Month: August 2012

Sneak Peek: Strangers in the Gale

Strangers in the GaleToday, we feature a sneak peek of Joe Occhipinti’s science fiction novel, Strangers in the Gale.

An unconscious girl found on a clump of floating kelp radically complicates Bernardo’s life. The planet Ondas is supposed to be uninhabited. Why is the League government hiding the existence of the seafarers? In his attempts to protect the girl, the young biologist becomes enmeshed in a broader conflict about to take a recently colonized world to war. Bernardo uncovers a genocidal policy by his government directed against the child’s aboriginal culture. On this water world fraught with ubiquitous storms, Bernardo and his friends fight for the girl’s survival, discovering a long-forgotten truth that will shake the foundations of worlds.

Strangers in the Gale is available through Amazon.com in print and for Kindle, and at Barnes & Noble.

Here is an excerpt from Strangers in the Gale: Continue reading “Sneak Peek: Strangers in the Gale”

No More Professional Writers?

On July 26 the Globe and Mail, Canada’s most respected newspaper, devoted two-thirds of the front page and half of the second page of their Globe Arts section to the article. ‘There will be no more professional writers in the future’ (their punctuation) Naturally, I was most interested. It came on the heels of a similar article in the Guardian. Other rags posted on the same topic. I got the impression they all timed their diatribes together for greatest impact. The purpose, as I see it – war on self-publishing and a (futile) reactionary attempt to save the old guard. Continue reading “No More Professional Writers?”

Book Brief: No More Mulberries

No More Mulberries
by Mary Smith
Genre: contemporary fiction
Word count: 94,000 (approx)

Set mainly in Afghanistan and spanning the years from the Soviet occupation to the rise of Taliban, No More Mulberries tells the story of Scottish-born midwife Miriam and her Afghan husband Dr Iqbal who work in a remote village in rural Afghanistan. Miriam is concerned about how her husband has changed towards her but doesn’t understand why. She accepts a request to attend a medical teaching camp as a translator for the foreign doctors in attendance she ignores Iqbal’s anger at her going against his wishes. She hopes time apart might help her to understand the cause of their problems.

When a figure from her past, Ismail, arrives at the camp Miriam undertakes a journey into her past. She realises she has never come to terms with the devastating loss of her first husband, who had been killed and sees how her own actions have damaged her relationship with Iqbal. She resolves to try to put things right between them but fears she may be too late.

No More Mulberries is about love, commitment and divided loyalties across a cultural divide. It also provides the reader with an authentic insight into how ordinary Afghan men and women live their lives against a backdrop of war.

This title is available from W H Smith,  Amazon US, Amazon UK, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble. Continue reading “Book Brief: No More Mulberries”

Sneak Peek: The Destiny Fog

The Destiny FogToday, we feature a sneak peek of Arthur Aachen’s speculative fiction/alternate history novel, The Destiny Fog.

Borne and Trieste come from radically different backgrounds, on a world shaped by mysterious entities known as the Guardians. These guides established a stable and prosperous path for humanity to follow, but are now gone, and the world faces its greatest crisis in history—a catastrophic volcanic eruption that leads to famine, disease, and war. Borne is wounded on the field of battle and struggles to survive. Trieste, torn in multiple directions, must choose between following her heart and following her sense of duty. And the leading adherents of the Guardians struggle to keep global society from collapsing entirely.

The Destiny Fog is available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other online stores.

Here is an excerpt from The Destiny Fog: Continue reading “Sneak Peek: The Destiny Fog”