Cover reveal for Book 5 of The Aliomenti Saga: "Preserving Will"

I'm pleased to reveal the cover and title for the the fifth book of the Aliomenti Saga!

I think there may be some fire involved in this book. But you already knew that, right?  :)

The book is currently undergoing final proofreading. I hope to have it out to everyone soon!

As always, thank you for your support!

"Birth of the Alliance" Now Available!

AVAILABLE NOW!

I'm very pleased to announce that Birth of the Alliance is now available! It was a joy to write, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Once you're done, shoot me an email or drop by my Facebook page to let me know what you thought.

You can currently find Birth of the Alliance at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I'll be working on the making the print version available soon. More details as they become available.

Thanks to everyone for your support!

If you're new to the series, start with A Question of Will. You can find this book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

Cover Reveal for "Birth of the Alliance"

We're getting closer!

I'm pleased to report that the fourth book in the Alioment Saga, titled Birth of the Alliance, is off to the editor. Please be certain to send your version of positive vibes her way; there's some serious craziness that happens in book 4, like... Well, if you've read everything else, you know to expect the unexpected. If you want to be sure to get notified as soon as Birth of the Alliance is live, make sure you sign up for the newsletter here. There should be a new short story available soon as well for all of you who've subscribed; keep your eyes on your inbox.

While my poor editor is trying to turn my run-on sentences into something approximating proper English, Karri Klawiter has put together another gorgeous cover. I love how everything jumps off the page!

Ascent of the Aliomenti

The third book in The Aliomenti Saga, titled Ascent of the Aliomenti, is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. If you haven't already done so, please pick up a copy today! I hope to have the paperback version available within the week.

The action picks up wherePreserving Hope leaves off, in the immediate aftermath of the fire in the Aliomenti village, and traces Will's journey from that point forward as he leads the Aliomenti by his example to a prosperous future. There's quite a bit of sadness mixed in with all of the accomplishment, however, and Will has to overcome that to ensure he doesn't give up on his mission.

For those of you who've missed the Hunters and the Assassin from A Question of Will, you'll get a pretty comprehensive back story on one of them and see all of them enter the picture again near the end of the novel. As always, Arthur will scheme, Adam will remain an enigma, and Will will be tested to remain true to his beliefs as never before.

I hope you enjoy reading the novel! If you do, I'd appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review on your site of purchase, on Goodreads, or both. Reviews are a great way to help other readers locate new authors and their works.

Have questions? Send them to me via this site, my Facebook page, or Twitter; I'll answer anything that's not too spoiler-y to the rest of the series. :)

Cover Reveal: Ascent of the Aliomenti, Book 3 of the Aliomenti Saga

We're getting closer to the release of Book 3 of the Aliomenti Saga, and today I'm showing off Karri Klawiter's awesome cover below. The title: Ascent of the Aliomenti.

Editing continues on the book, and I'm hoping that final publication occurs in the next few weeks. If you want an email letting you know the minute it's available, plus subscribe to the New Release Mailing List here.

Review: "Darklandia" by T.S. Welti

Review of Darklandia by T.S. Welti

There are a number of dystopian YA novels on the market these days, using a number of different approaches in terms of how the bleak futures might be achieved and what form they might take. The best known, of course, is The Hunger Games, in which the future is presented as an openly oppressive regime stifling prosperity and doling out punishment in the form of a fight-to-the-death televised tournament amongst children. Another lesser-known series, which starts with Matched, presents a near-opposite view of a seeming utopia: clean and pristine living, plenty to eat, and no death tournaments. That shrouds a society in which all true freedom - and thus all true living - is stripped away, decisions such as career and mate chosen "scientifically" by the "friendly" government. Naturally, in both series, the rebels want a change, which seems intelligent to the oppressed in the first series and absurd to those in the second.

Darklandia takes something of a hybrid approach. Sera Fisk lives in a future New York City in which water is scarce and rationed, and all citizens must spend an hour a day immersed in a virtual reality game called Darklandia, in which players are forced and encouraged to act out their most violent urges and tendencies before returning to the real world. Mad at your boss? Kill them in the game. Annoyed at your spouse? Have a fling in the game. The game was created in response to a massive, decades-long drought which made water scarce and necessitate the banning of alcohol production; without this game, people acted out these urges in the real world. Eventually, a government formed around the use of the game and rationing of water, as well as the selection of careers and mates. Life is wonderful, of course.

Sera figures out, with the help of the dying words of her "darkling" grandmother, that something's not quite right, however. Over time, she learns of a society that oppresses its people through drugging the water supply to deaden emotions, pain, and the ability to sense reality. "Suffering is optional," they say, so long as you take those rations as prescribed. (If you don't, you'll be "purified" or "raptured.") Words which might provoke questions of the government and its Felicity are expunged; all problems are blamed on the evil darklings - like Sera's great-grandmother and missing father - and their creation of the drought and constant war that turns parts of New York City into a war zone. As Sera wakes, with the help of rebel leader Aaron, she starts to realize that she's never truly lived.

This is a well-written, thought-provoking story that will leave you asking questions about human nature and what we might expect in a future world, and I definitely enjoyed it. I thought Sera fought off her lifelong conditioning a bit too easily, and the ending was definitely not something I would have predicted or expected. Still, this is an enjoyable read for dystopian novel fans, and I encourage such readers to check it out.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Review: "First Shift - Legacy (Wool #6)" by Hugh Howey

Review of First Shift - Legacy (Wool #6) by Hugh Howey

There are several marks of a good storyteller. If you finish a work satisfied with the story just ended, yet desperately wanting more - not feeling cheated, yet not feeling as if you've gotten your fill - you've found a good writer. If the plot twists and turns keep you guessing, and thinking, and completely caught off guard without tricking you via deus ex machina or other bizarre machinations, fool you yet leave you realizing the clues were there in plain sight all along - you've found a good writer. And thankfully, there are plenty of men and women able to provide quality reading experiences in meeting these criteria.

What Hugh Howey has managed to accomplish with the first installment of his new Wool / Silo trilogy provides yet another attribute that designates a skilled writer - he's managed to create suspense and tension with a story in which devoted readers of the first five Wool stories (the Omnibus) know, in some fashion, the ending. The dystopian future world of underground Silos, the only thing protecting humanity from air and earth poisoned beyond livability, had to come about in some fashion, and the latter volumes in that series give enough clues that we know what must happen at the end.

Yet the exact nature, the why, is still a mystery, and that is what draws us in.

First Shift: Legacy tells us the story of Troy, one of the earliest leaders of Silo 1, as he awakens from cryogenic sleep to live in and lead this core Silo, the one all the others turn to for advice, guidance, and orders. His is a life of routine, of scripted days and more scripted responses, and many pills provided by doctors. Somehow, Troy feels an emptiness, a need to rebel, a need to chase the vague hint of a memory to find a mystery that haunts his waking and sleeping hours.

We are also shown the story of Donald, a twenty-first century member of the US House of Representatives, who is elected to Congress on promises to clean up corruption and conspiracy, and immediately finds himself drawn into the greatest in the nation's history. He becomes part of a team designing a solution to the nation's nuclear waste problem, a means of safely disposing of fuel rods now depleted yet dangerous, a project directed by the powerful Senator Thurman from Georgia, a man undergoing regular nano-bath designed to repair his aging body and extend his lifetime far beyond historical standards. Donald's job: as a former architect, design self-sustaining structures that personnel working at the containment facility can live in for a year or more should the containment system fail. The buildings are massive, 150 stories high, and come with a strange requirement: build them down into the ground, not up into the sky. Fifty are built, one per state. The project brings him into contact with Anna, the Senator's daughter and Donald's one-time love interest, much to the chagrin of his patient wife, Helen. By the time Donald realizes what's going on, what the Senator and Anna (among others) truly have planned, it's too late.

Howey's ability to bring characters to life, have them struggle internally to find answers that lead them to the truth they seek, is truly memorable. You'll leave this book not only with a deeper appreciation of the depth of the Wool / Silo world, but a desire to read more about Donald, Troy, Helen, Anna, and others. You'll want to go read Second Shift: Order, right now, because though First Shift ends as a complete story, you're left wanting more.

And that's the sign of a truly great writer.

Rating: 5/5 stars