It’s Release Day for 19 Doors, a short story collection featuring a wide variety of genres. A book description, purchase link, and author bio are all below. I will provide a review at a later date.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
From the author of Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel, shortlisted by the Chanticleer International Book Awards, 19 Doors ranges far and wide, diving into magical realism and science fiction, then adding a dash of steampunk and surrealism for extra flavor. The collection ricochets from the poignant to the comically absurd, each short story a work of imaginative fiction.
• A community remembers the lives they have yet to live. • An intergalactic tour bus arrives in Hollywood … Montana. • A shopping network super-fan relives every infomercial scenario he watches. • The first sentient being in the universe applies for a job as a sous chef. • A preternatural wind comes to collect a long-owed debt.
Through 19 Doors, we are immersed in the unraveling lives of characters who are just like us and nothing like us. Whether they succeed or succumb, conform or rebel, we are treated to a compilation of stories that are frequently fraught, often fun, and always fantastic.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
**The author’s bios are so funny that I found two and added them both:
The story of Rob Roy O’Keefe’s birth goes that he was born in the same Irish cottage as his grandfather and in the same year, which led to a time paradox so cataclysmic that he would never finish th–Fortunately, the truth is much different. Turns out he was not born in a cottage or in Ireland, but in a Howard Johnson’s in Bayonne, which may explain his lifelong habit of ending each day with 28 flavors of ice cream.
In his twenties, he went through a period of crisis and self-doubt upon learning he was not named after a Scottish folk hero, but rather a mixed drink featuring scotch whisky and sweet vermouth. Years of counseling eventually enabled him to resume his place in society. That, and the realization that his siblings, Mojito, Daiquiri, and Gimlet, had it much worse than he did.
Rob made his way in the world as the inventor of several nonexistent colors and is living a life of leisure thanks to the royalty checks he receives for creating the descriptive names found on garden hose nozzles. His favorite is “Mist.”
Rob Roy O’Keefe was raised in the Antarctic by a colony of emperor penguins, which explains both his love of fish and his intense anxiety when in the company of sea lions. At the age of 12 he left to go on walkabout, but upon learning that Australia was over 3,000 miles away, he took the more expedient route from Cape Melville, Antarctica to South America’s Cape Horn.
He wandered north through the Andes, accumulated an abundance of practical knowledge, such as how to convince a hungry condor that you are not carrion. He eventually stumbled upon the hut of an Incan shaman who took him on as an apprentice. After a decade of immersion into the mysteries of the unseen world, Rob departed, fully prepared for his eventual success in the fields of pizza delivery, local politics, and brand consulting.
Today, Rob resides in New England’s Merrimack Valley, where he lives in a tree house made of Good Humor popsicle sticks held together by the discarded dreams of retired sailors.
Indie Spotlight is my effort to help Indie authors with their most daunting task–marketing. If I can help even a little bit, I’m happy to do it. You can help as well by sharing this post with all your social media followers. Together, we can help Indie books succeed.
Below is a book description, author bio, and buy link for Imperiled by the late Alexander Hans Schmitt. There is also a guest post by his mother, Vonnie Schmitt, about her journey to publish his book after his death. I am currently reading Imperiled and will provide a review later.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
When the unthinkable happens, what would you do to save yourself? In debut novelist Alexander Hans Schmitt’s epic space opera, readers embark on a gripping journey with its heroine, Junior Commander Anaiya Sonra.
In the far future, an unexpected betrayal throws Commander Sonra’s life into chaos and ends her career as the emergency coordinator of a habitat-based space patrol force. Falsely accused of smuggling, Anaiya faces certain conviction, and a soul-destroying future, unless she takes immediate action. She commandeers a starship, battles her way to the nearest rift transit fold zone, and sets out on a perilous quest for the truth.
As Anaiya’s voyage progresses, she melds a dependable and resourceful crew from an unlikely bunch of castaways. Together they investigate the source of Anaiya’s undoing: the unprovoked attack and destruction of an ancient freight hauler, and they uncover the mystery of the cargo that the hauler carried on that final voyage. But as Anaiya and her team delve deeper, they discover that answers come with a devastating cost, and none of them realize the reach of the situation in which they have become enmeshed.
Packed with action, Imperiled is a must-read for fans of space opera adventure science fiction seeking an unforgettable tale of resilience and discovery.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexander Hans Schmitt was born in Houston, Texas in 1981. His father was a computer programmer, and his mother was a homemaker. Alex loved books; he loved time spent with his mother and father as they read to him. During his kindergarten year his mother read all seven of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia to him. But Alex struggled in school. After being tested by an educational psychologist, he was found to have a high IQ. The disparity between his IQ and his negligible progress in learning to read led the school to conclude that he had a learning disability. Alex was placed in a self-contained classroom with a small group of learning-disabled children. More one-on-one time with the teacher and/or her aide was promised. But after two years, Alex still could not read. It was then that his mother took matters into her own hands. Using a phonics-based approach, she taught him to read during the summer before third grade. By the end of the third grade, he read and enjoyed adult novels.. In fourth grade, he was placed in his school’s gifted program.
Alex suffered a seizure just as his fifth-grade year began. It occurred while he was sitting at his desk in school. After years of being thought retarded by his classmates and some teachers in the school, he had finally overcome the stigma of the learning-disabled label. Now he bore the stigma of epilepsy. Hard-won friendships evaporated. It was too much. His parents considered options other than public school. They decided to homeschool Alex and became welcome fixtures in the Washington Metro area home schooling community. Alex had a fresh start.
When Alex was fourteen, he expressed an interest in learning the piano. Lessons were arranged and, after a few years, he was able to play a wide variety of advanced pieces by Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Mozart, and Grieg.
In 2001, Alex enrolled in Northern Virginia Community College and in 2003 he transferred to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2007. He was awarded the prize for Outstanding Graduate in Philosophy that year among other academic honors.Alex was then accepted at Pace Law School. He earned a law degree with an emphasis in environmental law in 2010.
Time passed, and Alex decided that he was more suited to the life of a writer than that of an environmental lawyer. He studied books on the craft of writing and worked on the first draft of Imperiled. Chapter by chapter, the book took form. He shared his work with his mother. She edited his chapters, focusing on demonstrating how he could make his writing more concise. Slowly he became a better writer. Through eight years and four drafts, Alex worked steadily on Imperiled.
Alex took antiseizure medication from the time of his first seizure throughout his teenage years and had no more seizures until the spring of 2020, when he had a seizure at home. He was prescribed an antiseizure drug, but even with medication, he continued to suffer four or more seizures each year. He became depressed. His writing stalled, but rereading his favorite books remained a comfort. The last books he read were J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series. In June 2023, Alex died suddenly following a seizure. He was 42 years old.
THOUGHTS FROM ALEX’S MOM, VONNIE SCHMITT
Alex’s sudden death following a seizure was a great shock, and I was sunk in grief for the following year. Beginning about a year after Alex died, I began to work on Imperiled. I had been Alex’s beta reader, and he and I had great fun talking about his writing. He had so many great ideas about other books that he planned to write. And, during the eight years he worked on Imperiled, he also worked on a fantasy novel. He planned for Imperiled to be the first of a series of five science fiction novels, and he had included chapters in Imperiled that introduced characters that would play a big part in the story in the subsequent books. The first thing I did was to edit out those chapters. Then I edited the entire book, mainly making the writing more concise.
My daughter is a professional proofreader and she proofed Imperiled. My husband, Tony, meticulously went over the book and made further edits. Then my daughter proofed the final version. I felt that we were ready to self-publish, and I was fortunate to find Booklocker—a publishing company that provides services to those who want to self-publish. My husband and I struggled with learning about doing things online, but we managed in the end (with a great deal of help and patience from the folks at Booklocker).
All of us are so happy that Alex’s book was published as a paperback on his birthday! We are all very proud of Alex and the world that he created. I also set up a website that includes world-building material. It is alexhansschmitt.com.
PURCHASE LINK
*Click on the cover below for a link to Amazon. The book is also on Kindle Unlimited, so subscribers can read it for free.
BEFORE YOU GO
If you read the book, be sure to leave a review on Amazon. The review does not have to be long, or a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will help it succeed. As mentioned above, please share this post with others who might enjoy the book.
Award winning author Michael Gorton masterfully describes advanced scientific concepts intertwined in a deeply human narrative. The story follows Paula, a molecular biologist on the cusp of receiving a Nobel Prize, whose life is abruptly cut short by a tragic accident. Her close friend, Alex, has been developing groundbreaking technology capable of tunneling through spacetime. Driven by grief and determination, Alex embarks on a daring journey using this technology, leading then to a planet in Cassiopeia where they confront unforeseen challenges and emotions. Gorton’s narrative seamlessly blends elements of adventure, romance, and science fiction, inviting readers to explore profound questions about time, loss, and the lengths one might go to alter destiny. “Tachyon Tunnel” is a thought-provoking tale that challenges our understanding of reality and the human spirit.
TACHYON TUNNEL 2: THE DAKLIN EMPIRE
What if Time travel were possible, and Science Fiction is real? Time travel where humans have changed something has implications on the laws of physics. The ripple effect from inertia always catches up. Alex and the Tranquility team are aware of this when they discover the Daklin Empire that has ruled the Galaxy with an iron fist for over 50 million years without suffering a single defeat. As the Daklin take notice of Earth, the team must navigate the challenges of time’s inertia and the unintended consequences of altering history.
Tachyon Tunnel 2 explores how time travel might actually work within the laws of physics, and the implications of changing events in the past. The book combines science, adventure, romance, and the complexities of human decision-making in high-stakes situations. Part two of bestselling author Michael Gorton’s award-winning Tachyon Tunnel series will keep readers on the edge of their seats and is sure to become one of the best science fiction works of the year!
BOOK REVIEWS
Tachyon Tunnel 1
Alex is a genius who has invented a way to tunnel through time and space, with the help of a ship and his trusty AI, Emily. But when he learns his best friend Paula has died, he drops everything and uses this technology to rescue her. What happens next will strand them on another world and affect many people and civilizations.
This is a clever and science-forward novel with a genius method of time travel—tunneling through time. The author does a good job explaining the physics of it. In addition to the method, every author should also set rules of time travel that must be followed. In this book, the rules seem to be whatever science allows. However, there are actions that create paradoxes or have deadly consequences, so it could be that certain rules will be assigned as the series unfolds in order to avoid those situations.
There are also circumstances involving the use of DNA technology that are questionable and a bit unbelievable. Another situation occurred that I completely disagreed with, but it involves sacrificing individual rights for the possible safety of a civilization. These are the kind of choices one ends up making when manipulating time and changing events on entire worlds. The main characters, Alex and Paula, are easy to connect with, but the AI, Emily, steals the show. There is a twist at the end that I absolutely loved. I enjoyed this novel and was sometimes reminded of one of the masters of science fiction, Robert Heinlein. I look forward to Book 2.
Although I received a print copy from the author, I also downloaded the ebook on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.
TACHYON TUNNEL 2: THE DAKLIN EMPIRE
There is a fresh start in this second book of the series, and it goes in a new direction. New characters are introduced, as well as a new enemy, the Daklin, who will wipe out any civilization that opposes their total domination. But they haven’t found Earth yet. The race to stop the Daklin from finding Earth has Alex seeking out a reclusive group who may be able to help them.
In the first book, the rules of time travel were not necessarily made clear. I would say new rules have been introduced by the author in this book, as previous mistakes are discussed and not repeated. The new characters are strong and compelling, and the evil Daklin Empire lurks as a frightening spectre to avoid. The science of time travel provided is intriguing, and the author manages to make technical discussions entertaining. The book takes a dip into the paranormal as well as science fiction, but I hope it stays science-forward as the series progresses. There is some “telling” instead of “showing” early in this book, but I found it worked and helped the reader adjust to the new direction this series is heading.
The relationship between Alex and Paula is the deepest and most meaningful in the series, and I would like to see the series delve deeper into some of the other relationships as well.
The attempts to evade and stop the Daklin kept me glued to the story, and the addition of an evil empire adds new layers to the novel. Overall, Tachyon Tunnel 2 comes in strong. Having learned lessons from the events of the past, it charges forward in a new and interesting way.
Although I received a print copy from the author, I also purchased the ebook on Amazon. It is only 99 cents at present! See link below.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
(Excerpts from his website) Michael Gorton grew up as the “poor kid next door.” Because of great influence from his parents and four siblings, Michael reached for the stars. With virtually no money in his pocket, he went off to college and earned degrees in Physics, Engineering and Law—all while working full-time.
He is now best known as being a serial entrepreneur, but that title does not do him justice. With degrees in Physics, Engineering and Law, there is no limit to his curiosity. After working ten years as an engineer in corporate America, he founded 15 different companies, including Internet Global, Palo Duro Records, and Teladoc, now one of the world’s largest telemedicine companies. His forward-facing vision and expertise led him to being one of the pioneers of telemedicine and digital health, which is becoming a half-TRILLION-dollar industry. In 2022 he joined with Jay Sanders, “The Father of Telemedicine,” to write Digital Medical Home which details the harrowing tales of the history of telemedicine, something we all now take for granted. He is now working with several companies and medical doctors to develop pathways for integration of AI into medicine, with a goal of lowering costs of care and increasing access, all resulting in longer healthier lives.
An accomplished author, Michael has dabbled in both fiction and nonfiction, recently writing Tachyon Tunnel, a science fiction book series, and Calamistunity, The Secret to Success, a book on how to turn calamity and mistakes into opportunity. His first business book was Broken Handoff, an amalgamation of three decades as an entrepreneur developing companies. His novel, Forefathers & Founding Fathers, is based on the forgotten historical figures who ensured the triumph of democracy in the country that would become America.
Michael is now an in-demand speaker on the topics of innovation and entrepreneurial disruption and has delivered over 100 keynotes in the past two years alone. He has also won the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, was named a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer, and a Future 50 Disruptor and more.
In his “spare” time, Michael is a runner, Second Degree Black Belt in Kenpo, and a mountain climber who has so far scaled the highest point of elevation in 43 states.
Self-Published Saturday is my effort to help Indie and Self-Published authors promote their books. Self-Published/Indie authors have to do it all, from editing to cover design to marketing. If I can help even a little bit with the overwhelming task of marketing, I’m happy to do it. Below is my review of an imaginative science fiction adventure, The View From here by Leon Stevens.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
What would you do if you found yourself on or in another world? Do you have the skills and knowledge needed to survive or to make sense of what you see?
Thomas sets out on a hike he has done many times before. Taking only what he needs for the three or four hours he expects to be gone, he passes a vehicle in the parking lot. The handwritten note on the dashboard read: Not Abandoned. The view at the end of the trail was not what he expected—neither were the friendships.
Two people with adventurous spirits, heading off into the unknown with only their physical fitness and combined knowledge to get them through everything they may encounter.
How far could you make it?
BOOK REVIEW
This is a fascinating science fiction novella that explores the idea of other worlds or dimensions that can be reached from Earth. The main characters Thomas and April find a new dimension or world separately while hiking, meet up there, and decide to go exploring. They soon find themselves relying on their wits to stay alive and solve the puzzles of this world.
This story will keep you spellbound as Thomas and April navigate a new world, learn its special properties, and use their combined knowledge to survive. It is a tiny bit reminiscent of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary in that they have to improvise and learn to communicate with another species using only math and science. The world-building is fantastic, and the author expertly conveys the beauty of the scenery with vivid word pictures. I liked the fact that Thomas was in his sixties and still out there exploring and taking risks. This novella feels like the introduction to a series, and I hope that is true. Those who love science fiction and love to solve puzzles will enjoy this one!
My only criticism is I would like to see more color on the cover to make it more eye-catching for readers scrolling through millions of books on Amazon and other sites.
I downloaded this book on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leon Stevens is an author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publication is the novella, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories. He is currently working on a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
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Jake, Alex, and Sarah are foster kids out on a joyride one night in a “borrowed” truck belonging to their group home. When they witness the crash of a UFO, they approach the scene and find a wrecked spaceship with a dying giant inside. The giant transfers his knowledge and memories to them before he dies, and the three lifelong foster kids suddenly find themselves part of a war between worlds.
This well-written middle grade to young adult sci-fi adventure will take readers to the stars. Jake, Alex, and Sarah find themselves being guided by the knowledge of the giant, Sawan, who has left them his memories, and they eventually realize that they are needed to go on a mission to save Sawan’s world, and maybe their own.
This is a captivating, literally out of this world story with vivid characters and thoughtful, purposeful world-building. Using a clever combination of technology and philosophy, Asa S. Rubin creates a story that is both exciting and thought-provoking. Jake, Sarah, and Alex suddenly find themselves with the growing ability to understand the language, thoughts, writings, and very nature of an alien race of people, the Kenali. The Kenali are divided into two opposing factions who are basically forced to work together in order to fight takeover from the evil Anatrus and their powerful super-soldiers. Jake often uses his experience as a foster kid to try and understand the situation in which the Kenali find themselves. Underneath all of this are deep philosophical questions about the origin and meaning of the existence of the Kenali, the Anatrus, and other peoples and worlds.
I have only a bit of constructive criticism, and it is regarding the dialogue. The character Alex has a speech impediment, and the way in which the author has chosen to add this to the dialogue is hard to understand and interrupts the flow of the book.
Fans of young adult/middle grade science fiction, philosophy, and friendship reads will enjoy this story.
I downloaded a copy of this book on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Asa S. Rubin
(In his own words)
I grew up reading classic adventure authors like Jules Verne, sci-fi/action novelists like Clive Cussler, and more literary story-tellers like Richard Russo. As a kid, I tried my own hand at writing and quickly discovered that I couldn’t help but combine all my favorite genres together, so that any of my stories had plenty of action, extensive sci-fi, and a healthy dose of psychological or philosophical musings to go along with them. That trend I’ve never been able to stop, but now I’m finally ready to put my stories out there for the world to see.
In between writing, I’ve gotten degrees in physics, aerospace engineering, and medicine, practiced as a physician, and even done some work for the government. It’s been an interesting ride, and all of these experiences I’ve sunken back into my stories to make them more realistic and authentic. I’ve also climbed a few mountains, gotten hardcore into ultralight backpacking, and most importantly, married my beautiful wife.
I hope you enjoy my stories. If you’d like to reach me, please email me at nephillim.cotop@gmail.com. And if you’re into hiking, maybe I’ll see you out there on the trail.
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