Sneak Peek - Sleepers 3: The Rise of Keller

Here is a sneak peak of the anticipated Sleepers 3. The saga continues after Mera and the others arrive at their new home known as Grace. Sleepers are still out there and they multiply. They are fighting to build a future and change the one dictated to them through the doctrines.

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Sneak Peak

Prologue -  The Teacher

25 Years PE (Post Event)

I am not my brother’s keeper, nor is he mine. Despite what we have been taught and how we have been raised, we are individuals bound not by blood but by circumstance.

            Our parents are not even the ones who created us. We were found.

            One of us tossed aside to die like a deformed animal, the other caught in the seconds following his birth, in the grasp of the woman he would know to be his mother.

            Both us are anomalies.

            We were both born in a world where the children all died. When the unborn lost their life in the womb.

            A virus raged the world, taking the young and transforming most of the others.

            Our mother was not touched by the virus, or our brother Danny. Our sister though, was infected, but our mother praises the fact that she was saved.

            Was our sister really saved? Or condemned to live a tortured life. Never knowing what she was or could be.

            None us, the young, the few who remained in the beginning, know nothing of a green world filled with happiness and laughter.

            We know hunger and sickness and we know fear.

            Fear is not a fictional tale to us; it is reality every night when we closed our eyes to sleep.

            We are trying, all of us, to make the world a better place for those who are now being born. For the children that defied the odds of the virus that still lingers in the air.

            Not all who are conceived gasp their first air of life in this world.

            They are born without breath, life or a soul.

            Things have to change.

            Growing up, we were coddled within a parental shelter.

            The love of our mother was never a question. She taught us to be strong; she protected us when we were weak. Fought for us. More than anything she instilled the basic human value in us both. She made me believe that I could be whatever I wanted and could do whatever I needed to do.

She never loved or treated us any differently, yet, I know when she sees us now, she knows.

She knows my brother and I want two different things.

            We fight for two different things.

            We, as brothers are as divided as this world.

            One side against the other.

            I will do what I need to do to ensure this world goes on, that this place becomes better for the generations to come.

            They have taken this world and destroyed it. They grow in numbers and their offspring will be just as deadly to us.

            Because of that, I will lead into battle. It will be a war that has only been imagined yet never waged.

            For the woman who bore me that I never knew, and for the mother who loved and raised me … it is time.

            It has gone on for decades and must stop now.

            The so-called doctrines of the future, a guide book to us all, predicted the outcome and length.

            I put no stock in the doctrines because I know who wrote them. I was there as his pen moved across the page and his eyes glanced to the ceiling thinking of words he could use to create a false story.

            And even if they hold some truth, they are words from a future.

            The future can be changed.

            I was destined to do it … and I will.

Sneak Peak - Earth Abounds (Book 3 - Last Mile Series)

When mankind faces insurmountable odds, mankind will rise to the occasion.

After eighty percent of the world’s population is destroyed by a plague delivered by an alien race, a group of survivors build the ultimate underground civilization known as So-Cal. They wait and prepare for the impending war against the invaders.

What they are not prepared for is the arrival of the crew from the Galaxy, a ship long lost in space. Galaxy’s joyful arrival is thwarted by a last second alien attack at the gates of So-Cal. The not only leaves members of the crew seriously injured, but one is missing. Vanished into thin air.

While the crew of the Galaxy struggles against life threatening injuries and trying to understand what has happened to their world in their absence, Robi Pierce, leader, recants to them how So-Cal came to be and the hardships they endured in getting there.

Available Amazon - May 2013

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Chapter One

NV 5 (Nevada Section 5)

There was a spot of blood on the screen of the cell phone, and Colonel Reese Gray wiped it away with his thumb.

            David Hawk’s blood.

          The desert air whipped against him, a forceful air, hot and dry, taking a bit of his breath away; then again, it could have come from emotion.

        Reese was confused. Internally he suffered a potpourri of feelings that he was trying so hard to decipher.

            Reese was a strong man both physically and emotionally, but he was close to breaking.

Keep it in check, he kept telling himself. Keep it in check.

Standing in the middle of the Nevada desert, he knew that alone he wasn’t going to make heads or tails out of the situation, nor would he find his friend. Although only a couple of weeks earlier, David Hawk wasn’t a friend. He was a coworker, a crewmember on the Galaxy with Reese. The Galaxy was a spacecraft, sent to orbit Earth carrying not only a skeleton crew from NASA, but also four civilians who won a space lottery.

            Four days in space.

            That was it, but when they returned they not only caught some sort of wormhole, they landed five years later on a desolate Earth, a planet void of hydration and life. Void of people … that they knew of. A trek across the country, following the trail of family member, brought them to Nevada. They were in search of a survivor complex known to them as So-Cal or SC.

            During this trek, he lost two crewmembers, but the six of them that remained bonded and became friends. Now they were torn apart by tragedy and circumstances just inches from the victory destination of SC.

            They discovered the entrance, and then they were attacked. Reese tried to recall the details, but they were vague. He hoped they came back. He wanted to remember every single second.

            Driving full speed across the plains to the entrance, something from the sky fired at them. The people of SC came to their rescue, but it was too late. Even the residents of SC hadn’t a clue what attacked them. It was a new kind of attack.

         They tried, they battled, but the crew of the Galaxy lost. The vehicle was struck, thrown, and crashed.

            Reese walked away with minor scratches, but his crew wasn’t so lucky.

            Two of them were seriously injured, two fatally injured, and one, David Hawk, was gone. Not dead. Injured for sure, but gone. Vanished into thin air.

            All that remained was one of the five cell phones he brought with him to test in space.

            Ironically, it was the only phone that powered up after they landed in what once was the Atlantic Ocean.

            As if he were some sort of tourist in the apocalypse, David Hawk took pictures with that phone, and Reese was grateful.

            He looked and would forever look at the pictures, not for the scenery, but for the images of Ken, Paul, Thad, Kip, David, Gene, and … Lucy.

            A polite clearing of the throat snapped Reese to attention. He turned to see Tate Hoyt, one of the warriors, survivors, or soldiers, he didn’t know. Reese assumed he was someone in authority, at least in a security capacity. The man stood armed and stared compassionately at Reese.

            The was something young about him, but Reese knew he wasn’t. Tate spoke rough; he had lines around his eyes and scars on his face.

            “We’ll find him,” Tate said. “No one just vanishes. But right now, we can’t leave the entrance open, and it’s too dangerous to be out here too long.”

            “I understand. And …” Reese inhaled. “I want to see my crew.”

            Tate nodded.

            “Any word on them?” Reese asked.

            “No updates since we came out. Then again, we try to keep radio signals out here to a minimum, but it’s a fifteen-minute trip to the main hub of SC, so we need to go now. I’ll order a tube transport. Shouldn’t take long.”

            “Tube transport,” Reese mused as he followed Tate. “I thought we were in SC.”

            “Not at all, we’re at one of the five survivor/salvage entrances. SC is quite a distance. We take the tubes, sort of like super high-speed trains to SC.”

            Reese paused at the entrance; it was a solid rock cliff that just slid to the side. “How can you be so high tech?”

            “Long story. We’ll tell that when we fill you in. Knowing who you guys are, I know I would want answers.”

            “I do,” Reese replied. He watched Tate secure the door as he looked around. The other man wasn’t there, Tate’s brother Jeb. Complete contrast to Tate, except in attitude. “Where’s your brother?”

            “He went back. He’ll meet us there.” Tate then spoke into his radio about returning and then faced Reese again. “Tube is there already.”

            They moved from an entrance down a long cave-like corridor that emerged into what looked like the platform of a train station. Earlier a portion was triage; now it was empty. The tube transport awaited them.

            “You okay?” Tate asked. “Other than injured, I mean.”

            “No, this is just very surreal to me.”

            Tate cracked an ornery smile and released a short laugh. “Yeah, well, I bet. This is just the beginning. I guess to me it’s normal. It’s our way of life.”

            “In my memory, two weeks ago, my way of life was coming home from work, cracking open a beer, and watching reruns of Roseanne.”

            “We still have comedy around here, just not what you’re familiar with,” Tate said as the door to the tube slid open. “But, man, are you in for some culture shock.”

            Reese mumbled, “That’s an understatement,” as he followed Tate onto the tube. The doors slid closed.

 

Authors Laying the 'Smackdown' on Other Authors

Amongst lawyers, doctors, teachers and others, the practice of professional courtesy is still astute. However, and sadly, in the world of writing, a small percentage of authors have forgotten that professional courtesy should extend to our craft, as well. It makes me sad.

In this new age of digital publishing and instant success of unknowns, abrasive jealous lashing is common place and not just by unknowns.

We are all well aware of Stephen Kings' slash of Stephanie Meyers, saying ‘She can’t write worth a darn.’ Really, Stephen? What is up with that? If you don’t like her work, say you don’t like her work. Zillion bestselling author or not, who are you to publicly say the woman can’t write? Millions of fans will argue that. What was the point? I’ll tell you, to me and like many others, it was jealousy. She was popular, eating up the charts at a time when he was not.

If that wasn’t the case, it sure looked like it.

Stephanie is not alone. Steve also jacked up James Patterson.

Famous authors dissing other authors at a height of popularity is not uncommon.

Here are some examples

Harold Bloom on J.K. Rowling (2000)

“How to read ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’? Why, very quickly, to begin with, and perhaps also to make an end. Why read it? Presumably, if you cannot be persuaded to read anything better, Rowling will have to do.”

William Faulkner on Ernest Hemingway

“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”

Ernest Hemingway on William Faulkner

“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?”

Truman Capote on Jack Kerouac

“That’s not writing, that’s typing.”

Elizabeth Bishop on J.D. Salinger

“I HATED [Catcher in the Rye]. It took me days to go through it, gingerly, a page at a time, and blushing with embarrassment for him every ridiculous sentence of the way. How can they let him do it?”

Mark Twain on Jane Austen (1898)

“I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”

(Funny, if you substitute Jane’s name with mine and her book with one of mine, this is very similar to a criticism I received from another author. One should hope we become as famous as these two)

Abusive and or angry critique of a fellow author is not prejudice only to those who have garnished success. Even the little guys get kicked as well.

Many hide behind anonymous posts on boards or reviews. Anyway it’s done, I think as authors, we need to stop and think before we do it. How is this going to benefit us? Is this going to come back and slap us in the face, either by a missed opportunity or a good old dose of Karma.

Before you say, ‘hey, I’m not just an author, but a reader, too, I can dislike a book,’ this is true. You can. I myself have disliked many books. But that’s my personal taste, if there is something so grave that needs attention, then I tell the author privately. I also mix it with praise on what I liked. I don’t take it to the public. Readers outnumber writers and they can handle the job of reviewing and slamming. In fact we write for them.

If you as an author don’t like being ‘smacked down’, don’t do it to someone else. If the book is that bad, readers will call it out. Find a way to tell the author the way you’d like to be told. I know, I know, I have heard it. “I’d rather hear the raw truth.” Good. But wouldn’t you’d rather hear in your email instead of seeing an author post it on facebook?

I firmly believe the readers aren’t sitting around cheering that disrespecting author. In fact, readers see right through it and it angers them. Especially if you jack up their favorite. Readers don’t read your negative opinion and say, “Oh wow, this writer is amazing, she knows how to spot trash.’ No. The readers gonna simply label you a jealous dick.

Stephanie Meyers CAN write worth a darn. She may not be this ultra descriptive writer who spends twenty pages on the inside of a person’s refrigerator but she weaves a good tale that has captivated millions.

Isn’t that what being a writer and storyteller is about? Telling a story that grips your audience. Not everyone is going to love it. In fact some will despise it. But leave the public broadcast of distaste to the readers.

When an author does that to another author, what are they trying to achieve? Stating you simply didn’t like the book, the characters weren’t for you, it seems implausible … that’s cool, but to go on a rant or say ‘he/she can’t write worth a darn’ is just wrong and in my opinion a violation of a the brotherhood on pens.

Aside from the fact you never know, that fellow author that you slam may be the next Stephen King. Also, as said before, Karma with writers is a horrible thing. Publicly say something shitty about another author’s work and before you know it, ten will do it to you. No kidding. Wait for it, it will happen.

If you absolutely feel you must speak your mind, then do it privately. As you know, we as writers get hit enough in the public eye. If you don’t know that or haven’t experienced it yet, oh, boy are you a newbie.

I am so grateful that the writers I have befriended are classy and would never do that to another author publicly. As my mom always said, tell me who your author friends are and I’ll tell you what kind of author you are. Ok, maybe she left out  ‘author’. But that holds true.

If you wanna publicly lay the smack down, instead of the pages of Amazon reviews, take it to the WWE. That’s the only place I know that talking ‘Smack’ about each other is the norm, then again, not without some serious ass whooping.

Hmm, perhaps we need to pit King against Meyer in a smack down write off.

We are the entertainers of tomorrow and today. We craft worlds to take people away. We should have each others' backs instead of stabbing it.