http://amzn.to/THJdiG
Just a short ‘Blog’ to keep
you in the picture of what is happening.
The link (above) is to
Amazon in the US. All the stories below are available from Amazon in UK,
Germany and, now, France.
They are all in the ‘Kindle
Store under ‘Books’ because they are all e-books (with one exception).
Do not despair if you do
not have a ‘Kindle’ e-book reader. Available from Amazon there is an ‘App’ that
permits you to read ‘Kindle’ e-books on your PC (IBM and Mac), most ‘phones and
iPads. This can be downloaded from Amazon for FREE!!
The instructions are really
easy to follow – so simple, in fact, that even I managed it.
Let’s look at the stories:
“Three’s Company”
This is a short story of
just under 5,000 words.
It is my version of a
romance without being romantic. It is a gentle story that will keep you amused
on the train or during lunch hour over a snack and a warm beverage.
The start may create a
little apprehension but, after that, it gets all soft and cuddly.
The sequel is already
written and is called “Four’s A Crowd”. This is a slightly longer story at
8,000 words. Also a gentle tale but you may find a tear welling up here and
there!
“Meevo”
This story is a novelette
of just over 14,000 words.
“Meevo” is a chiller that
tells the story from different viewpoints of a squad of soldiers who are sent
to capture, or kill, a murderous mutant. These troops are the very best at what
they do; the planet depends upon their resourcefulness to wipe out this deadly
creature.
The story is told from the
perspective of one of the soldiers, the SNCO in charge, the Officer in charge
and the Warden of a prison camp in the deepest part of Southern Africa.
The mutant was created by a
colossal war that also changed the climate of Earth drastically. It is, even
during the course of the story, still changing – for the worse.
Can you imagine being in
the tropical heat of Liverpool?
“Crater”
This is another novelette
of just under 16,000 words.
An alien space ship crashes
into Edinburgh, Scotland, wiping it out as well as much of the countryside to
the West of it.
The aliens regard
themselves as immortals; they have no concept of death. They do not breed;
there is no need for them to breed. After some research it is found that they
go around the Galaxy harvesting biological material to use as fuel for their
huge ships leaving the planet that they have visited bare – stripped to the
rock. They have no consideration of leaving some material for the planet to
rebuild so that they can return in the future, their mission is self-defeating
but we humans intend to defeat them first.
We have an advantage; we
can recoup our losses by breeding.
“Crater” takes place over a
period of a thousand years so some concentration is needed to keep track of the
time shifts. It is sufficient to say, “Just when you thought it was all over...”
“Ruthermore Heidigens and
the Fifth Planet”
This is another Novelette
of over 16,600 words.
This is number one in a
series of ‘Ruthermore Heidigens’ stories. They are all a little ‘tongue in
cheek’ look at wizardry since he, Ruthermore, is the finest wizard in the known
universe by virtue of being the only wizard in the known universe.
At that time the ‘known
universe’ was four planets. This story chronicles the discovery of a fifth
planet, hence the title, and how Ruthermore was coerced into going out into
space – something he is loathe to do.
His daughter, Chau, and a
member of the Planetary Fiscal Committee, who, as with most Government tax
agencies, are determined to get their pound of flesh, accompany him.
The sequel is “Ruthermore
Heidigens and the Voices” and the third is “Ruthermore Heidigens and the Nights
at the Round Table”. These are all stories in their own right and can be read
independently of each other but, clearly, starting with the first one is always
to be preferred.
“The Hags of Teeb”
The first of the novellas
at almost 19,000 words.
The ‘Hags’ was written as a
piece of lunacy to get it out of my head. It is a sideways glance at the
British sense of xenophobia and aristocratic traditions – especially as regards
the French.
The ‘hero’ introduces
himself as follows, “Madam, I am Major Jassington Farquar
DeTovington-Beauville, Duke of Scafell Pike and the fifth Baron Livesey,
twenty-third in line heir to the throne of the Empire. This, on the other
hand, is Gaspard. As I may have mentioned earlier he is foreign and,
therefore, not completely in possession of all his wits.”
They are almost immediately
thrown into a battle of those wits with the ‘Herds of Dollib’; this battle
tends to leave our Major somewhat unarmed...
Another gentle sci-fi story
but one that is intended to be humorous. Not all sci-fi is ‘dark’.
“The Adepts: Book 1 – Furato”
The ‘Adepts’ is a
full-length novel.
This weaves the tale of a
group of people with special abilities. They have sworn not to use their
abilities to cause harm to other beings. This oath is something that has placed
them in certain difficulties.
To overcome this they have
one or two companions. Every one of them has a fighter to protect them and some
have a spokesperson to speak for them because their linguistic abilities are
not so good.
The teams are all female.
The fighters are from one planet, they are all lethal. The spokespersons come
from several planets – one is from Earth.
The reason for them all
being female will become clear within the story.
The twelve Adepts call
themselves, when they are all together, which is rare, a Committee; they are
advisory to the Council of Planets when called upon. This is also rare since
the Council are, naturally, a shade fearful of them.
Somewhere, out in space, a
threat emerges. They have to work together to combat the threat but working
together is not something they are accustomed to doing. Their protectors, the
fighters, are also extremely individual and need some pushing to get them to
work as a team.
At first they are
concentrating on the pirates but it soon becomes clear that the threat to the
planets and themselves is much more deadly
The second novel is “The
Adepts: Book 2 – Empath”.
There is also a prequel
which is a novella called “Rhittach” that charts the progress of one of the
protectors from her childhood to the moment that one of the Adepts ‘chooses’
her for his fighter. It will give an insight into how the girl grew up, the
social conditions that she encountered from her childhood on the tundra and an
idea of what her part of the planet looked like.
Hopefully this will help
you to choose a story that will please you and satisfy your tastes.
Perhaps you will tell your
friends by passing them the link to this page.
You will also find free
stories on this ‘Blog’ and on my web page:
As a general guide to the
number of words, this ‘Blog’ is 1218 words long.
Enjoy
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