERPT

“What do you think, then?” came Judah’s voice, as Blaisey zoned back into their conversation.

Blaisey looked at him and saw him staring back at her. To her astonishment, Blaisey realized that Judah was asking for her opinion. Aside from his rather informal introduction, this was the first time that Judah had addressed her directly. Her surprise must have been evident to him, as Judah’s lips crept into a thin, lopsided smile around the cigarette.

“I knew a man once,” Blaisey said, in a calm, soothing voice. Her father, Nahoy – leader of the Nabawoo, had told her that white people prefer when natives speak in a calm, slow, relaxing tone. He believed that it goaded the white man into a false sense of superiority that their people could use as an advantage.

Blaisey had seen this as slightly sneaky and underhanded, but those were thoughts from before the days of Jackson’s terror, before the days of people falling out of the sky at daybreak and being kidnapped by American soldiers in the middle of the night.

“This man, he rolled and smoked his tobacco, like you,” Blaisey continued.

“Oh, yeah?” Judah asked, the cigarette in his mouth bobbing between his lips as he spoke. “What brand? I’m a Luckys man myself.” He sniffed and lifted his head proudly, his chin held high.

“This I do not know,” Blaisey said, smiling out of politeness. “And we cannot ask him, for he is dead.”

At this, Judah stopped his search for the lighter and looked at Blaisey head on, giving her his full attention for the first time. “From smoking tobacco, right?”

“No,” Blaisey said with vigor. “He was an ass like you, and somebody shot him.”

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

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Brett Matthew grew up with a passion for both film and history. He began his career fresh out of high school as a Production Assistant/ football player on NBC Universal’s television series Friday Night Lights (of which he can often be seen in the first two seasons as a member of the championship team – Go Panthers!). He quickly moved on to serve as an Original Series intern with the USA Network in Studio City, California. Following work on shows like Monk, Psych, and Burn Notice, Brett returned home to Texas to continue his education, graduating with his degree in History from Texas State University. A proud Master Freemason, Brett thoroughly enjoys fantasy fiction, watching Netflix, running, baseball, Shakespeare, and spending time with his family and critters.

Website: http://www.brettmatthewwilliams.com/

Twitter: @Time1sRelative

Blog:http://www.brettmatthewwilliams.com/blog/

Book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Time-Relative-A-Knight/dp/1470029456/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1430360645&sr=8-1

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Musing Mondays - June 1, 2015

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme sponsored by A Daily Rhythm that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Do you have different genres for different seasons? For example, do you choose lighter reading material for the summer, and chunkier books in the winter?

I am going to talk about Midnight's Kiss by Thea Harrison.  This is the new novel in the

Elder Races series.  I won a ARC of the book but because of other books I had scheduled to review it just sat on my TBR pile.  Last week I picked it up and started reading.  This story brings Julian, the Nightkind King and Melisande, daughter of the Light Fae Queen back together.  They had a really bad break up 20 years ago and have only yelled at each other any time them meet.  Now they have to work together to stay alive.  It is a really nice story with two interesting characters.  Julian is very dark while Melisande is just the opposite.  There is tension and danger for both as they work toward their HEA.  A great addition to the series.

I don't do different genres during different seasons.  Really never even thought about it.  I do read more in winter but my choices do not change.