Celebrating Independent Authors
Sunstrike: The Journey Home
by Bev Robitai
Genres: sci-fi, fantasy, adventure
Available from Amazon.
A carefree young dive instructor is living the dream in a tropical Bali resort until a massive solar storm knocks out earth’s technology. Realising his widowed mother needs help, he sets off on a challenging journey across a changed world to get home.
Nighthawks at the Mission
by Forbes West
Genre: science fiction, fantasy
Available from Amazon.
Young Sarah from Southern California travels off-world and falls in with magic-using criminals who work at night to avoid ruthless aliens and make off with the hi-tech rewards found there. A ghost from her past, a mysterious boyfriend and drug addiction all threaten to derail her strange new life.
Excerpt:
“Stop crawling around like that,” Mathias says to you, as fast as he can spit out the words. “Stop crawling around like that, you ain’t a bug, you’re a woman, for crissake. Be a woman.”
You feel yourself lifted off the ground and slammed back onto the side of the Karmann Ghia. You don’t even see Mathias flick his ori-baton with his wrist—seemingly he just thought it and it happened.
You watch the two of them and try to hang on to the car like a drowning man trying to cling to a life preserver. There’s a fire in your leg. It is horrible to look at—a blackened, cauterized, and still slightly bloody mess where your knee is supposed to be.
“Cat got your tongue and gotcha by the short ‘airs, is that right? Sarah Oooooooooorange?” Mathias says, frightening you with his knowledge of exactly who you are.
What others are saying:
…[A]t the heart of this fun romp through the shimmering dark of a fascinating alien world and a classic “finding yourself” tale is well cut, enthusiastic, mindbending prose that seems tailor-made for a tale of high adventure set in a strange alien world where anything can happen.-Nick Cole, author of “The Wasteland Saga” and “Soda Pop Soldier”
Spring Moon
by Mary Ellen Courtney
Literary Fiction
Available from Amazon.
When Hannah Spring envisioned her marriage, it didn’t include her husband’s ex-wife Celeste, or her perplexing former lover, Stroud. When both reappear, she discovers it’s not easy to juggle marriage and children with the past hanging on in the background. Even worse, the past could endanger her life and limb.
Excerpt:
I looked in the rearview mirror. Meggie was sound asleep with her head dropped off to the side at a perilous angle. Chance was in a state of bliss, eyes closed, relentlessly suckling sustenance mixed with small sighs. My life felt about the size of the inside of a car with something on the roof. Jon was flying around the islands, walking around his work, hands free, all grown up. He was getting ready to share his work life with Celeste who might be stupid, but she wasn’t broke in the boondocks with two young children. I pulled out my phone, paged through my Google searches, and hit ‘send.’
“Stroud,” said a familiar voice to the sound of road and radio in the background.
“Hello Stroud, it’s Spring,” I said.
It got quiet on the other end when he turned off the radio.
“Hey,” he said.
What others are saying:
“The narrative is succinct and eloquent, and flows together seamlessly.” – Indie Reader
Wild Nights
by Mary Ellen Courtney
Genres: Contemporary fiction
Available from Amazon.
After outrunning a crazy childhood, Hannah Spring thought she had her life together. Then her grandmother dies, and Hannah leaves her safe lair to oversee the burial. Nothing, except perhaps her childhood, could have prepared her for the year of wild nights that follow, or for finding the real Hannah.
Excerpt:
“Alan Watts?” he asked. “What’s that, an enlightened alias?”
“He said it’s his name. His parents were into Zen. They had their moments.”
“So did ours, but they didn’t name me Ringo Spring.” He was shaking his head as he punched in the last of the information and walked into the office with the funeral director.
“That was lucky,” said Anna.
“Yeah. Ringo Spring is seriously schlocky. But Mom was in love with George Harrison. George Spring isn’t too bad. Dad would have named him Jerry Garcia Spring.”
“I wouldn’t have married someone named Ringo. I’m not sure about Jerry either,” said Anna. “But I meant the truck is lucky.”
“I guess. Now I’m worried that bad car karma has run amuck, and Grandma’s been shanghaied by an enlightened criminal who does a mean Texas Two Step.”
“We’ll know soon enough,” said Anna. “At least she loved to dance.”
What others are saying:
“Reading the book was an absolute joy. . .Everything that makes us human is condensed in this amazingly crafted story.” Lit Amri – Readers’ Favorite