Summer is starting. Vacations are coming. But what is a summer holiday without books, bereft of stories? Nothing! So get a few for yourself and for your loved ones. Enjoy. And please remember to leave a review!
Have you taken the reading pledge challenge yet? No? I didn’t — seems silly to limit myself to some arbitrary number of books. I read voraciously and across many genres, although sci-fi is my guilty pleasure and a goto place for when I’m feeling blue. Science fiction and fantasy are interesting genres. People have such strong opinions about them: “I only read literary fiction.” or “I consume only non-fiction.” And yet, what is literary fiction but a socially-approved book? A classic? Shakespear had written a lot of fantasy books — Macbeth had witches, A Midsummer Night’s Dream had spells and magic, The Tempest was set on an enchanted isle, Hamlet had ghosts. Go back farther in time and read a few Greek plays — gods, witches, medusas, magical beasts of all kinds… And what’s the Epic of Gilgamesh if not a fantasy novel? Fantasy is a great way of transporting a reader into another realm and showing real emotions and complicated social dilemmas without getting trapped in a politically incorrect or culturally inappropriate minefield. Fantasy allows us to talk about our prejudices and absurdities of some of our beliefs by taking away trigger words and situations. What a powerful genre. Science fiction takes fantasy one level…
For the next seventeen days, all these ebooks are available for a free download by their authors via the BookFunnel: https://books.bookfunnel.com/ya-extravaganza So have some fun and cuddle up with your phone or anther reading device and ride out the Arctic Weather Bomb with a good story! And if you like any of them, please leave a review. Thank you and happy reading!
What if you could live as a rat? Or a raven? Or a whale? What if the only way you could live is in a mind of an animal, would that be enough?
TIME TRAVEL & ALTERNATIVE HISTORY Looking to give a gift of story to your loved ones? Check out these time twisters and alternative histories. Click the link and claim your book(s). 25 Winners will be picked for prizes like Kindle Fire tablets, Amazon Prime subscriptions, free audiobooks, KU subscriptions, cash prizes, gift cards, and more! CLICK HERE to ENTER OUR PRIZE GIVEAWAY *** My story, Twin Time, is part of this collection. It is partly a story of my grandmother, who, as a child, had to run from her home in the middle of the night when the Reds came to kill her family after the Russian Revolution. It is also a story of what it feels like to be unable to communicate and experience time in an alien way. It’s a story of desperation, love, redemption, loss, and the pain of having your child born different. Who is this woman? Find out… *** Like all families, we argue. Sometimes, it’s about mundane stuff — the milk will die if the fridge is left open — sometimes, it’s about what would happen if time travel was possible and you could back and kill Baby Hitler… We didn’t agree on what each of us would…
I’m an avid reader. And now that I’ve become a writer, I’m a relentless ebook giver — how else will people discover amazing new authors and stories? So here are a few current and upcoming promotions — this means don’t wait! Get your ebooks while the links are fresh! Enjoy! And if you do, please leave a review for the author. Thank you! PS: You can NEVER have enough books…
Of Doctors, Babies, Kings, and Zombies Before starting my journey as science fiction writer, I got a few degrees under my belt — astrophysics, mathematics, cognitive science, education, etc. It took a few decades (I’ve gotten married and had a family in there somewhere), but I got my doctorate and have used and still use it to help people think through complicated problems, mostly in product design. How is this relevant to writing, you might ask? Well, in addition to witnessing and surviving some amazing situations — always a good experience for a writer — I’ve acquired a few tools on how to think about situations and people. I would like to share one such tool with you: Us versus Them, a cognitive perspective. What people (and other animals) are very good at is dividing themselves into Us’es and Them’s. It’s a useful tool when we live in a divided world — how else do we keep clear of our allegiances to countries, sports teams, and political parties? But these divisions have neurological and psychological underpinnings. Consider a four square graph that charts competency versus likability (emotional warmth and approachability): We perceive (our) doctors as warm, personable, and able. We…
