Sparrow Squadron by D.L. Jung

 

                                                        Sparrow Squadron

by D.L. Jung
Genre: YA Historical Fiction/Action-Adventure
Release Date: February 2018

Summary:
"There was a time when flying didn't mean looking over my shoulder for death coming at me."

World War II. June 1941. Hitler's war machine turns to the Soviet Union.

Escaping her hometown ahead of the Nazis, 16-year-old Aelya Makarova seizes a chance to live her dream. Obsessed with flying, she joins a women's fighter squadron to defend her homeland against the invaders. She'll go faster and higher than she's ever gone before.

But the harsh reality of Air Force life shatters her expectations and forces her to grow up fast. The squadron is split by petty rivalries, male pilots treat them like a joke, and the ideal country she thought she was fighting for doesn't really exist.

Finally given a chance to prove herself in battle, Aelya is pushed to breaking point. With all her talent, the help of her comrades, and a lot of luck, she might just make it through. But will there be anything left of her humanity?

With fast-paced action and a heart-rending mix of humour and tragedy, Sparrow Squadron is an adventure novel for young adults that brings an overlooked episode of history to life.

Add to Goodreads   Buy on Amazon

Sparrow Squadron Blog Tour: Prepared Interview Questions

Introduce yourself.

My name is D.L. Jung. That doesn't match the name on my birth certificate, but then again, neither does the name on my desk at work. I work in IT, am married and have two intermittently tolerable kids. That sucks up most of my time. Pretty much every free second outside of that is devoted to goofing off, I mean, writing.

I live in Canada, but I'm lucky enough to spend part of my time in New Zealand.

What inspired you to write this story?

A long time ago, I happened upon the documentary "Wasps and Witches" on TV.

It tells the parallel story of the American Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP’s) of World War II and the female combat pilots fighting for the Soviet Union at the same time. I was particularly fascinated by the Soviet women, and read as much on them as I could. Until then, I had no idea that women had fought in combat during WWII, let alone flew fighters and bombers.

There's now been quite a bit of fiction and non-fiction written about the night bomber pilots, the "Night Witches," but very little about the fighter pilots. I thought that was a shame, so I decided to step into that gap. And so, many years later, Sparrow Squadron came into being.

Did you write Sparrow Squadron what is currently happening in society in mind?

I think all fiction reflects the world around the writer. While the idea for the novel came much earlier, the bulk of it was written a year and a half ago. Probably the biggest external influence was the lead up to the 2016 US election. Because a female US president was a likely possibility, there was this strange mix of uplifting inspiration and rampant misogyny. Neither of these things is new. As each generation faces its own struggles to make progress, it's good to be exposed to what previous generations faced and achieved. All of that was definitely playing in my mind when I wrote the novel.

How much of Sparrow Squadron is fiction?

Aelya’s story itself is fiction and all of the people, with one notable exception, are all inventions of mine. However, I wrote this with the intent that all the events in the novel could reasonably have happened. Obviously, the major historical events all happened and many incidents are drawn from real-life accounts. The backgrounds of many of the characters are also based on real-life people.

What was your favourite discovery in doing your research?

As a result of Lend-Lease, in which the United States sent supplies to the Soviet Union to support their war effort, Soviet military personnel got inundated with a Spam-like canned meat. They took to calling it "Second Front." This was in part a dig at the repeated promises and delays the West made to open up a second front against Germany while the Soviets continued battling every day.

Describe your writing routine.

Everything in my schedule is based around the fact that I have a full-time job and kids. I usually schedule as much as I can around breaks at work and at night, after the kids’ bedtimes. I try to go several weeks without a lot of sleep, then crash for a week, then get back to it. That may sound crazy, but I find I’m actually way more productive when I have limited time to write. I try to remember that any moment of writing could be my last!

What can we expect in the sequel?

Aelya's going to be pushed into more of a leadership role, whether she feels ready or not. We're also going to see Aelya's first visit to the home front since she joined up. The relationships between the surviving pilots are going to get a lot more intense as they're thrown into the Battle of Kursk, which will push them further beyond the limits of anything they experienced at Stalingrad.

What are your future writing plans?

First and foremost, I need to finish the trilogy that starts with Sparrow Squadron. Then I have some epic fantasy that's just burning to get out of my head and onto the page. A significant part of it is inspired by a North Korean-style authoritarian personality cult.

What would Aelya like the most about our present day world and what would freak her out?

The extent of air travel available today would thrill Aelya, though she'd be a bit disappointed that we haven't gone to other planets yet. She'd be first in line for that job! As a child of Soviet society, I think she'd be overwhelmed by all of our entertainment choices and distractions. She'd probably want to escape into a cockpit at the earliest opportunity.

Who was your favourite character to write?

Obviously Aelya, being the protagonist, feels very much like my own child. But I loved letting loose on the "bad girl" Tonya. She doesn't really have a heart of gold, but there's a certain reasonable logic behind everything that she does and it was fun getting into that mindset.

What were some books that influenced your writing for this novel?

For Sparrow Squadron, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins was probably top of mind. I admired the tense, action-oriented writing. The Agency Series by Y.S. Lee, with its underdog, teenage heroine in a historical setting, also had a polished mix of humour and danger that I tried to emulate. Another huge influence was the Battle of Britain novel Piece of Cake by Derek Robinson. Its realistic depiction of the confusion of combat and the camraderie of the pilots makes it really stand out among war fiction.

What do you like to do in your downtime?

I like to reserve Fridays evenings, after the kids go to bed, as do-nothing times. It's a holdover from my college days. I'm so disciplined (by necessity) most of the week, I think I'd go crazy without that one off day. I usually spend it in a combination of watching TV or playing video games. Not very exciting, but I put all my spare energy into my writing.

What might readers be surprised to know about you?

Mainly because I forgot to mention this in any of my bios, they might be surprised that I once tried to run a sports analytics business. It didn't take, but I got to watch a playoff hockey game from the owner's box out of it!

About the Author
DL Jung has been an enthusiastic student of history since grade school, when he spent lazy afternoons flipping through an old Encyclopedia Britannica set. He enjoys blogging about history and writing historical fiction. He also writes fantasy and horror fiction as Darius Jung.

Jung is married, with two children, and lives in Toronto, Canada. They are lucky enough to spend part of the time in New Zealand. Outside of writing, he has tried stints as an industrial engineer, a film and TV script supervisor, an IT consultant, a professional game show contestant, and a grossly under-qualified business wear model. Sparrow Squadron is his debut novel.

Author Links:

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook│Instagram│Amazon Page

Blog Tour Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

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Release: The Black Oracle by Michael Cristiano

Humans, you are not alone.

"Joachim is a hunter in the jungle of a post-apocalyptic Earth. Though generations have passed since the Great Death, something has evolved in the trees beyond the giant glowing mushrooms, mutants that want to see human entrails spread along the jungle floor. And now they've taken Joachim’s wife.

To get her back, Joachim will have to give the leader of these demons something in return: immortality. A creature knows when he is going to die, after all. Plunged into a world of magic and darkness, Joachim must find the only woman who knows where the ingredients are. She is a prophetess known as the Black Oracle living in the realm of Zalm, but she’s a little preoccupied at the moment. She leads a rebellion against the ruthless High Council, and when Joachim seeks her out, he too finds himself consumed by her struggle.

In a story of betrayal, prophecy, and bloodshed, Joachim has ten days to retrieve the ingredients and return to Earth all while evading the High Council’s army, one that wants the Black Oracle and her associates killed — Joachim included."

  “The Black Oracle” is a New Adult post-apocalyptic fantasy novel, and it is available now. You can pick up an eBook copy on Amazon here or a paperback copy here. Check out the excerpt below and join the adventure today.

FIND MY REVIEW HERE!

 

 “Darcie had been sitting in the doorway when he returned to the village not yet two evenings ago. The day had been hot, and Joachim was sweaty and dirty and tired. He lowered his rucksack, and she closed the book she had been reading, one from Baruch’s Old Earth library, like all the others.
“Welcome home.”
He’d spent the last six weeks in the arms of the jungle, the cold, dark, unforgiving wilderness that never truly felt right even on the most beautiful of days. Joachim had hunted in those trees all his life, but nothing compared to Darcie. In her eyes, he was home.
 “How did the great hunters fare?” she teased. “Did you take down three alligators this time? How about an elephant? Will we have enough elephant meat to last us until next summer?”
 “Not quite,” Joachim replied.
 She stood with her hands on her waist. From the back, someone would think that she was upset if not for the expression on her face. She watched him from under her brow, her chin turned slightly downward. She smiled.
 “I missed you,” he whispered as he snuck his hands onto her hips.
 “No, you didn’t.” She smirked. “You and Ben and Trent are like children out there—like young boys. And the jungle is your little paradise.”
 “What if I told you that you are my paradise?” He kissed her neck.
 She snorted. “Oh, please. Think you can just walk in here and woo me with some flattery?”
 “I know I can.”
 Darcie’s arms snaked around him. Her lips were as intoxicating as barley sweetened in the sun, and soon, he lifted her off her feet and pressed her against the wall.
 “Joachim!” she exclaimed. “The neighbors.”
 “There’s no one watching.”
 She laughed and hit him lightly on the chest.
 “How was everything while I was gone?” Joachim asked.
 “Fine,” Darcie said. “Boring.”
 They went inside the dwelling. There was simmering jackalope stew on the stove.
 “Ophelia’s ceiling had a leak last week,” Darcie continued. “A big rainstorm pushed through here, and it ripped some of the roof off. Did you get a storm out there in the jungle too?”
 “Yes,” Joachim said. “I’m not even sure my rucksack is dried all the way through yet.”
 He dipped his finger into the stew. It tasted salty.
 “And how are you?” he asked.
 Darcie played with a lock of her dark hair and bit her bottom lip. She reminded him of the day they married. There had been no parent left to walk Darcie down the aisle, so she walked herself. The whole time she eyed him: shy yet eager. Almost childlike.
 “I’m pregnant,” she said.
 He almost dropped his hand back into the stew. A little boy, she had just called him, alluding to his exhilaration whenever he entered the jungle. And Darcie was right: he often became so energized that he did feel like a little boy—and he felt like one again now. He felt like laughing, like scooping Darcie up and twirling her around. He could feel life bursting through his chest: ravenous innocence and maddening excitement. They’d been yearning for a child for so long.
 “You are?”
 “I found out into the second week of the hunt.” She touched his face. “I skipped my cycle, and I told Jolyne. She ran a test and told me I was expecting.”
 Joachim cried. The hunter was supposed to be brave, but being brave sometimes meant having courage to show his emotions. He wept for her, smiling and laughing through the tears, and she cried too. She spent the night tight to his chest and coiled in his arms like a huntress in camouflaging paints, like a butterfly in a cocoon. Like she was protected by a shield. Joachim wished she were there for him to protect now. She hadn’t mentioned the creatures that evening, and he doubted she even knew that they had come while he was away. But now she was gone, and so he had to be too. If he waited too long, the creatures would keep her away from him forever. If she wasn’t already.”

  Michael Cristiano is a Canadian writer. His relentless obsession with writing began long before he could spell the words 'relentless obsession'.
Growing up in endless suburban sprawl, he spent most of his childhood pretending to be Harry Potter and attempting to get published by the age of thirteen.
 When he isn’t writing or reading, he can be found planning his next backpacking trip around the world. He is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto with studies in Foreign Language and Linguistics. Previously, he attended a Regional Arts high school where he majored in drama. He is fond of all things dramatic. 
Michael currently resides in the Greater Toronto Area, and he is using his years as a twenty-something to establish what he hopes will be a long career in writing.
He works in editing and acquisitions for Curiosity Quills Press, and his freelance work has appeared on websites such as Nexopia, FluentU, and BlushPost.
The Black Oracle, his debut novel, is out now. Like him on Facebook. Follow him on Twitter.

Review: Fool's Ride (The Jenkin's Cycle Book 2) by John L. Monk

From Goodreads:
Dan Jenkins is back, body hopping a scumbag at a time in his quest for the perfect ride. He doesn’t need much. Premium cable TV, good books, a well-stocked pantry, and he's set. But the Great Whomever has other plans.

After six months waiting in limbo, Dan catches a ride as a horror novelist whose gruesome stories aren’t just fiction. Later, he hunts a man who’s escaped justice for far too long. Then, in his greatest challenge yet, he strays too deeply into the lives of the people he loves: his most foolish ride of all.

My Thoughts:
So reading this was off my schedule, but I loved book 1 so much I couldn't help myself.
Jut like book 1, Kick, Dan's adventures start from page one as he tries to work out the weird and twisted world of his "rides" This time around he has some doozies, too. It probably doesn't help that I'm pregnant and have small children, and the victims of his rides are those two things. Add in my pregnancy hormones and I was in for an emotional ride!
But this time, Dan's real life past returns, as well as the minister from Kick. It makes me wonder where Dan is headed, and I'm eager for the next installment.
I just don't have words without handing out spoilers. But this book is worth everyone's time. It's something I can't put down, and Dan's conflict while also trying to have some fun makes him the perfect character for his body hopping situation.
Looking forward to the continuation of this series.

Billy Lovecraft Saves the World by Billy Lovecraft Blog Tour

Date of Release: November 13, 2014
Cover Artist: Andy Garcia

Description:
The last thing Billy Lovecraft’s parents sent him before the crash was a photo of something on
the wing of their plane.
Now he’s stuck with a horrible and heart-breaking mystery: What was that awful creature, and
why were his parents targeted?
It’s up to Billy to gather a team of like-minded kids and lead them through a dark new reality
where the monsters are real, not everyone is who they seem to be, and an ancient alien wants to
devour the world.

Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Excerpt:

Billy Lovecraft walks out the front doors of Serling Middle School and down the steps. He tightens the straps on his big, military ALICE—All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment—rucksack. Classes are over and Billy's tired of everything right now. At least it's a nice, breezy day.

Billy looks back at the school building. Serling is three stories of brick nestled on Hillside Avenue between Orange Road and Saint Luke's Place. He likes the big row of columns above the front and side doors. The whole place gives off the vibe that it wants to be as important as the Roman Pantheon but can't quite muster the courage.

He used to enjoy coming here. A little. The teachers were pretty cool. Well, as cool as teachers could be. Then Sturn took over and everything went bad after that.

The whole place feels sneaky and mean now. Like there's a cloud of darkness and dread hovering above. Like the school and its honchos are watching everything and looking for reasons to eat kids.

The ancient church across the street—with its massive, looming spire and dueling columns—doesn't help Billy's nerves, either.

People don't scare Billy. Neither do their threats. Or their arbitrary grasps at authority over him.

But darkness does scare him.

Fear. Fear is something Billy understands. It is our oldest and strongest emotion.

Billy wants to defeat fear—his own and every other kid’s.

Big Jim, Metal Max, Sweet-Tooth, and Jackrabbit stand on the sidewalk near the street in front of the school.

Billy furrows his brow at the nerds. "I didn't expect you see you guys. Mostly because you made fun of me." He flips his index finger out. "And made fun of me." His middle finger joins his index finger. "And, yeah, made fun of me." His ring finger pops out last.

Big Jim shifts his weight from one foot to another. "We talked it over. We're sorry. It wasn't fair of us." He flashes a faltering smile—one that hints he isn't really sure what to do with Billy. "What did Principal Sturn say? Do you still have all your internal organs?"

"Principal Sturn is Principal Butthurt right now. He suspended me for three days."

"What for? The fight?"

Sweet-Tooth gestures toward Billy. "Wasn't much of a fight." He sticks a Tootsie Roll in his mouth and chews. "So do we make friends with our enemy's enemy. That's kinda the thing. Seeing as how he fought off Carlucci."

Jackrabbit rubs his black eye. "I hate Carlucci. He's such a jerkwad."

Billy feels the weight of the ALICE pack on his shoulders. "This is starting to sound like we're in bad movie. I am your enemy's enemy, I guess. And Sturn will say it was because of the fight, but mostly he just doesn't like me." Billy claps his hands together. Jackrabbit jumps at the sudden noise. Billy grins. "On the plus side, I get a long weekend! I don't even need to put on pants unless I feel like it."

Big Jim folds his arms. "A long weekend to do what? Don't they monitor kids in, uh, in your situation? Especially ones without pants. You'll be stuck inside."

"Nah, not as long as I divert important calls to my great fake grandfather, Rusty." Billy cackles with a hint of devilish glee. "You guys wanna see my house? You should come see my house."

***

The quintet walks through Montclair under the swaying branches of colorful trees. They stroll along the sidewalks that buckle from roots pushing them up. They saunter in front of beautiful homes built on the rolling hills that allow for a perfect view of the Manhattan skyline.

Billy kicks a stone. "Jim, why are you guys so into 'Cthulhu Detective Squad' anyway? Don't you have better things to do?"

Jim groans. "I still can't believe you didn't play your parents' game."

"Bite me. My parents were going to teach me everything themselves. They told me that… before the crash."

Big Jim rubs his forehead. "All right, sorry. Uh… well, I mean, it's fun. The game talks about all this crazy stuff. It says monsters are around us all the time. And there are ancient aliens we would only think of as gods. It's cool. It's definitely not like any other game. Your folks based it off the works of The Writer."

"Who's 'The Writer?'"

"He was a guy who wrote in the early twentieth century. People thought he was weird. He studied the cults and the books. Then he, duh, wrote about it."

"I guess I should've played this game."

"No kidding. It teaches you to think differently. You have to behave like a real Detective. You have to look for clues and solve puzzles. Me and the other guys have gotten to be pretty darn good Detectives."

"But do you guys, I dunno, believe in it?"

Big Jim shrugs. "Eh... I'm a scientist. I don't believe in something I've never seen with my own eyes. Metal Max believes in it, but he's more spiritual or whatever." Big Jim makes a noise like pft. "Sweet-Tooth and Jackrabbit definitely believe in it."

Billy looks to Metal Max, Sweet-Tooth and Jackrabbit. "You're perfect for this." He waits a beat. Grins. "I have an awesome idea."

About The Author:
Billy Lovecraft is the young leader of the Cthulhu Detective Squad, which he formed after the
death of his parents when he was twelve. He is a writer, scientist, occult scholar, and frequent
savior of the world. The things in his basement will give you nightmares.
Find Billy Lovecraft Online:
Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Zhukov's Dogs by Amanda Cyr Blog Tour

Date of Publication: October 27, 2014

Cover Artist: Alexandria Thompson of Gothic Fate

Goodreads

Description:

Lieutenant Colonel Nik Zhukov is just like any other desensitized seventeen-year-old living in the year 2076. At least he likes to think he is when he isn’t busy eliminating threats to national security, breaking up terrorist organizations, and trying not to get blown up. It’s all in a normal day’s work for one of the military’s top dogs, and he’s never disappointed. Never failed. Never lost sight of his dream of making it to the elite force, even as each new job forces him to see just how morally corrupt his leaders are.

On the verge of promotion, Nik is dispatched to the underground city beneath the icy Seattle tundra, his final mission handed down directly from The Council. It should have been a simple in-and-out, but the underground is full of dark secrets and he soon finds himself swept into battles, lying to his best friend back east, and growing a bit too close to the rebels he was sent to spy on.

Nik realizes too late that he’s broken the number one rule within his ranks; he’s allowed himself to feel normal for the first time in his life. He might be able to turn the job around, become the soldier he was once was, except for his growing attachment to the rebel leader. A guy. Yet another first for Nik. It’s a mistake he pays for dearly when he learns The Council’s true intentions for the city.

It’s never ‘just harmless fun’ when you’re a government dog, not when The Council holds the leash. Nik knows there are some lines you can never come back from crossing, and he’s forced to choose whose rules to play by. He races toward the invisible divide, aware he’ll be called traitor by both his nation and by his friends. Aware that even the right choice can be deadly to make.

About Amanda Cyr:

Amanda Cyr is a tea-loving freelance journalist, viral content curator, and debut novelist. She studied creative writing at Seattle University, where she developed all sorts of opinions before becoming a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. She is currently represented by Kimberley Cameron of the Kimberley Cameron & Associates Literary Agency.

Growing up, Amanda moved around a lot. She began writing to make the transitions easier and make up for her lack of friends in middle school. An awesome professor in Medford, Oregon tried to convince her to pursue writing professionally, but Amanda was deadest on a law career. It wasn’t until an unpleasant professor in Seattle, Washington told her she was a terrible writer that Amanda really committed to the idea of getting published, mostly just to spite her professor.

When Amanda’s not hunched over a laptop she enjoys sleeping, video games, Netflix binges, and wrestling with her two polar bear dogs. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she spends her days hissing at the sun and missing Seattle. Her least favorite things include the mispronunciation of her name, screaming children, and California.

Find Amanda Cyr Online:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Operation Chimera, by Matthew Cox and Tony Healey Blog Tour

Date of Publication: October 20, 2014.

Cover Artist: Ricky Gunawan (http://ricky-gunawan.daportfolio.com/)

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22590305-operation-chimera

Description:

Generations of war with the savage Draxx have left humanity desperate for a way to gain the upper hand.

A chance to turn the tide in their favor is all legendary Captain Nicholas Driscoll needs to hear to lead an expedition behind enemy lines to the Chimera Nebula - a region of space so unstable it remains largely uncharted.

Lieutenant Michael Summers sees an opportunity to matter, a chance to let future generations exist in a universe without constant war. He and other brave young cadets join the Manhattan for its first dangerous mission - to penetrate the Chimera Nebula and discover what it is the Draxx are doing in there.

But first the ship and her crew will be tested by enemies both outside and within…

Excerpt:

Chapter 2

Captain Nicholas Driscoll was accustomed to the looks as he strode toward the airlock that would take him from Horizon Station to the Manhattan.

He was more than familiar with the ship's design, but to see her with his own eyes―beyond the viewports, awaiting his arrival―was something else entirely. From the observation level of the station, where a half hour before he'd sat and had coffee, it had seemed impossibly large. However, the size was more a necessity than an act of showmanship on the part of the designers. The Manhattan was big because it had to be. Driscoll had never heard of a Terran Union ship carrying such a variety of starfighters before, nor in such quantity.

Indeed, the Manhattan was a self-contained fleet.

Driscoll approached the security desk but, as was so often the case, didn't need to introduce himself. As he pressed his palm against an ident scanner and waited for the Milsec security personnel to clear him for entrance to the Manhattan, he couldn't help but remember how he had thought his previous command―an Archon class called the Sonata―was impressively large. Next to the Manhattan, it paled in comparison. At the time, she'd been the biggest ship he had ever commanded. But now…

“You're clear for entry,” the Milsec guard told him. “Welcome aboard the Manhattan, Captain Driscoll.”

Driscoll nodded curtly and stepped through the decontamination jets. The torrent of ionized air buffeted him from all sides like a tingly mist till he set foot on the Manhattan's deck.

Commander Robin Teague stood there waiting for him already, hands clasped behind her back.

“Captain,” she said, and snapped to attention. “Welcome to the Manhattan.”

Driscoll returned her salute, glanced left and right. Men and women hurried this way and that. Unlike station side, they barely noticed him there with his carryall. This was how he preferred it. Away from the pomp and protocol, he was just a man leading others. That was all. But given his exploits in the past, people outside of a ship environment treated him as something different―a celebrity.

He hated it.

“At ease, Commander.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, almost embarrassed.

“Walk with me.” He hefted his carryall and headed left. “See if I remember where they stuck my quarters.”

“I believe we're headed the correct way, sir,” Commander Teague said as she fell in step with him.

“Is everything on schedule, Commander?”

“Yes, Captain. We're on target to depart within the hour,” Teague said. “Those were your orders, sir?”

Driscoll nodded once. “Yes. Any problems I should know about? Anything come up in the last couple of hours?”

“No, not at present,” Teague said. “Prep's gone well. Though I dare say there'll be a few hiccups, there always is.”

Now Driscoll gave her an appreciative look. “I like that, Commander. It tells me you’re thinking ahead and know we'll have issues later. It's a given. I also like that you're not trying to blow smoke up my ass and feed me a load of bull. Keep it up. Tell me how it is. On the level.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Captain walked with determination, never breaking his stride. Crewmen and women swerved to avoid them as Commanding Officer and Executive Officer made their way toward the fore of the ship. Eventually they would be forced to take the elevator, but Driscoll seemed intent on covering as much deck by foot as he was able. The crew, for their part, paid little attention to who they were. They simply caught sight of the uniforms and made room.

-- 

About Matthew Cox:

Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.

Hobbies and Interests: Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it. He is also fond of cats.

Find Matthew Cox Online:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads 
--

About Tony Healey:

Tony Healey is a best-selling independent author. Born in 1985, he has lived his entire life in the city of Brighton, UK.

In 2011, he found his fiction published alongside Harlan Ellison and Alan Dean Foster. A year later, his sci-fi serial FAR FROM HOME became a best-selling sensation, followed by similarly successful sequels. Since then he has collaborated with authors Bernard Schaffer, Matthew Cox and William Vitka on various projects. He has also had work published by Curiosity Quills Press. He is married and has three daughters.

For the latest on Tony's various projects, visit his site www.tonyhealey.com

Find Tony Healey Online:

Website | Facebook  | Twitter  | Goodreads

Cover Reveal: Billy Lovecraft Saves the World by Billy Lovecraf

Curiosity Quills is thrilled to reveal the cover for middle-grade, action-adventure, paranormal, horror, science-fiction Billy Lovecraft Saves the World, by Billy Lovecraft, which is scheduled for release November 13, 2014. 

The stunning cover was designed by Andy Garcia.

Description: The last thing Billy Lovecraft’s parents sent him before the crash was a photo of something on the wing of their plane. Now he’s stuck with a horrible and heart-breaking mystery: What was that awful creature, and why were his parents targeted? It’s up to Billy to gather a team of like-minded kids and lead them through a dark new reality where the monsters are real, not everyone is who they seem to be, and an ancient alien wants to devour the world.

 Add Billy Lovecraft Saves the World to your Goodreads 'to-be-read' list.

 
About The Author: Billy Lovecraft is the young leader of the Cthulhu Detective Squad, which he formed after the death of his parents when he was twelve. He is a writer, scientist, occult scholar, and frequent savior of the world. The things in his basement will give you nightmares.


Find Billy Lovecraft Online: Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Zero Point Blog Tour: High Tech and Politics are Combustible by Nafeez Ahmed

Date of Publication: August 14, 2014

Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Description:

Near future Great Britain is on the brink of collapse. Mass riots. Economic meltdown. Blackouts. And a new oil war in Iraq to keep the world economy afloat.

Iraq War veteran and war crimes whistleblower David Ariel is sick of violence, and trying to make ends meet working for Specialist Protection. But after Prime Minister Carson is brutally assassinated by extremists on Ariel’s watch, he is covertly targeted by a compromised police investigation.

When forensics discover that Carson’s assassination inexplicably defied the very laws of physics, bodies drop like flies as key witnesses are murdered in impossible circumstances.

Fleeing for his life while London is locked-down under martial law, Ariel gets a phone call from Iraq he will never forget. His estranged girlfriend, journalist Julia Stephenson, warns that the Carson killing is just the beginning of a wider plot to bring the West to its knees. Then she disappears.

Ariel’s blood-soaked race against time to track the terror cells behind Carson’s death tumbles into the cross-fire of a hidden battle between mysterious rogue intelligence agencies. The goal: to monopolise black budget technologies which could unlock the universe’s darkest, arcane secrets.

As the world he thought he knew unravels, Ariel faces off against bent coppers, double-crossing agents, psychic killers and super soldiers to complete a black ops mission like no other: stop Quantum Apocalypse.

ZERO POINT  - high tech and politics are combustible.

What if the human species continued business as usual, pursuing unlimited economic growth on a finite planet, plundering the planet’s natural resources for the benefit of a corporate few – despite the danger of climate catastrophe? What if Iraq destabilized to such an extent that our governments dragged themselves into another prolonged war in the Middle East? What if our Middle East wars didn’t stop terrorism, but, as with the 2003 Iraq War, inflamed regional tensions and sparked blowback at home? What if fear of this prompted our intelligence agencies to, instead of re-assessing state-militarism, fund new forms of surveillance, contributing to the rise of an increasingly repressive police state? What if we were able to develop stupendously powerful technologies that could conceivably save us from our looming environmental challenges?

Of course, no one can know the answer to these questions for sure, but we don’t need a crystal ball to hazard reasonable guesses. While these questions surely concern matters of utmost significance to many of us in current times, they also make great material for a dystopian scifi thriller!

Without wanting to make light of such issues, I started writing ZERO POINT about six years ago because I wanted to explore such questions through the medium of fiction. As such, ZERO POINT is unashamedly political fiction – inspired by ‘true events’ in the real world of politics and espionage, and jam-packed with a not-so-subtle political message about the dangers of business-as-usual.

But it’s also a lot of fun. I think the motivation to write a work of fiction came about as a fan of both science fiction and thrillers, whether in terms of literature, films, or TV. But both of these genres have occasionally bugged me – scifi in terms of its futurism, and thrillers in terms of their politics.

Much scifi attempts to build futuristic, self-contained worlds in relative isolation from the present. While semi-plausible narrative strands that link them up to present times are often utilized, still, we are often offered dystopian scifi worlds wholesale as visions of the future, vast vistas in our imaginations that allow us to escape from the doldrums of the everyday, while also reflecting subliminally on the everday’s political underbelly.

I love such scifi, but with ZERO POINT I wanted to do something different. I wanted to explore how the machinations of the present could give birth to the dystopian future – how such dystopia is not, really, all that distant, but is even now emerging from seeds we plant today in the everyday. I wanted to explore how the dystopian universes we imagine in a fictional far-flung future could actually come about.

That’s why ZERO POINT is set in a near future very much like our own, and indeed begins with the taut unpredictability of a conventional political thriller. But it soon opens up into a strange, parallel world in which unimaginable high technology is just beginning to emerge, with extreme social and political ramifications. The next volumes in the trilogy go deeper, by extrapolating today’s trends further into the future. But rather than simply fast-forwarding to that future, I explore the shaping of the present into that future.

Equally, this is where I take on the staple tropes of conventional thriller writing. Most spy thrillers take the essential ‘goodness’ of our spy agencies for granted. If they are responsible for evil, it’s usually through the actions of rogue agents, or megalomaniacally evil leaders. In the real world, I can tell you based on my experience as an investigative journalist who has broken major stories on global affairs, terrorism, and international security, this is simply not the case. In the real world, the unaccountability of our spies and spy agencies is the problem.  If there are ‘rogues’, quite often they are whistleblowers, ruthlessly demonized and excommunicated by their own agencies just for exposing their failures.

This leads us into a realm that is much more morally complicated than simplistic spy stories of ‘us good’ and ‘them evil’, in which the institutional corruption of intelligence exposes interweaving good and bad intentions, exploitation, double-crossing, bribery, ideology, and careerism – ingredients which, when combined with the dangers of high technology, are extremely combustible.

About Nafeez Ahmed:

 

Nafeez Ahmed is a bestselling author, investigative journalist, and international security academic. He writes for The Guardian via his Earth Insight blog, reporting on the geopolitics of interconnected environmental, energy and economic crises. The author of five critically-acclaimed non-fiction works addressing humanity’s biggest global challenges, Nafeez’s forthcoming book is a science fiction thriller, ZERO POINT, due out 18th August 2014.

Nafeez has also written for the Independent on Sunday, The Independent, The Scotsman, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Huffington Post, New Statesman, Prospect Magazine, Le Monde Diplomatique, among many others. He has been a talking head for BBC News 24, BBC World News with George Alagiah, BBC Radio Five Live, BBC Radio Four, BBC World Today, BBC Asian Network, Channel 4, Sky News, C-SPAN Book TV, CNN, FOX News, Bloomberg, PBS Foreign Exchange, Al-Jazeera English, Press TV, Islam Channel and hundreds of other radio and TV shows in the USA, UK, and Europe.

Nafeez is also cited and reviewed in the Sunday Times, Times Higher Educational Supplement, New York Times, The Independent, Independent on Sunday, The Observer, Guardian, Big Issue Magazine, Vanity Fair, among others

Find Nafeez Ahmed:

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Cover Reveal: Zhukov’s Dogs by Amanda Cyr

Curiosity Quills is excited to reveal the cover for new-adult science-fiction, action-adventure Zhukov’s Dogs, by Amanda Cyr, which is scheduled for release October 27, 2014. The awesome cover was designed by the talented Alexandria Thompson of Gothic Fate.  

About Zhukov’s Dogs:

Lieutenant Colonel Nik Zhukov is just like any other desensitized seventeen-year-old living in the year 2076. At least he likes to think he is when he isn’t busy eliminating threats to national security, breaking up terrorist organizations, and trying not to get blown up. It’s all in a normal day’s work for one of the military’s top dogs, and he’s never disappointed. Never failed. Never lost sight of his dream of making it to the elite force, even as each new job forces him to see just how morally corrupt his leaders are. On the verge of promotion, Nik is dispatched to the underground city beneath the icy Seattle tundra, his final mission handed down directly from The Council. It should have been a simple in-and-out, but the underground is full of dark secrets and he soon finds himself swept into battles, lying to his best friend back east, and growing a bit too close to the rebels he was sent to spy on. Nik realizes too late that he’s broken the number one rule within his ranks; he’s allowed himself to feel normal for the first time in his life. He might be able to turn the job around, become the soldier he was once was, except for his growing attachment to the rebel leader. A guy. Yet another first for Nik. It’s a mistake he pays for dearly when he learns The Council’s true intentions for the city. It’s never ‘just harmless fun’ when you’re a government dog, not when The Council holds the leash. Nik knows there are some lines you can never come back from crossing, and he’s forced to choose whose rules to play by. He races toward the invisible divide, aware he’ll be called traitor by both his nation and by his friends. Aware that even the right choice can be deadly to make.

 Add Zhukov’s Dogs to your Goodreads 'to-be-read' list.



About Amanda Cyr: Amanda Cyr is a tea-loving freelance journalist, viral content curator, and debut novelist. She studied creative writing at Seattle University, where she developed all sorts of opinions before becoming a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. She is currently represented by Kimberley Cameron of the Kimberley Cameron & Associates Literary Agency. Growing up, Amanda moved around a lot. She began writing to make the transitions easier and make up for her lack of friends in middle school. An awesome professor in Medford, Oregon tried to convince her to pursue writing professionally, but Amanda was deadest on a law career. It wasn’t until an unpleasant professor in Seattle, Washington told her she was a terrible writer that Amanda really committed to the idea of getting published, mostly just to spite her professor. When Amanda’s not hunched over a laptop she enjoys sleeping, video games, Netflix binges, and wrestling with her two polar bear dogs. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she spends her days hissing at the sun and missing Seattle. Her least favorite things include the mispronunciation of her name, screaming children, and California.

  Find Amanda Cyr Online: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck: Magic and Mayhem Blog Tour: Characters Guest Postby Stan Swanson

The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck has to be one of the most enjoyable books I have ever written. It has great characters, a solid story line and was a joy to work on. (Writing is the fun part. Editing is where the real work comes in.) Not only is it a fantasy (one of my favorite genres), but it is also a fast-paced adventure and even has a mystery to solve. But I think that it’s the humor that is involved in the story that I love more than anything. And adults seem to love it as much as kids. My wife thinks maybe I can write good middle grade humor as that is sort of the way my mind works anyway. (And just for that I’m not going to empty the trash this week. So there!)

The characters really came to life for me in this book. Hobart Hucklebuck feels like part me and parts of a hundred kids I knew when growing up. He’s an “everyday” kid with “everyday” problems that anyone can associate with. Of course, at some point he has to deal with “grown-up” problems and that’s when he shines.

The first book in the series, The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck: Magic & Mayhem is available now. The second book (which is currently with the publisher) is called The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck: Pandemonium in Pennywhistle and will hopefully be released in just a few months. I’m already working on the third book in the series which is tentatively title The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck: Wicked Weather.

I hope you enjoy reading about the “misadventures” of Hobart as much as I did creating them.

Date of Publication: August 7th, 2014.

Cover Artist: Ricky Gunawan

Description: 

Things are not as they should be in Pennywhistle. Enchanted toasters are not toasting, enchanted sprinklers are not sprinkling and Hobart Hucklebuck’s origami messenger birds are suddenly attacking him.

Someone seems to be draining the power from all of the enchanted items in the village. But who could it be and why have they implicated Hobart’s grandfather?

“The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck” follows Hobart and his friends, Specks Spacklethack and Rosie Rumpleskirt, as they try to solve this mystery and free Hobart’s grandfather from the Tower of Tribulation on Mumblemonk Mountain.

The trio’s investigation into the mysterious happenings on Druid Lane gets them into hot water more than once and ultimately brings them dangerously close to disaster not only for themselves, but the entire village of Pennywhistle.

Find The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck: Magic and Mayhem Online:

Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble

About Stan Swanson:

Stan Swanson is a Bram Stoker award finalist and author of eight books including Forever Zombie (a collection of short stories), Write of the Living Dead (a highly-praised writing guide written with Araminta Star Matthews and Rachel Lee) and Return of the Scream Queen (co-authored with Michael McCarty and Linnea Quigley). He is also editor/publisher for Dark Moon Books and Dark Moon Digest. Upcoming titles include Horror High School: Return of the Loving Dead (the first book in a young adult horror series co-written with Araminta Star Matthews), Dead Sparrows (a collection of apocalyptic poetry) and The Methlands (a horror novel co-written with award-winning author Joe McKinney).

Find Stan Swanson Online:

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