New May Reads!

Idea City has fresh new books to load onto your eReaders.

From Inkspell's Bridie Hall comes On the Slopes, a sweet sports romance.
A summary:
Snowboarding means everything to Charlise, but she hasn’t met Sam Miller yet.
Charlise is a snowboarder with a promising career ahead of her. Despite the fact that her father hates her risking her life on the slopes that had taken the life of Charlise’s mother she is determined not to give up her career the way her mother did when she fell pregnant. Charlise wants to win medals, lots of them.
The last distraction Charlise needs is the American freestyle champion, Sam Miller, who utterly enthrals her with his wit and friendliness. Refusing to risk her career for a relationship, Charlise returns home for Christmas, determined to sort things out with her father. But the holidays culminate in an epic fight, and with a repeat of the painful breakup with Sam. However, new discoveries from her family’s past might change Charlise’s mind about Sam.

Get it at Amazon, iBook, Kobo, B&N, All Romance eBooks

About the author:
Bridie Hall writes YA and NA contemporary stories. She sold her first story at fourteen. Since then, she's written dozens more, translated books, studied writing, and started writing novels. Her days revolve around stories and words, her sleepless nights involve plotting and inventing fascinating new characters. Visit her: Website & Facebook

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Next up is Christine Rain's steamy romance series Sasquatch Susies from Ellora's Cave. Zowie!

Pictures tell a thousand words, do they not? To learn more and nab your copies, head to Christine's special erotica page.

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Next we'll switch gears to present a sci-fi anthology with a story from fellow Untethered Realms author, Cherie Reich and other talented speculative fiction folks. The collection is called Parallels and here's a summary:
Enter the realm of parallel universes!

What if the government tried to create the perfect utopia? Could a society linked to a supercomputer survive on its own? Do our reflections control secret lives on the other side of the mirror? Can one moment split a person’s world forever?

Exploring the fantastic, ten authors offer incredible visions and captivating tales of diverse reality. Featuring the talents of L. G. Keltner, Crystal Collier, Hart Johnson, Cherie Reich, Sandra Cox, Yolanda Renee, Melanie Schulz, Sylvia Ney, Michael Abayomi, and Tamara Narayan.

Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these ten tales will expand your imagination and twist the tropes of science fiction. Step through the portal and enter another dimension!
Get your copy at: Amazon, iBooks, Kobo. See it at Goodreads

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And finally, a spectacular boxed set of space fiction called Galactic Empires, with a novel from an Untethered Realms author, M. Pax.
Summary:
The Backworlds by M. Pax - A man struggles to survive in the harsh world of humanity’s outer settlements and prove his father wrong.
Ambassador 1: Seeing Red by Patty Jansen - To look an alien superior in the eye is a deadly offense. To accuse him of a political murder…
Alien Hunters by Daniel Arenson - A scruffy alien pest controller faces an alien threat the likes of which the universe has never seen.
Hard Duty by Mark E. Cooper - Hostile aliens nearly eradicated humanity. Will the next encounter finish the job?
Bypass Gemini by Joseph Lallo - A disgraced racer pilot gets mixed up with a mega-corporation. Now he has to stop them.
Sky Hunter by Chris Reher - Sent to a human outpost to investigate sabotage, a pilot finds more trouble than she bargained for.
The Galapagos Incident by Felix Savage - A genocidal AI attacks the solar system, and a Space Corps agent has one chance of saving a bunch of asteroid squatters she was sent to evict.
First Conquest by David VanDyke - To find a home and keep humanity safe from hostile aliens, Task Force Conquest must fight to seize a new star system.

For more details and ALL buy links, head here.

Wow! Lots of great reading for spring. Happy May.

New Winter Reads!

Today Idea City is featuring a bunch of great new reads to upload and read under your warm, winter quilt. We have a fun variety of sci-fi, paranormal romance, and thrillers.

The Mystery House by Eva Pohler
Thriller/Suspense
 
Ellen and her two best friends share a mid-life crisis by hatching a plan to renovate an 1860's Greek revival in the nearby historic district of San Antonio. Although Ellen isn’t one to believe in ghosts, she comes face to face with something inexplicable in the attic. Her ghost-enthusiast friends convince her that they must help the spirit find closure, and as they dig deeper into the past, they uncover a shocking history that someone in the neighborhood doesn’t want exposed. But Ellen and her friends don't give up easily. They realize they've been called to give voice to the invisible women who suffered behind the walls of the house for decades.
 
Check out The Mystery House at Amazon & Smashwords

Eva Pohler teaches writing and literature at a university in San Antonio, where she lives with her husband and three kids. She’s the author of several novels for teens based on Greek mythology, including her bestselling six-book Gatekeeper’s Saga and three-book Vampires of Athens Series. Learn more at Eva's website, her thriller Facebook page and her Teen Fantasy Facebook page.

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The Reader by M. Pax
science fiction (Book Three of the Rifter series)

With the rift closed for the season and no more monsters to fight, Daelin Long gets bored as librarian in the podunk town of Settler, Oregon. A job interview and her brother’s arrival present a tempting opportunity to escape, until her brother and her best friend, a ghost, disappear.
While Daelin searches for them, more mysteries pile up: dead people coming back to life, portraits of the town founders replaced with strange white trees, and people on the other side of the rift returning. It’s impossible. The portal that allows monsters from other universes to come to Earth is sealed until next summer.
The Rifters, a secret group protecting our world, believe the troubles are nothing more than the tantrums of an offended ghost. Daelin disagrees. If she’s right, the evil hell-bent on destroying Earth has new technology making the rift more deadly.
Before the monster summons the next apocalypse, Daelin must find it and destroy it.

Get the Reader at Amazon, UK, iBook, Kobo, Nook, Smashie
Check out the entire Rifter series!

M. Pax is author of the space adventure series The Backworlds, plus other novels and short stories. Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons  to her, and she blames Oregon, a source of endless inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers as a star guide and has a cat with a crush on Mr. Spock. Learn more at mpaxauthor.com.

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Angela Brown has a fabulous new release, Degrees of Being Boss out with her pen name Rayven Godchild. I can't show the cover here because this blog doesn't feature erotica. BUT... since she's a fellow Untethered Realms author and a very talented writer, I am posting the link to all of Rayven's books! Click here if you are adventurous, over 18 and seeking new reads.

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Annnnnnd, Beyond Secret Worlds, an amazing short story collection is still FREE! My story in it, Blue House Magic, is the sequel set-up to Ruby's Fire.

Get it at Amazon, iBooks, Nook, Kobo


Reading is a great way to relax during the holidays! I've got my own kindle loaded up with a colorful array. You?

You've gotta see this cover! Plus great books for November

I met Katie John at Utopia in Nashville last summer and I've since become a fan of her novels after reading the second book in her Meadowsweet Chronicles about a witch clan. She's launching book three in March 2016. Want to see the cover right now? Sure you do!

The Devilry Blurb:

Something wicked has arrived in the sleepy village of Heargton, and the effects of its arrival have unleashed terrible paranormal entities long believed myth.
Forces of darkness are gathering, and the Meadowsweet sisters, (who are still scattered across the globe) are preparing for a terrible and fearsome battle.

The Ravenhearts, having made an enemy of The Southern Territories, have fled Mexico to Haiti in order to unlock the ancient secret of returning the dead. With a war about begin, the restoration of their trinity is crucial to their play for power and their bid to control the portal of The Ancient Ones.

For the broken hearted Jeremiah Chase, life at Coldstone House is a seemingly endless stream of dark family revelations. His discovery of a diary recording the activities of 'The Devil Dance Club' leads him into a corridor of evil that leads directly to his own ancestors.

Intrigued? Get book one and start catching up for the release of book three in March! Book One is available on Amazon worldwide in eBook and paperback 

USA LINK, UK link
Book One is currently FREE on iBOOKS

There's a giveaway, too! Enter the Rafflecopter to win this fabulous Mexican Day of The Dead key ring and Meadowsweet Chronicles goodie bag. 

ABOUT KATIE
Katie lives in London UK, with two cheeky Mud-puddle fairies, and a handsome giant. She is author of the best-selling YA Contemporary Arthurian series, ‘The Knight Trilogy’ and the Upper YA series, ‘The Meadowsweet Chronicles.’ She writes dark fairy tales, horror and contemporary YA Romance.
Katie is now a full time author after having taught English in a London Comprehensive for over fifteen years. She is founder of Chapter.Con. London, a YA and NA conference for Readers, Bloggers and Authors. She is also founder of Little Bird Publishing, an ethical, indie press house. 

More about Katie: Amazon author page, website and blog.

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And now another cool read!

Would you enjoy following the journey of a feisty, utterly charming young couple - Bean the musician and Zak the whimsical sketch artist? How about time traveling back to the 1970s with an infusion of the music, fashion and general carny vibes, including a vicarious trip to the Fillmore to see a Grateful Dead concert? If so, Check out Christine Potter's beauty of a book Time Runs Away with Her. 

Get it at Amazon, B&N

Here's my review of this book on Goodreads.

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Mayhem in the Air is available everywhere! 

Get it at: Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Kobo, Nook, Smashie

From Amazon bestselling and popular science fiction and fantasy authors comes Mayhem in the Air, a supernatural anthology of ten thrilling tales. Meet hot robots, hungry winds and the goddess of chaos. Explore alien planets, purgatorial realms, and a shocking place where people bury the living with their dead. Mayhem in the Air is the second, long-awaited story collection from the dynamic and inventive Untethered Realms group. 

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News flash:

My YA contemporary novel, Heart in a Box launches on December 5th!!! Keep an eye out for the upcoming cover reveal in November and giant Facebook launch party on Tuesday, December 8th. 

More fun Heart in a Box surprises soon...

What do you have brewing this November?

What's Doing for OCT Spooky Season? Mayhem in the Air - Cover reveal!

Untethered Realms, the speculative fiction author group I'm in has been cooking up a spooky new story anthology set to release around Halloween! My story is called A Strange Penitence. Here's a peek at the gorgeous cover! Even better, you can now put it on your Goodreads To-Be-Read list.

From Amazon bestselling and popular science fiction and fantasy authors comes Mayhem in the Air, a supernatural anthology of ten thrilling tales. Meet hot robots, hungry winds and the goddess of chaos. Explore alien planets, purgatorial realms, and a shocking place where people bury the living with their dead. Mayhem in the Air is the second, long-awaited story collection from the dynamic and inventive Untethered Realms group. 

A Strange Penitence by Catherine Stine - A young artist pays a supernatural price when a drawing trip to North Carolina turns deadly.

Mass Transit by Graeme Ing - For Emily, mind over matter is not just a saying, but the gateway to her career among the largest starships built by man.

A Tangled Weave by River Fairchild - A TimePulse rips through the Great Tapestry of Life, leaving Earth’s history in a jumble, and Death and Chronos in a race to save the world yet again.

Corrosive by M. Pax - In a world ruined by pollutants, Bex sets off to establish a new homestead with her dreamy robotic man. Already farming her plot of land is another dreamy man with radical ideas, presenting new challenges as corrosive as the air.

Saving Scrooge: A Short Story Prequel to the Saving Marley Series by Gwen Gardner - Marley is sent from purgatory to save the soul of his old friend. Can he save his own in the bargain?

The Silent Wind by Christine Rains - A team of specialists must dispel a mysterious storm on an alien planet to prepare it for colonization. One by one the crew disappears until only a seasoned soldier remains. How can he battle a hungry wind that makes no noise?

Paper Lanterns by Cherie Reich: In order to keep his promise to his daughter, Mayor Alfred Merry must betray the woman he loves.

Chaos. Hope. Love. by Misha Gerrick - Although Eris is the goddess of chaos, her life has fallen into a nice and comfortable routine. Until someone from her past shows up in her bookstore.

Cardinal Sin by Julie Flanders: Beleaguered hospital workers bury the living with the dead in the midst of a tuberculosis epidemic and a seething spirit vows vengeance from the skies.

The Ark by Cathrina Constantine -Plagued with memory flashes of fiery explosions and running for her life, Fallon emerges from a drugged stupor to find herself in an airborne Ark, and the earth below is a drowning wasteland.

FREE boxed set of 12 amazing YA sci-fi & fantasy novels called Future Tense is OUT!

Amazing YA sci-fi & fantasy FREE BOXED SET!
Yup, you heard that right.
Future Tense has just launched and it costs nothing.

From twelve USA Today, Amazon and award-winning authors comes Future Tense, an electrifying YA sci-fi boxed set. Inventive first in series with trans-humans, sexy alien romance, Martian pioneers, cyborg gunslingers, unusual dolphin research, time travel, computer games with doors into faerie realms, mind readers, eternal life adventures, extraordinarily gifted teens and so much more. Available for a limited time.

Susan Kaye Quinn's OPEN MINDS: When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Vincent Trigil's THE ENEMY OF AN ENEMY: In a universe of science and magic a new hero will arise.

Anthea Sharp's FEYLAND: THE DARK REALM: When a high-tech computer game opens a gateway to the treacherous Realm of Faerie, only two teen gamers can save the mortal world.

Catherine Stine's FIRESEED ONE: What if only your very worst enemy could help you save the world?

PK Hrezo's DIARY OF A TEENAGE TIME TRAVELER: Welcome to Butterman Travel, Inc., where time is always in your hands. 

Patti Larsen's DIDI AND THE GUN SLINGER: When an Underlord kidnaps her father, Didi Duke resurrects an obsolete cyborg gunslinger to rescue him.

Cidney Swanson's SAVING MARS: Jessamyn is just an ordinary pilot-in-training until the Mars colony's food supply is decimated and her brother is chosen to fly to Earth for supplies.

Lisa Nowak's DECEPTION: What if the Pacific Northwest seceded from United States? By 2063, it has.

Rose Garcia's FINAL LIFE: Multiple past lives she can't remember, an enemy driven to finish his task. Can Dominique survive her final life or will she die for the last time? 

Magan Vernon's HOW TO DATE AN ALIEN: What happens when an awkward teen girl falls for an alien boy?

Amy Evans' CLICKS: An inspiring sci-fi romance about an island off the coast of California where the dolphins and the lifeguards have more in common than they know.

Lee Strauss' PERCEPTION: Eternal Life is to Die For.

Get it FREE from Amazon US, Amazon UK, iBooks, B&N, Google Play, Kobo

Two awesome excerpts from M Pax's new sequel, Beyond the Edge!

I can't say enough great things about M Pax's space opera series, The Backworlds. Having read two in the series, I can say that her characters, especially Craze, are vivid and amusing. Her plotting is creative and the voices are original. M Pax's mind just keeps cooking up wilder and wilder sagas. I'm a total fan! With the release of book 4, Beyond the Edge, she's sharing a rare treat: two mini-excerpts! But first, a book 4 blurb:
Some truths are better left unfound.
For two years Craze’s dear friend, Lepsi, has been missing. The murmurings of a haunted spaceship might be a message and may mean his old pal isn’t dead. The possibility spurs Craze and Captain Talos to travel to uncharted worlds, searching. Out there, in an unfamiliar region of the galaxy beyond the Backworlds, they stumble upon a terrible truth.
Meanwhile, Rainly remains on Pardeep Station as acting planetlord, dealing with the discovery of her lover’s dark and brutal past. Alone and questioning her judgment, her introspection unlocks more than heartache. Latent protocols in her cybernetics activate, forcing her to face a sinister secret of her own.
In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe. This is the fourth book in the science fiction series, The Backworlds. A space opera adventure.

And now for the excerpts:
1.    His father stiffened, the knot on his brow tightening. “You talk so damn much, I don’t follow the half of it. Nobody does, which is why you’ll always be slime on the bottom of my shoe.”
    Craze didn’t blink, circling his pa. “You not wearin’ shoes.”
    Snarling, Bast huffed out a fierce growl. “The point is I’m pretty sure I heard an insult, ‘n I’ll chance a stay in jail to knock my brand of justice into your head..” Backing up, he wiped his feet in the dust, then started forward like an all-terrainer tricked out with a ship’s engine, howling, waving the club so that it whistled.

2.    “We’ll be with him lickety-split. This being a tree makes everything easier.” Pauder grinned, adjusting his guns and bandoliers.
    Inching his way out the door and onto the ramp, Craze tested the ground with a toe, tapping under the clouds for solidity. He found firm footing and joined the insane expedition, staring at Pauder’s unwavering arrogant expression for reassurance. He cleared his throat, unable to resist asking, “How does it make anythin’ easier?”
    “Trees is less dangerous ta climb than cliffs. Bark forgives, rock doesn’t.” Pauder floated through the thick fog, his legs hidden. His movements appeared effortless and poetic, not the motions of one on a hunting excursion with every intent of killing whatever stood in his way.
    “That makes no sense. Both land you on your ass, ‘n I’ve yet to see forgivin’ ground. Which is a worry since we still can’t see shit.” One wrong step and there was no telling how far Craze would fall.

Buy her books! Amazon, Amazon UK, Smashwords, Nook, Kobo

Inspiring the words she writes, M Pax spends her summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where she lives with the Husband Unit and two demanding cats. She writes science fiction and fantasy mostly. Visit her at:
Website / FB / Twitter / Goodreads / Pinterest / Wattpad

M. Pax's Backworld's Book 2 is Out!

I'm happy to announce that M. Pax's newly published sequel to The Backworlds is now available! Craze and his friends continue their adventures in Stopover at the Backworld's Edge.
See what role chocolate plays this time!

The interstellar portal opens, bringing in a ship that should no longer exist. It's a battleship spoiling for a fight, yet the war with Earth ended two generations ago. The vessel drops off a Water-breather, a type of Backworlder thought to be extinct. She claims one of Craze’s friends is a traitor who summoned the enemy to Pardeep Station. A betrayal worse than his father’s, if Craze lives to worry about it.

Available for all ereaders from:

Amazon / Amazon UK / B&N / Smashwords
(iTunes and Kobo will be available shortly)

If you haven’t read The Backworlds yet, it’s available as a free read from many outlets. Click HERE for links.

Inspiring the words M. Pax writes, Mary spends her summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where she lives with the husband unit and two loving cats. She write science fiction mostly and has a slight obsession with Jane Austen. Visit Mary's blog here.

RIP, Mr. Bradbury, How You Still Light up the Stars for Us!

The young Ray

I am so very sad to hear that my favorite writer, mentor and inspiration died today. Ray Bradbury and his stories lit up my world so many years ago when I bought Martian Chronicles at a school book fair. Not just lit me up, but exploded my mind into a million synapses of burning delight. 
Part poet, part magician, and ever the inventive plot-meister, Ray wrote some of the best science fiction around. He was also an illustrator, and did cover art and interior spots for some of his own books. Something Wicked This Way Comes was a deliciously dark book about a carnival coming to town that was more sinister than the usual. (Don't you always suspect that clowns are perverse little demons? Think Killer Klowns from H*ll). His short story, "Fire Balloons" proves that not all summers are the same-old, same-old, but can transport young adults to a place of dreams. In Ray's words: "It's a story in which a number of priests fly off to Mars looking for creatures of good will. It is my tribute to those summers when my grandfather was alive. One of the priests was like my grandpa, whom I put on Mars to see the lovely balloons again, but this time they were Martians, all fired and bright, adrift above a dead sea." To read his whole piece, click here. It's in the June issue of The New Yorker, all devoted to sci-fi! Pick this issue up, it's totally worth the $.

One of Ray's Illustrations

Ray's list of classics is way too long to list here. But mention the title Farenheit 451 and you know how influential he was, and still is. This book is a cautionary tale about how important it is to protect books, and intellectual thinking. It's read in high schools across the country.

My favorite, forever is The Martian Chronicles. I have a version in Russian and French and wherever I travel I pick one up. (MC in Turkish, here we come!) This is the one that first lit my head on fire. His prose poetry still reigns supreme in passages like this: "Mr. and Mrs. K had the fair, brownish skin of the true Martian, the yellow coin eyes, the soft, musical voices. Once they had liked painting pictures with chemical fire, swimming in the canals in the seasons when the wine trees filled them with green liquors, and talking into the dawn together by the blue, phosphorous portraits in the speaking room. They were not happy now." Why? They sensed the coming of the humans from Earth is why!

I could go on and on but I'll leave you with some great links:
For a book containing his illustrations, Bradbury, an Illustrated Life, by Jerry Weist.
For more on Ray's life and work, read today's article on io9, the coolest online SF mag. Click here.
New addition, Obama weighs in on Ray here. Who ever said Obama wasn't a smart guy?!

Mr. Bradbury, I just know you can hear us crying down here, and you're probably saying, "Don't sweat it, folks, I'm having the time of my life in the stratosphere, drinking up virtual Dandelion Wine." So, let's all toast to invention, to Ray Bradbury and his wonderful works.