Cerys: Valkyrie Earth by Merrin Slade - Book Blast and Giveaway

 This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Merrin Slade will award a $50 Kobo gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

In a world where perfection is demanded of its citizens, one imperfect woman may be the only person who can save humanity.

One thousand years in the future, humans have developed the ability to alter their genes to create a perfect version of themselves, but not all are so fortunate. Cerys Skye is a Wild Type, genetically unaltered and forced to live in the Refuge—a place for Wild Types and the unlucky citizens whose genetic modifications society has deemed as imperfect.

All the fiery tempered young woman knows is how to fight. Using her wits and skills, Cerys must compete in brutal prize fights if she is to bring food to the table for her younger sister. But, she is always aware that the next fight could her last—she must find a way out of this life.

Leaving behind all that she knows, the last place the tempestuous Cerys expects to find herself is joining the United Planet's Space Force Academy, where she battles prejudice and intolerance in a world run by genetically modified humans.

As the new recruit discovers, not all is as it seems at the Academy with a shadowy cyber-evil seeking to threaten humanity. But, when loyalties are tested and the stakes are high, can Cerys rely on newfound allies and her unshakeable courage to stop the impending catastrophe?

Contains mature themes.

Read an Excerpt

“You’ve got the wrong Wild Type—sir.” Cerys stood straighter.

“There is no mistake.” His eyes narrowed.

“I haven’t done anything, and I’m already late for training.”

“I have my orders to ship you out. We’ve spent a lot of time finding you, Cerys Skye.” The secofficer glanced into the sky, searching for something.

“Let me explain.” Her pulse throbbed in her temple. “I’ve done nothing illegal. If this is about the protests, I’m not involved and I’m not with Rebels. You’ve got the wrong person.” She gritted her teeth. “You can’t send me to jail if I haven’t done anything, sir.”

“Jail?” His brows shot up. “Oh, no. Not jail. You’re going to the Space Force Academy.”

Cerys’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.

“Space Force?” she finally stuttered. “That test was over a year ago. In the border settlements… We never heard...” She had buried the dark day of the exam; remembering brought back humiliation and failure. She didn’t want to think about what happened ever again.

“You never answered our messages. You’ve been impossible to find, Skye.”

“You were trying to find me? This dump is a technical wasteland—messaging is impossible.” Cerys’s mind spun. When she lived with her father, the space academy in Annapol had been her dream, but the chance of getting a scholarship was almost impossible because GMs were doing their best to keep Wild Types out.

“You’re lucky we finally located you.” The secofficer tapped his foot. “A random biometric scan of the fighters in the arena yesterday picked you up. Orders from the top were to bring you in immediately.”

“Space Force?” This could be a chance to make a better life for her and Starla. Her heart pounded.

“Well, are you coming or not?”

“It’s just…” She would have to leave Starla, and how would her sister survive on her own? Cerys shuffled, not knowing what to do.

“You are rejecting your place at the academy?” he scoffed. “Wild Types are such a waste of time.” He waved his hand. “Step aside, then.”

She dug her nails into her palms. If she stayed, death in the arena was certain. If not tomorrow, it would be soon. No future for her, no future for Starla. If she went, she could send Starla money and save the rest to make a new life for them.

“I accept.”

About the Author:

Merrin Slade is a science fiction writer who transports readers to alternate futures and faraway universes.

Connect with Merrin Slade:

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@merrinslade

Website: https://merrinslade.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/merrinslade

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merrinslade

The book is discounted for a limited time in NZ, Australia and the UK. https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/cerys-valkyrie-earth

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Poetry from My Heart by Paul Guerin - Book Blast and Giveaway

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Paul Guerin will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

"Poetry: writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm."

"Poetry: a literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm."

Poetry means different things to different people. For me, it is all about feelings. If it captures the emotions of the reader, a poem will resonate and fill the soul. It can mean everything to one person and not much at all to another. The mood of the reader, and no one else, determines the outcome.

For example, love poems are wonderful when you are in love, and their passion is amazing. If you are facing adversity, however, love poems likely will just annoy you.

In this second book, Poetry from my Heart: The Journey Continues, I have again divided the poems into categories which will fit your mood no matter what you are experiencing at the time you choose to explore them. There should be something for everyone, whether you are in love, out of love, hurt, lonely, angry, abandoned, or facing other challenges in your life.

Poetry has a healing power that nurtures the soul and quietens the mind and so I hope that whatever your situation is in life, you have found something here that helped you safely on your own journey.

Read an Excerpt

The green hills of Ireland

The green hills of Ireland are calling to me
I hear their soft whisper wherever I roam
No matter whether on land or on sea
The green hills of Ireland keep calling me home

I lived in old Ireland as a young lad you see
And I left my heart there on some mossy hillside
Now I yearn to go back to set my heart free
And awaken a dream I can no longer hide

For I love your high mountains and windy seashore
Your hills and your streams rolling down to the sea
And I long to go home to my lost land of yore
And return to the Irish that’s deep within me

Now sheep in the pastures are calling to me
From the craggy rock walls that keep them inside
While the streams that run down from the mountains so free
Speak sparkling with hope and a joy they can’t hide

I long for the ocean on the Wild Atlantic Way
And the crazy coast road that winds in and out
And the sea breeze that whispers I hope you will stay
And the people all happily wandering about

I remember the old priory standing in ruins
Near Castletownroche with its bridge and its mill
I recall all the pubs with their loud Irish tunes
And my mind wanders back where my soul lingers still

I miss all the people so friendly and kind
With their musical language and soft Irish smiles
How they welcomed me home with a grace so refined
That I felt their great love from thousands of miles

The green hills of Ireland keep calling to me
Come home now we’re waiting to see you once more
For you know in your heart it’s the place you must be
So return again Irish to your green land of yore

About the Author:

Paul Guerin is an Irishman. He was born in September 1946 in Castletownroche, a small townland village in County Cork, Eire.

It was there in Castletownroche that his romantic imagination was sparked as he came to love and appreciate the magic of his surroundings. Those early experiences were the genesis of his poetry that emerged in later life.

As a young adult, Paul lived in London, England, where he became a chartered accountant.

At age 25, restless for adventure, Paul moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he still resides today.

Paul is happily married and is a proud father and grandfather.

Paul writes poetry as the inspiration comes to him. As long as his mind, body and soul are willing companions and his spark of inspiration remains alive, he will continue to write.

This book is Paul's second publication in his Willing Heart series. His first book was published in the Spring of 2022 and is called Poetry from My Heart: A Journey through Feelings. The book reached #1 on Amazon’s Kindle chart in British Poetry and #2 in Poetry Anthologies November 2023.

For more information visit http://www.paulguerinpoems.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60876796-poetry-from-my-heart

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulguerinpoems

Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-My-Heart-Journey-Feelings-ebook/dp/B09XFFQ5GW

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The World Council by Norm Meech - Book Blast and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Norm Meech will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Ricky Montgomery had just graduated high school in June 1976 and was enjoying life as an 18-year-old teenager. He was hired by the Dawson City Police Force, and after graduating from police college he was assigned to work as an undercover operative in a motorcycle gang.

Ricky, although happy, was struggling living his double life as a cop and biker. Then it happened: during a biker war, Ricky's life was saved by agents from the World Council (TWC). TWC was created by the world's leaders to prevent manmade disasters from happening and to liaise with aliens who have been monitoring mankind for hundreds of years. TWC's mandate, with the assistance of aliens, is to ensure mankind's continued existence.

TWC is a highly secretive organization, whose agents have the ability to travel through time, to change history, and to take lives to save lives. Ricky becomes a TWC agent and discovers that TWC's command staff is making unethical decisions, hiding secrets about aliens and trying to reduce the world's population through biological warfare. Ricky teams up with other agents and tries to save mankind and the world from disaster.

Read an Excerpt

There were overhead cranes that slid on the metal tracking in the ceiling running the distances of the corridors. I was not sure why, but my gut was telling me there was something really strange going on. Something wasn’t right, I really felt like I was in danger. We were walking in a large group and being a Prospect I was at the back of the pack. Although I was walking, I became scared something was wrong. I didn't even have a gun with me. This was supposed to be a peaceful patch-over.

Then it happened, the shooting started. There were muzzle flashes all over the place. It appeared that we were surrounded and the guys were being shot and were dropping everywhere. Some of the guys were trying to return fire, but the shots appeared to be coming from everywhere.

I suddenly observed these strange metal objects rolling around with guns shooting at us. Something was killing us and there was blood everywhere. Suddenly these metal walls started falling from the roof, blocking doorways and corridors herding us into areas, to be slaughtered.

I had taken cover behind a large metal shelf and I heard somebody yelling at me to climb up the ladder to the roof. I looked over to the right and two corridors over someone else was climbing up another ladder to the roof.

I looked again and the guys were still being slaughtered. Out of fear and self preservation I climbed the ladder as fast as I could. Although I was afraid of heights I was more scared about being shot and killed.

I periodically glanced down and it was so strange, those mechanical things were still rolling around firing shots at everyone. I got to the top of the ladder and saw that there was a metal platform to stand on. I stood on the platform and I glanced down to where the other guy had climbed to. He had pushed some type of button and suddenly he went shooting down the corridor ceiling on some type of overhead crane track out of sight.

I saw some buttons on the adjacent panel and l pushed the green button. Holy shit! I went flying down the ceiling. It was a fast ride, like I was almost travelling through time. It appeared to have taken me thousands of feet in a few seconds. Then suddenly I stopped and I looked around. Off in the distance I still saw these weird metal walls dropping from the ceiling. They were blocking corridors and exits. They were still isolating the guys into smaller areas, to be slaughtered.

I then saw the adjacent guy diving into a room just before a metal wall blocked his exit. The large metal wall came down fast, then slowed for a few seconds before locking into the other metal wall. I looked to my left and saw a strange thing. There was a group of people all dressed in white coloured laboratory coats, rushing around in a room that had a large window overlooking the warehouse.

I was concerned that a metal wall was going to come down and that I was going to be trapped so I decided that I had to jump through the window and escape into that room. I took a few steps and jumped through the window as a metal wall started to come down. Shit!, I was going to be squashed and I was going to lose my legs. At the last second I was able to lift both my legs out of the way, while flipping over on my back. With a clang the metal wall crashed down.

I was laying on my back trying to figure out what the fuck was going on when I saw an Asian girl approaching me. She said, “Hi Rick, I’m Irene and I’m glad you were able to get out in time. You have to come with me now.”

“What the hell is going on?” I managed to ask.

She looked at me, “I will explain everything to you in a few minutes but we have to get decontaminated right away.” She turned and started walking. “Follow me, stay close and do what I do.”

About the Author:

Norm Meech has been retired for nearly two years, capping a distinguished forty-four-year career in policing. He fondly recalls the camaraderie of work friends forged during his tenure and the unique experiences as a police officer.

While missing aspects of his former profession, Norm keeps himself engaged by maintaining fitness and pursuing various hobbies. Additionally, he channels his creativity into writing, aiming to produce a book annually. His latest work delves into science fiction, inviting readers to ponder questions about the existence of aliens, unidentified flying objects, government involvement in secret conspiracies, the potential for time travel, and the impact of human activities on the planet. Norm hopes readers enjoy the fictional stories he crafts, sparking contemplation and curiosity.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/people/Norm-Meech/100078187723504/

Wordpress.com: https://normmeech.wordpress.com/about-author/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/normmeech

Amazon buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/World-Council-Norm-Meech-ebook/dp/B0CLGPHWCX

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