Archive for the ‘Dystopian’ Category

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The Post
by Kevin A. Munoz
Genre: Dystopian Thriller
 
Ten years after the world’s oil went sour and a pandemic killed most of
the population, Sam Edison is the chief of police of The Little Five,
a walled-in community near Atlanta, Georgia. Those who survived share
the world with what are known as hollow-heads: creatures who are no
longer fully human.
A man and a pregnant teenager arrive at the gate and are welcomed into
the town. They begin to settle in when suddenly both are murdered by
an unknown assailant. In the course of investigation, Chief Edison
discovers that the girl was fleeing a life of sexual slavery, and
that some members of the Atlanta community were complicit in the
human trafficking network that had ensnared her.
In retaliation for Edison’s discoveries, agents of the network abduct
the stepdaughter of the town’s mayor. Chief Edison and three
companions track the kidnappers to Athens, Georgia, where they
discover that the entire city is engaged in human trafficking. By the
time Edison has recovered the kidnapped girl, the other three
rescuers have been killed, leaving Edison alone to bring the mayor’s
stepdaughter home while evading both human and non-human monsters.
Against such great odds, will Sam ever make it to Little Five alive?
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Post teaser
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Kevin Muñoz grew up just outside of Philadelphia. After wandering across
the country for a few years, he received a PhD from Emory University
in 2008. A little later, he decided to leave the academic life behind
to pursue his first passion: writing. He has lived in seven U.S.
states over the years, observing and adopting each new place as
settings and inspiration for his fiction. He spent fifteen years in
Georgia, where the seeds of THE POST were planted. He now lives near
Seattle with his two beagle traveling companions.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Yesterday I posted about some series’ I had started and some I was planning to start.

Today I’m sharing some that I already have on my list. I have the first book in each series and its a mixed bag of genres. All of these have been on my wish list and I’m really anticipating some great reading.

This is going to be fun!

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Moon Called

Mercy Thompson #1

by Patricia Briggs

Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1) by [Briggs, Patricia]

THE FIRST MERCY THOMPSON NOVEL!

Moon Called is the novel that introduced Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson to the world and launched a #1 bestselling phenomenon… 

Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.

But Mercy’s two worlds are colliding. A half-starved teenage boy arrives at her shop looking for work, only to reveal that he’s a newly changed werewolf—on the run and desperately trying to control his animal instincts. Mercy asks her neighbor Adam Hauptman, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, for assistance.

But Mercy’s act of kindness has unexpected consequences that leave her no choice but to seek help from those she once considered family—the werewolves who abandoned her…

Amazon

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Extinction Horizon

The Extinction Cycle #1

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Extinction Horizon (The Extinction Cycle Book 1) by [Smith, Nicholas Sansbury]

The worst of nature and the worst of science will bring the human race to the brink of extinction…
 
Master Sergeant Reed Beckham has led his Delta Force Team, codenamed Ghost, through every kind of hell imaginable and never lost a man. When a top secret Medical Corps research facility goes dark, Team Ghost is called in to face their deadliest enemy yet–a variant strain of Ebola that turns men into monsters.
After barely escaping with his life, Beckham returns to Fort Bragg in the midst of a new type of war. As cities fall, Team Ghost is ordered to keep CDC virologist Dr. Kate Lovato alive long enough to find a cure. What she uncovers will change everything.
Total extinction is just on the horizon, but will the cure be worse than the virus?
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Called

Southern Watch #1

by Robert J. Crane

Called (Southern Watch Book 1) by [Crane, Robert J.]

A demon hunter without a home. A cop without a cause. A seemingly unstoppable evil rising in a small town…

WARNING: Contains violence, coarse language and sexual situations.

Archibald “Arch” Stan was a local cop in Midian, Tennessee that was good at his job, good at being a husband, and exceptionally good at hiding his disappointment at not being able to figure out what was missing in his life that made it all seem so empty.

Lafayette Hendricks looked like a drifter, a broken-down hitchhiker blown through Midian on the prevailing winds. When Arch catches him in a fight on the town square, though, things start to get weird, fast, because the guy he’s fighting doesn’t die when he gets shot. And Hendricks is carrying a sword.

Pretty soon, Arch’s whole life is turned upside down by Hendricks’s revelation that there’s a secret world operating under the one he’s been living in his whole life – one filled with demons, chaos, and unspeakable evils, one of which is already in town, stirring trouble. And if the two men don’t band together to keep watch on the darkness falling on Midian, then this small town might just get swallowed up by the forces of evil – with the rest of the world to follow shortly behind.

If you like Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Stephen King, Michael Anderle, Shayne Silvers, Shannon Mayer, or J.R. Rain, you will LOVE the first installment of the Southern Watch series.

Amazon

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All Systems Red

The Murderbot Diaries #1

by Martha Wells

All Systems Red (Kindle Single): The Murderbot Diaries by [Wells, Martha]

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.”

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

Amazon

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Tombyards & Butterflies

A Montague & Strong Detective Agency #1

by Orlando A. Sanchez

Tombyards & Butterflies: A Montague and Strong Detective Novel (Montague & Strong Case Files Book 1) by [Sanchez, Orlando A.]

A Missing Ferryman. An Undead Dilemma. An Immortal Detective.

An emissary from the Dark Council has just materialized in the office of the Montague & Strong Detective Agency, and makes Simon Strong an offer he can’t refuse. Charon is missing. The legendary ferryman responsible for transporting sorcerer souls across the river Styx hasn’t been seen in days. And with each passing hour, those unable to cross the river are left to walk among the living, tilting the world further out of balance.

Meet Simon Strong, an immortal, who is also the best private detective in New York City. Together with his surly partner-Tristan Montague, a mage of indeterminate age, they must find the Ferryman and get him back to work before another Supernatural War ravages the earth, destroys humanity, and Simon’s local coffee shop.

Time is running out. His landlord wants the rent and Karma with a capital K is paying him a visit, and she can be a real…

Join the Montague & Strong Detective Agency and help them locate Charon, so he can restore balance to the universe, put the dead sorcerers to rest, and maybe solve the age old conundrum-coffee or tea?

Amazon

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Killing Trail

Timber Creek K-9 Mystery #1

by Margaret Mizushima

Killing Trail: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by [Mizushima, Margaret]

When a young girl is found dead in the mountains outside Timber Creek, life-long resident Officer Mattie Cobb and her partner, K-9 police dog Robo, are assigned to the case that has rocked the small Colorado town.

With the help of Cole Walker, local veterinarian and a single father, Mattie and Robo must track down the truth before it claims another victim. But the more Mattie investigates, the more she realizes how many secrets her hometown holds. And the key may be Cole’s daughter, who knows more than she’s saying.

The murder was just the beginning, and if Mattie isn’t careful, she and Robo could be next. Suspenseful and smart, Killing Trail is a gripping read that will have readers clamoring for more Mattie and Robo for years to come. Fans of Nevada Barr and C.J. Box will love this explosive debut.

Amazon

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Have you read any of these?

And how about some help! Which do you think I should read first?

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Book Tour Grand Finale for
Stuck
By Samantha Durante

We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops

you can see snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below:

Launch – Note from the Author

I am *so* thrilled to be kicking off the Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3) tour! We’ve got lots of awesome stops planned with exclusive Stitch Trilogy content you won’t find anywhere else, plus a big giveaway to celebrate the arrival of the long-awaited conclusion of the series!…

Andi’s Young Adult Books – Guest Post

A Tale of Three Book Covers

Even a writer has to admit that (as the saying goes!) a picture is worth a thousand words. It comes as no surprise, then, that *almost* as much thought must go into cover design as into the book itself.

When designing the covers for the Stitch Trilogy books, I had several goals in mind:

Captivate: Of course, a cover needs to get readers interested, and one of the best ways to do that is to make it pretty!

Signal: The cover’s job is also, naturally, to give readers some clues as to what is in the story by referencing the genres and major plot points.

Unify: And, finally, knowing that this was going to be a multi-book series, I needed to come up with a consistent theme that would tie each cover together.

So how did I accomplish all this? By driving my cover designer crazy, of course! 🙂 …

Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters – Interview

2.) Tell us about the rest of the series.

Over the course of the trilogy, you join our protagonists as they uncover the sordid truth and dark history of their society, Paragon, a place set in a world much like our own but with some important (and chilling) differences. In fact, some members of this society are so blinded to the truth that they don’t even realize they are, in fact, living in Paragon… which is something you get to experience firsthand in Book 1. (Trying not to give away too many spoilers here!) In Book 2, we learn more about how this world came about, and in Book 3, the main characters struggle against nearly insurmountable odds to try to bring those responsible to justice. And of course, there’s some romance along the way!

Paulette’s Papers – Guest Post

Playlist: Music to Go with Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3)

It’s no secret that I love words (I am, after all, a writer). But sometimes, nothing captures a feeling *quite* like a song. So without further ado, here is a selection of hand-picked songs to go with several of the most pivotal chapters of Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3):…

Wishful Endings – Excerpt

Not a Bear

“But how can we continue to keep this from everyone?” Janie interjected. “It’s not right. They deserve to know!” she hissed.

Alessa shrugged in defeat.

Yes, she thought, just like Isaac deserves to know that his brother might still be alive – but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything about that, either, knowing the guilt would eat him alive. She at least had to be sure first. She had to know it was really Joe.

Lisa Loves Literature – Review

” I really liked the first two books in this series, and I waited 5 years between book 2 and this one. There was one point I know that I even reached out to the author to find out if this one was coming soon, because I needed to know what would happen next. . . . There was just so much going on in this book! . . . if you haven’t started the series yet, you are the lucky one to get to start with all three of them out now. You can sit down and read them all, back to back, and get all the feelings that will come with a good series.”

Why Not? Because I Said So! – Review

“I’ve waited a long time to read this last book in the Stitch Trilogy. I loved this series from the first book. It was so unique and had so many twists and turns that kept you reading. Guess what? Things haven’t changed in this third book: It’s still has so many unique things in the story line and the the twists just keep on coming. . . . If you like the Dystopian and Sci-Fi genres, you need to put the Stitch Trilogy on your To-Read list immediately.”

FUONLYKNEW – Review

“There’s plenty of action, intrigue and betrayal. But there’s also bravery, romance and hope. . . . A perfect finale to a series that fueled my imagination and captured my heart.”

Bri’s Book Nook – Review of STITCH

“This premise for a science fiction novel is so unique, and that truly drew me in. . . . I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new upper YA or NA science fiction trilogy with a strong female main character.”

Colorimetry – Excerpt

Happy Pills

“Seriously, Alex?”

Deion chuckled and shook his head at the sight of his best friend – shirtless, sweat gleaming off his abs – precisely positioned so that anyone passing by the construction site would get an eyeful of his chiseled physique.

“First of all, it’s only 50 degrees out –”

“58,” Alex argued, heaving another stone on top of the wall he was building for this set of Paragon’s latest drama. “That’s almost in the sixties.” He paused to swipe a dusty, rippling forearm across his brow, brushing the fringe of straight black hair from his striking, angular eyes, which were narrowed against the sun.

Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile – Review

“It’s been a privilege to follow along with Samantha Durante since this trilogy first started! I felt a little woeful as I started to read Stuck, only because I knew that this was the end of my time with these characters. After completely falling in love with the last book, I knew that this finale was going to be a rough read for me either way. It’s the end of an era, really. It’s been fun! . . . If you haven’t started this trilogy yet, you’re in for such a treat. I envy you. I really do.

Lovely Reads – Spotlight

Chapter Break – Interview

Is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

There are SO MANY things I’d like people to take away from the Stitch Trilogy! First, that things aren’t black and white. Just like real life, no one in my books is infallible, and anyone can make a mistake that can really hurt other people – and this can happen on a small or very large scale, even with the noblest of intentions. Second, that anyone can make a difference. It would be easy for anyone living in that world (or any world!) to feel insignificant and powerless, but the characters work really hard and work together to make things better, and they manage to do so even against odds that seem insurmountable. Third, that inclusivity and diversity of thought are good things, especially when it comes to leadership – otherwise you’re almost certain to further exploit already marginalized groups, and foster a lot of ill-will. And finally, that love conquers all. At the end of the day, even (perhaps, especially) when the world has gone to hell, all we have is each other. Be selfless. Be brave. Be kind.

Words Are the Breath Of Life – Review

“Stuck is a phenomenal completion to a wonderfully complex, challenging, and heartfelt adventure. My heart jumped for joy when I found myself finally reading the last chapters of this brilliantly original and deeply captivating journey full of heart, hope, and love. . . . I have been looking forward to this elusive ending, and I found myself completely and totally satisfied in every way a story can offer. . . . Samantha Durante has once again left me in awe of the depth of her brilliant creativity and boundless heart.”

Books & Such – Guest Post

Quiz: Where Do You Rank in Paragon Society?

Over the course of the Stitch Trilogy, we’ve gotten to know several different groups within the society of Paragon, from plucky rebels and manipulated citizens to mastermind Engineers and bloodthirsty Stuck. Where do you fall amongst these ranks? Take this quick quiz to find out!…

fundinmental – Interview & Review

1. What made you decide to be a writer?

I don’t know if it was a *decision* so much as a compulsion! I’ve always loved to write, ever since I was a kid. I got away from it for a few years in college and afterwards, but even as a software engineer, I managed to“sneak” writing into my job. So when it came time for a major life change (moving back across the country to be near my family), I knew it was a good time to see if I could shift gears and get back to doing what I’d always loved.

“If you love having your emotions ramped up to a fever pitch, if you love white knuckled reading, if you love apocalyptic/dystopian novels and are looking for an original storyline, you may want to grab the Stitch trilogy.”

Christy’s Cozy Corners – Guest Post

Style in Dystopia: 3 Ways to Style a Jumpsuit

Dystopian societies aren’t often known for their embrace of individuality and free-thinking… which unfortunately means their fashion trends tend to lean towards the sterile and conformist, at best.

But don’t let that post-apocalyptic thinking get you down! As the characters of the Stitch Trilogy show, there are lots of ways you can buck the trend and give that old standard-issue jumpsuit a fresh spin…

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway below, if you haven’t already…

Stuck
(Stitch Trilogy #3)
By Samantha Durante
YA Dystopian, SciFi
Paperback & ebook, 306 Pages
December 15, 2018

3, 2, 1… BOOM.

Things are finally looking up for the Resistance. Sure, Alessa is still processing the revelation that the best friend she’d presumed dead is miraculously alive, though far from well… And her boyfriend is being manipulated under threat of blackmail. But her quest for justice against those behind the systematic extermination of the world population is so close to victory she can taste it.

And then in a matter of seconds, everything Alessa believes in is shaken to the core. Months of preparation are obliterated. The people she cares for most are lost.

But Alessa is still standing. And Paragon must pay.

The odds are grim, but unexpected allies surface in the most unlikely of places: A new pair of citizens still under the colony’s rule who notice something amiss in the latest drama. An old adversary who realizes the error of her ways. And a veritable army of inhuman power and terrible strength, with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. The trustworthiness of each of these factions is yet to be proven, but without many other options, Alessa may have to take what she can get. Especially since the Engineers, never to be outdone, also have a few more tricks up their sleeves…

The long-awaited final installment in the riveting Stitch Trilogy, Stuck will have readers gripping their seats as Alessa and a handful of intrepid survivors usher their harrowing journey to a close, risking everything as they endeavor – once and for all – to set things right.

GoodreadsAmazonBarnes & NobleSmashwordsKobo

Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Samantha lives in Westchester County, New York with four of the five loves of her life – her husband, son, younger daughter, and cat – and carries her fifth love, her stillborn daughter, in her heart. An avid reader herself, Samantha’s dream is to bring the same delight to readers that other authors have brought to her life. In addition to penning novels and writing candidly about grief, she is also a sometimes freelance writer/consultant – though more often than not these days she’s on full-time mom duty! A former software engineer, Samantha said goodbye to the corporate world in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and lifelong love of writing. Learn more at www.samanthadurante.com.

WebsiteGoodreadsFacebookTwitterInstagram

Tour Giveaway

1 First Place Winner will receive: Signed Print Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy, a Limited-Edition Stitch Scarf, Bookmarks, and a $15 Amazon Gift Card
3 Second Place Winners will receive: eBook Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy for You *and* a Friend, plus a $5 Amazon Gift Card
– Open internationally
– Ends December 27th

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grab Our Button!

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

christmas tree photo: TreeLightsCat TreeLightsCat.gif


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Stuck
(Stitch Trilogy #3)
By Samantha Durante
YA Dystopian, SciFi
Paperback & ebook, 306 Pages
December 15, 2018

3, 2, 1… BOOM.

Things are finally looking up for the Resistance. Sure, Alessa is still processing the revelation that the best friend she’d presumed dead is miraculously alive, though far from well… And her boyfriend is being manipulated under threat of blackmail. But her quest for justice against those behind the systematic extermination of the world population is so close to victory she can taste it.

And then in a matter of seconds, everything Alessa believes in is shaken to the core. Months of preparation are obliterated. The people she cares for most are lost.

But Alessa is still standing. And Paragon must pay.

The odds are grim, but unexpected allies surface in the most unlikely of places: A new pair of citizens still under the colony’s rule who notice something amiss in the latest drama. An old adversary who realizes the error of her ways. And a veritable army of inhuman power and terrible strength, with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. The trustworthiness of each of these factions is yet to be proven, but without many other options, Alessa may have to take what she can get. Especially since the Engineers, never to be outdone, also have a few more tricks up their sleeves…

The long-awaited final installment in the riveting Stitch Trilogy, Stuck will have readers gripping their seats as Alessa and a handful of intrepid survivors usher their harrowing journey to a close, risking everything as they endeavor – once and for all – to set things right.

GoodreadsAmazonBarnes & NobleSmashwordsKobo

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My Review

I think the first sentence in the synopsis, 3, 2, 1 … Boom, describes this final book in the trilogy perfectly. There’s plenty of action, intrigue and betrayal. But there’s also bravery, romance and hope.

The pressure is on and Alessa pins her hopes on some new allies, an old friend, and a couple of strangers to bolster and make the final throes of the resistance successful. Humanity depends on it.

I have been waiting quite some time for Stuck. Even though I remember how much I loved the first books, I couldn’t recall some details so I pulled them off the shelf, gave them a second read, and fell in love with the series all over again. It’s the end of a spellbinding series and bittersweet. I didn’t want it to end but I couldn’t wait to see how it would. I wasn’t disappointed at any time and couldn’t stop reading once I started. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe, just breathe, as the suspense swept me up.

The action and suspense were palpable.  So many character’s stepped up to the plate. I felt the hope in my own veins. And I thrilled at the many surprises and answers that were revealed.

A perfect finale to a series that fueled my imagination and captured my heart.

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Other Books in the Series

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I love this series and wanted to show you why. I hope you don’t mind if I share my reviews of the previous books too!

My Review of Stitch

Stitch is Samantha Durante’s debut novel. I loved this story and can’t wait to see how she is going to top it.

You get a blend of many genres. First I was thinking paranormal, then dystopian, and finally, science fiction.

Another night. Another nightmare.

When Alessa started college, she thought it would help her to adjust, to move on after the death of her parents.

Now she’s having horrible nightmares and seeing the ghostly image of a man.

She picked the sorority because of the house. Something about it spoke to her, drew her to it.

Now her every thought is consumed with finding out who the ghost is that haunts the house and her mind.

In an attempt at normalcy, she goes to a dance with Nikhil. He’s the first guy she’s had any interest in.

“Alessa parted her lips and looked up at Nikhil, preparing to surrender to her body’s impulses.

But instead of the dark brown eyes she expected, she saw only blue. Unfathomable, sparkling blue…

Once again, a single word rose in the back of her throat – Isaac – and she knew the night was over.”

Isaac’s continued appearances and the fact that only she can see him becomes a quest to discover who he was and why he’s so sad.

What she finds is shocking. Was moving into the house her choice, what secrets are her friend Janie hiding, and does Alessa have a connection to Isaac, the ghost of her dreams and the house?

You’ll have an exciting time finding out just who or what Isaac is and what all of this has to do with Alessa.

This mixing of genres is brilliant and captivating.

While the beginning may be calm, slowly building this new world, the author fluidly takes you back and forth through time, filling in the answers to the mystery of Alessa and Isaac.

About halfway through, I started to see where this was going but with many twists and turns and what the’s, I was continually surprised.

One thing that I found very unique was how the author dealt with the communication between Alessa and Isaac. It was not what I was expecting and really had me going.  You’ll see.

The anticipation was nail-biting and the ending was out of this world. There was no cliff hanger and I finally had all of the answers.

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My Review of Shudder

Alessa and Isaac set off to find a secure base for all of those wanting out of Paragon.

They worry that the virus may still be out there, but soon discover they are being stalked by creatures, swift moving things that remain in the shadows of the forest, shrieking their rage.

As they escape an attack, something happens to Alessa. She is frozen in place as her mind is overpowered with fear, frustration and fury. She doesn’t know how it’s happening, but she’s experiencing these creatures feelings and it terrifies her.

They have to hurry. People are waiting for them to return with a location for their safe haven and Alessa has to get her sister, Janie, out of the clutches of the Ruling Class.

I finished reading Shudder in one sitting, never taking a break.

I could feel it in the authors writing, I was nearing the end of the book. No, not yet!

I needed to know why Joe featured so strongly in Alessa’s mind, what happened to her sister, and where the virus came from.

Samantha started to wrap up the ending while subtly layering in leads to the finale, Stuck. the last book in this trilogy. I liked that. Sure, I didn’t get all of the answers I wanted, but I did get a lot of insight into what the ‘stitch’ was and why and how it was used.

I also learned about the Ruling Class and their reasoning behind the stitch, even though I suspect some, if not most, of them were lying.

It’s no surprise that humanity didn’t learn its lesson. You’d think after all that has been written and studied, all of the wealth of info there is, they would know better. But no, the Ruling Class do the same things as before, believing they know what’s good for all. They buy into their own lies and block out the moral compass screaming stop, and do whatever is necessary to benefit the greater good. And we wonder why we don’t trust our government. Too many chiefs.

I felt twinges of The Matrix and Aeon Flux while reading this. Shudder reads like a dystopian, post-apocalyptic science fiction story. The author did an amazing job of blending these genre into an exciting, addictive series.

It makes me wonder. If Stitch and Shudder are so great, what is Stuck going to be like? I’m sure it’ll be thrilling.

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About the Author

Samantha lives in Westchester County, New York with four of the five loves of her life – her husband, son, younger daughter, and cat – and carries her fifth love, her stillborn daughter, in her heart. An avid reader herself, Samantha’s dream is to bring the same delight to readers that other authors have brought to her life. In addition to penning novels and writing candidly about grief, she is also a sometimes freelance writer/consultant – though more often than not these days she’s on full-time mom duty! A former software engineer, Samantha said goodbye to the corporate world in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and lifelong love of writing. Learn more at www.samanthadurante.com.

WebsiteGoodreadsFacebookTwitterInstagram

Tour Schedule

December 10th:
Launch
Andi’s Young Adult Books
Mythical Books
December 11th:
Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters
Paulette’s Papers
December 12th:
JeanzBookReadNReview
Lisa Loves Literature
December 13th:
Coffee, Books and Cakes
Why Not? Because I Said So!
December 14th:
FUONLYKNEW
Bri’s Book Nook
December 17th:
Colorimetry
Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
December 18th:
Lovely Reads
Chapter Break
Words Are the Breath Of Life
December 19th:
Books & Such
Bri’s Book Nook
December 20th:
fundinmental
Coffee, Books and Cakes
December 21st:
Christy’s Cozy Corners
Oh Hey! Books.
December 22nd:
Grand Finale

Tour Giveaway

1 First Place Winner will receive: Signed Print Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy, a Limited-Edition Stitch Scarf, Bookmarks, and a $15 Amazon Gift Card
3 Second Place Winners will receive: eBook Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy for You *and* a Friend, plus a $5 Amazon Gift Card
– Open internationally
– Ends December 27th

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Resurrection: Sign of Six
by Summer Lane
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(Resurrection Series #3)
Publication date: December 7th 2018
Genres: Dystopian, New Adult
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Synopsis
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The third installment in the hit survival series, following the adventures of Cassidy Hart!

There are many words used to describe Cassidy Hart:
President. General. Sniper. Soldier.
Girl.
Now, just one word echoes through her head: Infected.
Cassidy Hart has been infected with a nanovirus that turns her own body against itself. As civil war with the technologically advanced Eastern Coalition and President Ayad begins to escalate, the need for more advanced weaponry and reinforcements arise.

When the United Kingdom makes Cassidy and the Western Republic an offer they can’t refuse, they board a plane to London to forge an alliance with the first known surviving European country they have truly communicated with since Omega’s defeat. Unknowingly, leaving their home turf may be more dangerous than they think…

Uriah True and Chris Young – two men whom Cassidy cares deeply for – will be pitted against each other in the most unimaginable way.

While Omega may be gone, loyalty to the cause remains. Yet a new, more dangerous enemy arises. An enemy who promises to reshape the known world. Omega was nothing. He will be everything.
Look for his sign. The sign of the sixth.
Heed his promise:
The end of the world was only the beginning. The worst is yet to come.
Even Cassidy Hart may not survive this time…or will she?

From Summer Lane, the #1 bestselling author of more than 20 hit books.

Purchase: Amazon / B&N
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Author Summer Lane
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Summer Lane is the #1 bestselling author of more than 20 hit books, including the popular Collapse Series and Resurrection Series, featuring feisty heroine Cassidy Hart. She owns Writing Belle Publishing and Writing Belle, an online magazine. Lane is also an established journalist and writing teacher.

Summer lives in the Central Valley of California with her husband, Scott, and their two German Shepherds, Kona and Gibbs.

Author links: Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Instagram
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Welcome to my stop on the tour for The Book Of M by Peng Shepherd.

Enjoy my review. Check out this awesome book.

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

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My Review

It begins slowly. A man’s shadow disappears. Everyone is excited and caught up in the wonder. It seems magical. But then he starts to lose his memories. And then more people’s shadows disappear and more memories are lost. It spreads from continent to continent. No place is spared and everything falls apart because no one remembers how to do things, what anything is and even their own names.

Sounds crazy doesn’t it. I couldn’t wait to see where this author was taking me. Told from several character’s perspectives, you’ll get caught up in their struggles to survive, their fears of looking for their shadow and finding it no longer there and their terror of the forgetting that comes after.

I was in awe of the author’s imagination. I thought this would be a fairly straight forward plot, but it was actually finely executed. Events occurred in a fashion that wouldn’t allow me to stop reading. I was so wrapped up in some of these characters, I couldn’t relax until I knew what happened to them.

And when the author showed me her magical direction, I was stunned. My imagination took off, thinking what if this happened, and how would they stop the catastrophes I could see coming. And the ones I couldn’t. Especially the ending.

Did I enjoy this book? Loved it. Addictive. Would I recommend it? Yes sirree. You don’t have to be a dystopian or apocalypse fan to get caught up in this one. The idea is brilliant and expertly penned.

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Synopsis

Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.

One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.

Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.

Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.

As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.

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Praise for THE BOOK OF M

“A beautiful and haunting story about the power of memory and the necessity of human connection, this book is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece and the one dystopian novel you really need to read this year.” ―Bustle

“I was both disturbed and inspired by Max’s and Ory’s journey through apocalypses large and small. Peng Shepherd has written a prescient, dark fable for the now and for the soon-to-be. The Book of M is our beautiful nightmare shadow.” ―Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World

“The Book of M is exciting, imaginative, unique, and beautiful. Shepherd proves herself not just a writer to watch, but a writer to treasure.” ―Darin Strauss, bestselling author of Half a Life

“Prepare to fall in love with your own shadow. And to lose sleep. Shepherd is urgently good, and has written one of those books that makes you look up at two in the morning, to a world that’s new, newly scary, and freshly appreciated: what all the great stories do.” ―David Lipsky, New York Times bestselling author of Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself and Absolutely American

“A beautifully written existential apocalypse, following everyday people on a search for love, memory and meaning across the richly realized and frighteningly familiar ruins of America.” ―Christopher Brown, author of Tropic of Kansas

“Sheperd’s debut is graceful and riveting, slowly peeling back layers of an intricately constructed and unsettling alternate future.” ―Publishers Weekly

“First-time novelist Shepherd has crafted an engaging and twisty tale about memory’s impact on who or what we become. For aficionados of literary dystopian fiction such as Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven or those who enjoy stories of cross-country travel.” ―Library Journal

“Fans of Station Eleven, listen up!…This one is g-r-e-a-t.” ―Book Riot

“Eerie, dark, and compelling, this will not disappoint lovers of The Passage (2010) and Station Eleven (2014).” ―Booklist

“Brilliant debut… The Book of M is right up there with Station Eleven: achingly beautiful literary novels about a changed world.” ―Refinery29.com

“Outstanding and unforgettable…The Book of M is a scary, surprising, sad and sentimental story that will be deeply felt by readers while capturing their imaginations and hearts.” ―BookPage (Top Fiction Pick)

“For fans of Station Eleven, this summer release will have you engulfed from beginning to end.” ―Popsugar

“[Shepherd’s] first novel, The Book of M, tells the fantastic story of ordinary people caught up in a catastrophe in which people lose their shadows — and their memories.” ―Arizona PBS

“Beautifully written, Peng Shepherd delivers an extraordinary story about love, hope, the unquenchable search for answers that may never come, and, ultimately, survival…The characters all have such depth to them that it’s impossible to not become invested in the story, which twists and turns often.” ―TheRealBookSpy.com

“The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.” ―TheNerdDaily.com

“It’s a great setting for a murder, and each of Rader-Day’s prickly millennials feels capable of murder—to say nothing of sleep-deprived, near hysterical Eden. Readers will have fun following the subtle clues.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Reminiscent of books like Stephen King’s The Stand, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, and Michael Tolkin’s NK3… she keeps the journey interesting, makes us care about her characters, and invites us to think about how we are all the stuff of dreams.” ―Toronto Star

“The Book of M shines consistently, first in the sense of magical wonder that permeates each of its pages, and second, in the emotional depth that Shepherd is able to draw out of her characters… brutal and brilliant in equal measure.” ―The Contemporary Clerk

“Shepherd’s tale pushes the post-apocalyptic story in a new and exciting direction, making readers ponder questions about reality, self-perception and relationships.” ―Shelf Awareness

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Peng Shepherd was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where she rode horses and trained in classical ballet. She earned her M.F.A. in creative writing from New York University, and has lived in Beijing, London, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York. The Book of M is her first novel.

PHOTO CONTENT FROM PENG SHEPHERD

Website / Twitter / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram

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Welcome to my Saturday Screams where I share books that, well, make you scream!

Today’s book is one I can’t wait to share. I’ve read most of Kathryn’s books and they never fail to keep me reading straight through until I reach the last word!

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The Last Vampire

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

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Genre:  Horror

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My Review

Kathryn never lets me down. Whenever I open one of her new books, I expect something that won’t allow me to be distracted from the story. Thus is the case with The Last Vampire. I honestly couldn’t pull myself away until I had finished it. And it was unlike any vampire story I had ever read. So many times I was asking myself what just happened.

The story starts after humanity has been brought to the brink of extinction. But they aren’t the only ones who’s existence is threatened. Those that drink blood to survive are also desperate. Vampires no longer hide in the shadows. They boldly hunt down and drain every last drop from the remaining humans. And these vampires are different. They have a secret ability that makes them even more deadly.

a vamp

I loved Emma. She was a survivor. Not only did she struggle against the elements and starvation, she also had to elude the blood thirsty vampires. Even though the future was bleak, she never gave up hope. I can’t count the times I yelled out loud, cheering her on or dreaded reading what was coming for her.

And those pesky vampires. They were much more than they appeared. I cringed at some of the scenes of carnage. They had a primitive yet rigid living arrangement. I tried to picture what they would look like. I came up with a cross between 30 Fays Of Night and John Carpenter’s Vampires. I dare say I probably wouldn’t have survived an encounter.

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This needs to be made into a movie. It wisso visually written and filled with edge of your seat events. Just take a gander at that amazing cover. A perfect depiction of the story. I’d tag The Last Vampire as a horror dystopian.  If this is your thing, grab a copy. Plenty of surprises await and you’ll be entertained from the beginning to the haunting end.

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Synopsis

The earthquakes with their falling ash, the global floods and the devastating fires arrive first. Then the worldwide plague with its stench of death. And as mankind suffers and dies out, vampires, their numbers dwindling, struggle and fight fiercely among themselves to survive in a world where there aren’t enough humans to prey and feed upon. As the weeks go by they become fewer, more desperate and more ruthless. Emma, as the world disintegrates around her, finds herself alone, family all have perished…and fending off an unnatural hunger as she becomes one of the undead. Fighting her unwanted destiny she’s determined to resist the bloodlust she feels, the need to kill and feed on humans, of losing her humanity, for as long as she can bear it…but she’s so hungry…and the night calls.

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Google Play

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The Gathering
by Bernadette Giacomazzo
(The Uprising, #1)
Publication date: March 31st 2018
Genres: Adult, Dystopian
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Synopsis
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The Uprising Series tells the story of three freedom fighters and their friends in high — and low — places that come together to overthrow a vainglorious Emperor and his militaristic Cabal to restore the city, and the way of life, they once knew and loved.In The Gathering, Jamie Ryan has defected from the Cabal and has joined his former brothers-in-arms — Basile Perrinault and Kanoa Shinomura — to form a collective known as The Uprising. When an explosion leads to him crossing paths with Evanora Cunningham — a product of Jamie’s past — he discovers that The Uprising is bigger, and more important, than he thought.

Purchase:  Amazon
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Enjoy this peek inside:
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Jamie
I saw Emperor – looking like a hot air balloon, sounding as ridiculous as ever – blathering on about his personal Reichstag fire, and laying the blame of the explosion squarely at the feet of myself and my brothers-in-arms.
“…and it’s these traitors of the state – the threat to the security of my Empire of the United States of America – the defectors of the Cabal who go by Jamie Ryanand Basile Perrinault and, my greatest betrayal, Supreme Allied Commander Kanoa Shinomura…” he hollered into the microphone, which seemed to reverberate throughout the city.
At the sound of Kanoa’s name, the Cabal members below the balcony slammed the butts of their guns on the floor in rhythm. I knew that rhythm all too well – it was meant to be a war cry for those of us in the rank-and-file of the Cabal – but, to the untrained ear, it sounded like a machine gun going off…which was exactly the point.
But I couldn’t help but sneer at the accusation that the blast that nearly killed Evanora and Tommy was somehow our fault. He’d spent decades trying to catch us and failing miserably, yet in the same breath, believed we were inept enough to set off a blast that took no lives and could be cleaned up during a balmy New York evening. And he managed to sell this ridiculous belief to the crowd, no less.
“Let’s make something clear, asshole,” I muttered, “if it had been me and the boys that lit your shit up, you wouldn’t be standing here today.”
Despite the absurdity of the accusation – and despite the obvious absurdity of the accusation – the victims of psi just grunted along, agreeing with everything and anything that came out of Emperor’s mouth, in part because they didn’t know any better (they were psi victims, after all), and in part because any disagreement with what Emperor had to say was met with a fierce, painful punishment.
“His Word, Before All and Above All,” I muttered. “With liberty and justice for no one, so kiss my peasant Old New York ass and take a breath mint afterward, unless you like that funky aftertaste…”
My voice trailed off as my eyes focused on a strange woman on the balcony.
At first, I couldn’t discern who she was – she looked like someone I’d seen before, yet someone I’d never seen before.
Her hair was a garish white-blonde, stringy and lifeless, and pinned tightly behind her head with a set of black ceramic chopsticks. Her makeup was almost cartoonish – cat-like black eyeliner and matte black lipstick sat atop a ghostly white foundation. Even her outfit was a hideously hilarious cultural appropriation – a black silk kimono paired with a set of black stiletto heels. I’d seen Old New York 42nd Street prostitutes, with terrible heroin problems, sell the “Asian coquette” look better than what I’d seen before me now.
“Who the actual…” I began, hesitantly, unable to process who I was seeing before me.
And then it hit me, all at once, who she was.
For the first time in a long time, I was literally speechless.
When I could finally find my voice again, it barely came out in a whisper. “Rosie,” I squeaked.
I walked into the Ludlow Street apartment I shared with Angelique and was instantly greeted with the smell of a meat dish that, I would later learn, was called carne asada.
“Angelique!” I called out over the loud sizzling of steak as I kicked off my black Frye boots and set my matching acoustic guitar down. “Where are you, my love?”
“In here!” she called, out of sight, from the kitchen, where more clanging and banging sounds echoed over her voice.
I began walking through the apartment, shedding layers as I went along until I reached the kitchen wearing nothing but my black leather pants and a mischievous smile. I was hoping to have a little appetizer of crème d’Angelique before dinner, but when I reached the kitchen, I realized – much to my chagrin – that we weren’t alone.
Angelique, her hair tied back into a messy ponytail, was wearing a tight, white, see-through shorts jumper and a matching white apron. She was standing next to an unfamiliar-looking woman with a matching messy ponytail, but whose thick chocolate brown hair stood in sharp contrast to Angelique’s thin flaxen locks. The rest of her, too, was in stark contrast to Angelique, but not in a bad way – she was olive-skinned, in contrast to Angelique’s pale white skin; she was curvy, in contrast to Angelique’s ectomorphic figure; she was fiery, in contrast to Angelique’s ethereal nature.
They were standing side by side, working on something that smelled simply delicious. Angelique was mixing flour, sugar, and garlic powder, and her friend was adding melted butter and salted water to the resultant powder, then kneading it until it formed a dough.
“Am I interrupting something?” I asked as I walked behind Angelique, wrapped my arms around her waist, and kissed her neck, breathing in her scent of lilacs as I did so.
She smiled, then took her index finger and bopped the tip of my nose with the flour mixture. “Hey handsome,” she said, beatifically. “We’re making something special for you for dinner. We’ve got carne asada in the pan over there – we’ve got some arroz con grandules in the rice cooker – and we’re making…wait, girl, what’s this called?”
“Arepas,”her friend said, smiling as she continued to knead the dough between her hands, her silver thumb ring glistening in the light of the dusk as she did so.
“Right, arepas,” Angelique repeated. “Ramira here is teaching me all her magic ways – she says this is the exact dinner I need to make if I want my man to marry me.” She giggled, then elbowed Ramira, who giggled along with Angelique.
I couldn’t help but giggle, as well, as I unentwined myself from Angelique and walked over to Ramira to properly introduce myself. “I’m going to be stuffed for days with all this delicious food, so it’s only right that we become friends,” I began, extending my hand. “Hi there. I’m James Randall Ryan IV, I somehow lucked out enough to convince this lovely lady Angelique to be my girlfriend, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. You can call me Jamie.”
Ramira smiled, then shook my hand with two of her fingers, taking care not to smear the wet dough across my palm. “Well, my name is Ramira Diaz, Angelique is my best friend, and it’s a pleasure to meet you too. You can call me Rosie, though. Everyone else does.”
I sat under a wilting star magnolia tree and stared, intently, through the open window of a room that had to be Rosie’s dressing room. She peeled her black silk kimono off and turned her back to the frameless window, exposing her prominent ribs and shoulder blades as she did so. The sight of her suddenly-bare, emaciated frame shocked me, especially given how pronounced her curves were in our younger years, and tears welled up in my eyes yet again.
In the decades since Angelique and my son had died, I could count the number of times I’d cried on one hand. In the past 72 hours, though – as I realized that my best friend’s kid, and my best friend’s girlfriend, were alive and well, and that the Uprising was bigger than I’d ever imagined – the tears came quickly and flowed easily, and I couldn’t decide if this was a sign of strength or weakness on my part.
Rosie slipped a shimmering white camisole over her emaciated frame, which she then tucked into a pair of white linen slacks. I couldn’t get over how thin she’d gotten, then wondered if this was by her own design, or if she was under orders from that evil husband of hers. No way would Jordan be cool with this, I thought to myself. On his fucking grave would this go on. On his fucking grave. And wouldn’t you know it – here we are, on his fucking grave.
I saw Rosie leave the room and begin to head down a flight of stairs, and I took that as an opportunity to get her alone, away from the rabid Cabal and out of sight of the vainglorious Emperor. She’d taken a few steps away from her building, and into Emperor’s Park, before passing by the wilting star magnolia tree that I was hiding behind. It was only when I saw the back of her slicked back, perfect ponytail – what a difference from the one she was wearing when we first met, I thought – that I saw the opportunity to get her alone and began walking behind her.
“You’ve come a long way from making arepas on Ludlow Street,” I said, tapping her on the shoulder when I finally caught up with her.
She spun around, her face scrunched up in fear, and for a split second, I thought she was going to hit me. But just as quickly, she relaxed as her eyes registered who owned the disembodied voice. “Jamie,” she whispered tearfully. “You’re here. You’re alive. I didn’t realize…”
“How the hell did you not?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows and side-eyeing her. “Your damned husband has been hunting me for decades.”
“I knew that,” she said, taking ragged breaths. “But just the fact that he was never able to take you alive led me to believe that you were…you know…” Her voice trailed off.
I wasn’t convinced, and I continued to stare at her intently as I scratched my left cheek, which was now beginning to show the first signs of salt-and-pepper beard stubble. “First of all, why the hell are you talking like you’re Queen Elizabeth? Second, let me just state it for the record: you give your asshole husbandway too much credit if you think he can take me down.”
Rosie bit her lower lip, then shifted her eyes down. I put my hand under her chin and tipped her face up, forcing her eyes to meet mine as I tried, desperately, to search for a sign of the Rosie I once knew. “Rosie,” I whispered intently. “It’s me. You don’t have to hide from me.”
Her face was a blank slate. “My name is Rose. Rose Cunningham,” she said with flat affect.
“Oh, bullshit,” I whispered, even more intently. “Whatever happened to ‘call me Rosie, everyone else does’? What happened to that woman who was making arepas in the kitchen with my Angelique?”
That got her attention, and her deep brown eyes flashed with fire as she balled up her fists and began swinging at me. “You shit! You bastard! You did it! You almost killed my baby!”
I ducked, bobbed and weaved, avoiding each blow as I carefully tried to talk her down from the ledge. “Rosie! What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t do that shit! I swear!”
She continued to swing at me. “Yes! Yes, you did!” she squealed tearfully, repeating the same “yes, yes” with each swing, her voice getting louder each time.
“Do you want to knock it off before the fuckin’ Cabal finds us, Rosie? The fuck is wrong with you? Jesus Christ!” I was shouting despite myself and began scanning the landscape frantically for Cabal soldiers that would have undoubtedly heard us, all while bobbing and weaving like a prizefighter to avoid getting punched in the face.
She swung even harder and squealed even louder. “You tried to kill my baby! Just like you killed yours!”
That line finally got me to react, and I had to steady my breathing to stop from clocking her in the mouth. Even in the throes of the worst of my Faustian behavior, I never hit a woman, and neither did any of my bandmates – the thought of violence against a woman, let alone a woman we’d loved, didn’t even cross our drug-addled minds.
Instead, I grabbed her wrists and forced them down to her sides, holding them in place at hip level as she struggled, trying to hit me, until she finally began whimpering in defeat.
“Now you listen to me, Ramira Diaz, and you listen well,” I began, angrily. “You may have forgotten everything you were and are, but I sure as fuck haven’t forgotten a goddamn thing, and let me rest assure you, I never fuckin’ will.”
Her lower lip was trembling, her eyes were watering, and it became evident that she was on the verge of tears. Still, I continued. “So, let me get a few things out of the way now, so we’re not confused. Number one: that blast? It wasn’t me. It wasn’t anyone tied to me. It wasn’t anyone whose name I can even spell. Because let me assure you, again, that if it were me, or anyone tied to me, we’d have burned down the entire fuckin’ city, even if it meant killing ourselves in the process, and wouldn’t have left a survivor anywhere on this God-forsaken island.
“Number two: you know goddamn well I didn’t kill Angelique or our baby. Now I wear their death on my heart every. Fucking. Day. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in twenty fucking years, from the day they were killed, because I can’t get their murders out of my mind. There are times I wish I was dead, just so that I don’t have to live with the guilt of their murders, but no, here I am, and ain’t that a fuckin’ bitch from Hell. I’d give all the money in the world to have my Angelique back. I’d trade my life for Jordan’s any day of the week. And my son – my only legacy – never had a chance at life, and you think that’s all fair?
“Number three – and this is the most important part, Rosie, goddamnit, you’d better fuckin’ listen to this if you listen to nothing else: remember that promise I made to you in the hospital room? All those years ago? Because I fuckin’ do. And that’s why when Evanora and Tommy came down the Bowery after the blast, and I realized who she was, I made sure she was safe and clean and warm…”
Rosie looked shocked. “Wait. She came to you?”
I searched her face, trying to see if I could register where her loyalties lie before I continued to answer the question. For some reason, however, I couldn’t make it out. I even tried to read Rosie’s mind using a gentle form of psi, but I still couldn’t read her mind at all. It was like trying to probe a brick wall. So, to protect Evanora – and the rest of us – I chose to cover my tracks. “Yeah,” I said airily, “she mentioned something about listening to Uprising Radio.”
The name of Uprising Radio registered some type of recognition with Rosie, and her eyes lit up slightly. “My baby has heard Uprising Radio?”
“I don’t know for sure,” I continued, still adopting an airy affect, “but I’m pretty sure that’s what she said.” Using my Cabal training, I put a mental wall between my thoughts and Rosie, mostly because I didn’t know how much training she’d had in the psi arts, and I wasn’t sure if she, too, could read my mind. And if, God forbid, her loyalties lied with that pathetic excuse of her husband, I could at least protect, if not myself, then the whole Uprising movement.
I made sure the wall was firmly in place before I continued. “I think I’ve heard Uprising Radio a few times, but I don’t know much about it, who does it, or anything of the sort.”
“Yeah,” Rosie said, hesitantly, behind a mental brick wall of her own, “I have no idea, either.”
We were calmer, now – our breath was steady, our thoughts were collected, and Rosie’s fists were limp. I finally felt confident that she wasn’t going to try to hit me again, so I loosened my grip on her wrists.
But I suddenly found myself unable to let her go, so I slid my hands from her wrists to her hands and grabbed her fingers lightly. I was overcome with emotion.
“What is it, Jamie?” Her voice was cracking.
I exhaled loudly, then drew in a ragged breath. “Do you think about him, Rosie? Do you think about Jordan at all?”
She closed her eyes and allowed the tears to fall as she exhaled shakily. “Every day of my life,” she said softly. “There’s not a day that goes by that Jordan doesn’t cross my mind. Every time I look at Evanora – every time I hear her laugh – he comes to my mind. Sometimes, she gives me this look – you remember, Jamie? You remember when Jordan would hear something that was just too stupid for words, and he would get this look on his face, like, ‘were you dropped on your head as a child?’” – and to this, I gave a half-smile and a nod – “and now, she gets that look. And that one eyebrow” – she took her finger and drew on her left eyebrow – “it would just go up like…like…”
She dropped her hand as her voice trailed off, her eyes filling with tears.
I nodded my head, closed my eyes, and sighed. “Fuckin’ guy,” I said, opening my eyes and looking at Rosie. “So. You didn’t see me, right?”
Rosie smiled and winked at me. “Ivan Sapphire? Please. Get over yourself, rock star.” She squeezed my hands one last time for good measure. “I’m going to leave now. I’m not going to look back because I don’t want to see where you’re going. This way, if someone with bad intentions against you asks me if I know where you are, I can answer honestly when I say I don’t know. But just because I don’t look back, doesn’t mean I want to see you go. I need you to understand that, Jamie Ryan. I don’t need you to over-analyze things that don’t need over-analyzing. I need you to let me go, Jamie Ryan, and I need you to know that I love you, and I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”
She finally let go of my hands, gave me a slight nod, then turned and walked back to her home. I watched her, silently, keeping the promise I made so long ago to Jordan Barker and didn’t leave what was once known as Central Park until I saw, for sure, that she was safe inside.
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~~~~~
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Author Bernadette R. Giacomazzo
Gathering author

With an impressive list of credentials earned over the course of two decades, Bernadette R. Giacomazzo is a multi-hyphenate in the truest sense of the word: an editor, writer, photographer, publicist, and digital marketing specialist who has demonstrated an uncanny ability to thrive in each industry with equal aplomb. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and many, many more. She served as the news editor of Go! NYC Magazine for nearly a decade, the executive editor of LatinTRENDS Magazine for five years, the eye candy editor of XXL Magazine for two years, and the editor-at-large at iOne/Zona de Sabor for two years. As a publicist, she has worked with the likes of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit record label, rapper Kool G. Rap, and various photographers, artists, and models. As a digital marketing specialist, Bernadette is Google Adwords certified, has an advanced knowledge of SEO, PPC, link-building, and other digital marketing techniques, and has worked for a variety of clients in the legal, medical, and real estate industries.

Based in New York City, Bernadette is the co-author of Swimming with Sharks: A Real World, How-To Guide to Success (and Failure) in the Business of Music (for the 21st Century), and the author of the forthcoming dystopian fiction series, The Uprising. She also contributed a story to the upcoming Beyonce Knowles tribute anthology, The King Bey Bible, which will be available in bookstores nationwide in the summer of 2018.

Author links:

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The Dociles
by Valerie Puri
Publication date: July 12th 2018
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
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dociles cover
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Synopsis
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Walls are meant to keep the monsters out…

Deep in the forest there is a wall where no wall should be. Behind it live the people of the Commune, the last remnant of human kind.

Jennie Caraway has lived behind the wall her entire life, certain that it protects her and her brother from the lemerons, ravenous undead monsters whose only desire is to kill – and feed.

Jennie’s peaceful existence is shattered when she uncovers a secret organization whose purpose threatens to destroy not only Jennie, but her entire world. The Order has a deadly mission, and they will stop at nothing to see it completed.

Jennie and those closest to her must expose the evil truth before they are killed – or worse.

 
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Enjoy the excerpt:
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The ranger had feared he might risk encountering a lemeron that night; anyone who came too close to one rarely lived to tell the tale. The torrential rains and the intense darkness had made it nearly impossible for him to see. As he ventured through the blackness, finding his way with his outstretched hands, he couldn’t shake the feeling something bad was about to happen.
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That’s when the lightning began, giving him intermittent visibility. He saw the skeletal figure stagger forward becoming visible through the heavy rain. The blotchy-grey flesh of the lemeron sagged from its bones and hung like ill-fitting clothing. It released a guttural moan causing the ranger to go rigid.
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When he saw the lemeron approaching him, the ranger turned and hurried in a new direction, one perpendicular to his previous course. After putting some distance between himself and the monster, the ranger took care to disguise himself in the underbrush growing beneath a tall tree. He gazed in the direction he had just come from to see if the lemeron followed him. The loud pounding of his heart in his ears made him aware of its rapid pace. He tried to slow his heart rate if only to hear better, but it was to no avail.
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He was startled by a crack behind him, the sound of a stick breaking underfoot. His fear turned to terror as he felt a boney hand seize his left arm. As the ranger spun around, the firm grip tightened, and sharp fingernails pierced his skin. The blood drained from his face at the sight. He was staring into the grey, sagging face of a lemeron.
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He struggled and tried to pull away from the monster, but the action only made it clench tighter, its fingernails digging deeper and deeper into his arm. The cloudy, yellow eyes of the lemeron were wide and hungry. Its green lips parted, exposing blackened teeth. It lunged at him with its fully bared teeth.
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The ranger was certain he would die in that moment. He frantically grabbed for the dagger hanging from his belt, his trembling fingers wrapped around the cold handle. He drew the blade from its sheath and instinctively swung it upward. His attack cut diagonally through the lemeron’s chest, sending it stumbling backward, but it was not enough for the monster to release him. Brown, congealed blood oozed from the rotting flesh. The ranger raised his dagger high above his head, and with all his strength, brought the blade down. His aim was good, and the small blade sliced through the monster’s wrist, severing the hand, thus releasing the ranger from its grasp. A crackling groan escaped from its throat, not from pain – lemerons feel no pain – but from anger.
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The ranger ran mindlessly through the darkness, stumbling over the tangle of slippery roots covering the forest floor. He had to put as much distance between himself and the lemeron as possible. He smashed into a tree, not noticing it was in his path. Searing pain exploded through his left shoulder, and a rush of warm liquid ran down his arm. It must be my blood, he thought. His arm felt like it was on fire, but he could not stop to tend to it. He could hear the beast crashing through the underbrush behind him.
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His head pounded, his heart raced, adrenalin surged through his veins, and his muscles begged him to stop running. Suddenly he slammed into something massive. The force of the impact knocked him on his back and the air rushed from his lungs. Dazed, he lay on the soaked ground while the freezing raindrops battered his face. He remained horizontal and motionless until he was able to recover his breath and regain control of his limbs.
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The ranger stood up and reached his hand out in front of him to feel what had stopped him. The oppressive night was growing ever darker as the storm raged; he could barely see his hand in front of his face. He touched something smooth and hard – it felt like stone. Lightning ripped across the sky in a spider web of brilliant streaks. In the prolonged flash, the ranger saw a stone wall extending as far as he could see in either direction.
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He was trapped. His only options were to go backward or to go forward. Behind him was the lemeron, and in front of him was a wall four times the height of a man. Frantically, he felt the surface with his hands and discovered crevices large enough to use as footholds where the large stones met. Quickly making his decision, he climbed the wall not knowing what he would find on the other side.
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~~~~~
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Author Valerie Puri
dociles author

Valerie Puri has always had a lifelong interest in all forms of artistic expression. She has tried her hand at many things, yet she always found her way back to reading and writing. With inspiration everywhere, she finally put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard) with the intent of publishing her stories.

Writing has always come naturally to Valerie, and for a time she even worked as a technical writer. She continues to hone her skills by having at least one writing project in the works at any given time. Her true passion lies in the freedom that comes with writing the stories that pour from her imagination and real life inspiration.

Valerie believes that the experiences we have in life are just stories waiting to be written.

Follow Valerie:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

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The Gathering
Bernadette Giacomazzo
(The Uprising, #1)
Publication date: March 31st 2018
Genres: Adult, Dystopian

The Uprising Series tells the story of three freedom fighters and their friends in high — and low — places that come together to overthrow a vainglorious Emperor and his militaristic Cabal to restore the city, and the way of life, they once knew and loved.

In The Gathering, Jamie Ryan has defected from the Cabal and has joined his former brothers-in-arms — Basile Perrinault and Kanoa Shinomura — to form a collective known as The Uprising. When an explosion leads to him crossing paths with Evanora Cunningham — a product of Jamie’s past — he discovers that The Uprising is bigger, and more important, than he thought.

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Jamie

I saw Emperor – looking like a hot air balloon, sounding as ridiculous as ever – blathering on about his personal Reichstag fire, and laying the blame of the explosion squarely at the feet of myself and my brothers-in-arms.

“…and it’s these traitors of the state – the threat to the security of my Empire of the United States of America – the defectors of the Cabal who go by Jamie Ryanand Basile Perrinault and, my greatest betrayal, Supreme Allied Commander Kanoa Shinomura…” he hollered into the microphone, which seemed to reverberate throughout the city.

At the sound of Kanoa’s name, the Cabal members below the balcony slammed the butts of their guns on the floor in rhythm. I knew that rhythm all too well – it was meant to be a war cry for those of us in the rank-and-file of the Cabal – but, to the untrained ear, it sounded like a machine gun going off…which was exactly the point.

But I couldn’t help but sneer at the accusation that the blast that nearly killed Evanora and Tommy was somehow our fault. He’d spent decades trying to catch us and failing miserably, yet in the same breath, believed we were inept enough to set off a blast that took no lives and could be cleaned up during a balmy New York evening. And he managed to sell this ridiculous belief to the crowd, no less.

“Let’s make something clear, asshole,” I muttered, “if it had been me and the boys that lit your shit up, you wouldn’t be standing here today.”

Despite the absurdity of the accusation – and despite the obvious absurdity of the accusation – the victims of psi just grunted along, agreeing with everything and anything that came out of Emperor’s mouth, in part because they didn’t know any better (they were psi victims, after all), and in part because any disagreement with what Emperor had to say was met with a fierce, painful punishment.

“His Word, Before All and Above All,” I muttered. “With liberty and justice for no one, so kiss my peasant Old New York ass and take a breath mint afterward, unless you like that funky aftertaste…”

My voice trailed off as my eyes focused on a strange woman on the balcony.

At first, I couldn’t discern who she was – she looked like someone I’d seen before, yet someone I’d never seen before.

Her hair was a garish white-blonde, stringy and lifeless, and pinned tightly behind her head with a set of black ceramic chopsticks. Her makeup was almost cartoonish – cat-like black eyeliner and matte black lipstick sat atop a ghostly white foundation. Even her outfit was a hideously hilarious cultural appropriation – a black silk kimono paired with a set of black stiletto heels. I’d seen Old New York 42nd Street prostitutes, with terrible heroin problems, sell the “Asian coquette” look better than what I’d seen before me now.

“Who the actual…” I began, hesitantly, unable to process who I was seeing before me.

And then it hit me, all at once, who she was.

For the first time in a long time, I was literally speechless.

When I could finally find my voice again, it barely came out in a whisper. “Rosie,” I squeaked.

I walked into the Ludlow Street apartment I shared with
Angelique and was instantly greeted with the smell of a meat dish that, I would later learn, was calledcarne asada.

“Angelique!” I called out over the loud sizzling of steak as I kicked off my black Frye boots and set my matching acoustic guitar down. “Where are you, my love?”

“In here!” she called, out of sight, from the kitchen, where more clanging and banging sounds echoed over her voice.

I began walking through the apartment, shedding layers as I went along until I reached the kitchen wearing nothing but my black leather pants and a mischievous smile. I was hoping to have a little appetizer of crème d’Angelique before dinner, but when I reached the kitchen, I realized – much to my chagrin – that we weren’t alone.

Angelique, her hair tied back into a messy ponytail, was wearing a tight, white, see-through shorts jumper and a matching white apron. She was standing next to an unfamiliar-looking woman with a matching messy ponytail, but whose thick chocolate brown hair stood in sharp contrast to Angelique’s thin flaxen locks. The rest of her, too, was in stark contrast to Angelique, but not in a bad way – she was olive-skinned, in contrast to Angelique’s pale white skin; she was curvy, in contrast to Angelique’s ectomorphic figure; she was fiery, in contrast to Angelique’s ethereal nature.

They were standing side by side, working on something that smelled simply delicious. Angelique was mixing flour, sugar, and garlic powder, and her friend was adding melted butter and salted water to the resultant powder, then kneading it until it formed a dough.

“Am I interrupting something?” I asked as I walked behind Angelique, wrapped my arms around her waist, and kissed her neck, breathing in her scent of lilacs as I did so.

She smiled, then took her index finger and bopped the tip of my nose with the flour mixture. “Hey handsome,” she said, beatifically. “We’re making something special for you for dinner. We’ve got carne asada in the pan over there – we’ve got some arroz con gandules in the rice cooker – and we’re making…wait, girl, what’s this called?”

Arepas,” her friend said, smiling as she continued to knead the dough between her hands, her silver thumb ring glistening in the light of the dusk as she did so.

“Right, arepas,” Angelique repeated. “Ramira here is teaching me all her magic ways – she says this is the exact dinner I need to make if I want my man to marry me.” She giggled, then elbowed Ramira, who giggled along with Angelique.

I couldn’t help but giggle, as well, as I unentwined myself from Angelique and walked over to Ramira to properly introduce myself. “I’m going to be stuffed fordays with all this delicious food, so it’s only right that we become friends,” I began, extending my hand. “Hi there. I’m James Randall Ryan IV, I somehow lucked out enough to convince this lovely lady Angelique to be my girlfriend, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. You can call me Jamie.”

Ramira smiled, then shook my hand with two of her fingers, taking care not to smear the wet dough across my palm. “Well, my name is Ramira Diaz, Angelique is my best friend, and it’s a pleasure to meet you too. You can call me Rosie, though. Everyone else does.”

I sat under a wilting star magnolia tree and stared, intently, through the open window of a room that had to be Rosie’s dressing room. She peeled her black silk kimono off and turned her back to the frameless window, exposing her prominent ribs and shoulder blades as she did so. The sight of her suddenly-bare, emaciated frame shocked me, especially given how pronounced her curves were in our younger years, and tears welled up in my eyes yet again.

In the decades since Angelique and my son had died, I could count the number of times I’d cried on one hand. In the past 72 hours, though – as I realized that my best friend’s kid, and my best friend’s girlfriend, were alive and well, and that the Uprising was bigger than I’d ever imagined – the tears came quickly and flowed easily, and I couldn’t decide if this was a sign of strength or weakness on my part.

Rosie slipped a shimmering white camisole over her emaciated frame, which she then tucked into a pair of white linen slacks. I couldn’t get over how thin she’d gotten, then wondered if this was by her own design, or if she was under orders from that evil husband of hers. No way would Jordan be cool with this, I thought to myself. On his fucking grave would this go on. On his fucking grave. And wouldn’t you know it – here we are, on his fucking grave.

I saw Rosie leave the room and begin to head down a flight of stairs, and I took that as an opportunity to get her alone, away from the rabid Cabal and out of sight of the vainglorious Emperor. She’d taken a few steps away from her building, and into Emperor’s Park, before passing by the wilting star magnolia tree that I was hiding behind. It was only when I saw the back of her slicked back, perfect ponytail – what a difference from the one she was wearing when we first met, I thought – that I saw the opportunity to get her alone and began walking behind her.

“You’ve come a long way from making arepas on Ludlow Street,” I said, tapping her on the shoulder when I finally caught up with her.

She spun around, her face scrunched up in fear, and for a split second, I thought she was going to hit me. But just as quickly, she relaxed as her eyes registered who owned the disembodied voice. “Jamie,” she whispered tearfully. “You’re here. You’re alive. I didn’t realize…”

“How the hell did you not?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows and side-eyeing her. “Your damned husband has been hunting me for decades.”

“I knew that,” she said, taking ragged breaths. “But just the fact that he was never able to take you alive led me to believe that you were…you know…” Her voice trailed off.

I wasn’t convinced, and I continued to stare at her intently as I scratched my left cheek, which was now beginning to show the first signs of salt-and-pepper beard stubble. “First of all, why the hell are you talking like you’re Queen Elizabeth? Second, let me just state it for the record: you give your asshole husbandway too much credit if you think he can take me down.”

Rosie bit her lower lip, then shifted her eyes down. I put my hand under her chin and tipped her face up, forcing her eyes to meet mine as I tried, desperately, to search for a sign of the Rosie I once knew. “Rosie,” I whispered intently. “It’s me. You don’t have to hide from me.”

Her face was a blank slate. “My name is Rose. Rose Cunningham,” she said with flat affect.

“Oh, bullshit,” I whispered, even more intently. “Whatever happened to ‘call me Rosie, everyone else does’? What happened to that woman who was makingarepas in the kitchen with my Angelique?”

That got her attention, and her deep brown eyes flashed with fire as she balled up her fists and began swinging at me. “You shit! You bastard! You did it! You almost killed my baby!”

I ducked, bobbed and weaved, avoiding each blow as I carefully tried to talk her down from the ledge. “Rosie! What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t do that shit! I swear!”

She continued to swing at me. “Yes! Yes, you did!” she squealed tearfully, repeating the same “yes, yes” with each swing, her voice getting louder each time.

“Do you want to knock it off before the fuckin’ Cabal finds us, Rosie? The fuck is wrong with you? Jesus Christ!” I was shouting despite myself and began scanning the landscape frantically for Cabal soldiers that would have undoubtedly heard us, all while bobbing and weaving like a prizefighter to avoid getting punched in the face.

She swung even harder and squealed even louder. “You tried to kill my baby! Just like you killed yours!”

That line finally got me to react, and I had to steady my breathing to stop from clocking her in the mouth. Even in the throes of the worst of my Faustian behavior, I never hit a woman, and neither did any of my bandmates – the thought of violence against a woman, let alone a woman we’d loved, didn’t even cross our drug-addled minds.

Instead, I grabbed her wrists and forced them down to her sides, holding them in place at hip level as she struggled, trying to hit me, until she finally began whimpering in defeat.

“Now you listen to me, Ramira Diaz, and you listen well,” I began, angrily. “You may have forgotten everything you were and are, but I sure as fuck haven’t forgotten a goddamn thing, and let me rest assure you, I never fuckin’ will.”

Her lower lip was trembling, her eyes were watering, and it became evident that she was on the verge of tears. Still, I continued. “So, let me get a few things out of the way now, so we’re not confused. Number one: that blast? It wasn’t me. It wasn’t anyone tied to me. It wasn’t anyone whose name I can even spell. Because let me assure you, again, that if it were me, or anyone tied to me, we’d have burned down the entire fuckin’ city, even if it meant killing ourselves in the process, and wouldn’t have left a survivor anywhere on this God-forsaken island.

“Number two: you know goddamn well I didn’t kill Angelique or our baby. Now I wear their death on my heart every. Fucking. Day. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in twenty fucking years, from the day they were killed, because I can’t get their murders out of my mind. There are times I wish I was dead, just so that I don’t have to live with the guilt of their murders, but no, here I am, and ain’t that a fuckin’ bitch from Hell. I’d give all the money in the world to have my Angelique back. I’d trade my life for Jordan’s any day of the week. And my son – my only legacy – never had a chance at life, and you think that’s all fair?

“Number three – and this is the most important part, Rosie, goddamnit, you’d better fuckin’ listen to this if you listen to nothing else: remember that promise I made to you in the hospital room? All those years ago? Because I fuckin’ do. And that’s why when Evanora and Tommy came down the Bowery after the blast, and I realized who she was, I made sure she was safe and clean and warm…”

Rosie looked shocked. “Wait. She came to you?”

I searched her face, trying to see if I could register where her loyalties lie before I continued to answer the question. For some reason, however, I couldn’t make it out. I even tried to read Rosie’s mind using a gentle form of psi, but I still couldn’t read her mind at all. It was like trying to probe a brick wall. So, to protect Evanora – and the rest of us – I chose to cover my tracks. “Yeah,” I said airily, “she mentioned something about listening to Uprising Radio.”

The name of Uprising Radio registered some type of recognition with Rosie, and her eyes lit up slightly. “My baby has heard Uprising Radio?”

“I don’t know for sure,” I continued, still adopting an airy affect, “but I’m pretty sure that’s what she said.” Using my Cabal training, I put a mental wall between my thoughts and Rosie, mostly because I didn’t know how much training she’d had in the psi arts, and I wasn’t sure if she, too, could read my mind. And if, God forbid, her loyalties lied with that pathetic excuse of her husband, I could at least protect, if not myself, then the whole Uprising movement.

I made sure the wall was firmly in place before I continued. “I think I’ve heard Uprising Radio a few times, but I don’t know much about it, who does it, or anything of the sort.”

“Yeah,” Rosie said, hesitantly, behind a mental brick wall of her own, “I have no idea, either.”

We were calmer, now – our breath was steady, our thoughts were collected, and Rosie’s fists were limp. I finally felt confident that she wasn’t going to try to hit me again, so I loosened my grip on her wrists.

But I suddenly found myself unable to let her go, so I slid my hands from her wrists to her hands and grabbed her fingers lightly. I was overcome with emotion.

“What is it, Jamie?” Her voice was cracking.

I exhaled loudly, then drew in a ragged breath. “Do you think about him, Rosie? Do you think about Jordan at all?”

She closed her eyes and allowed the tears to fall as she exhaled shakily. “Every day of my life,” she said softly. “There’s not a day that goes by that Jordan doesn’t cross my mind. Every time I look at Evanora – every time I hear her laugh – he comes to my mind. Sometimes, she gives me this look – you remember, Jamie? You remember when Jordan would hear something that was just too stupid for words, and he would get this look on his face, like, ‘were you dropped on your head as a child?’” – and to this, I gave a half-smile and a nod – “and now, she gets that look. And that one eyebrow” – she took her finger and drew on her left eyebrow – “it would just go up like…like…”

She dropped her hand as her voice trailed off, her eyes filling with tears.

I nodded my head, closed my eyes, and sighed. “Fuckin’ guy,” I said, opening my eyes and looking at Rosie. “So. You didn’t see me, right?”

Rosie smiled and winked at me. “Ivan Sapphire? Please. Get over yourself, rock star.” She squeezed my hands one last time for good measure. “I’m going to leave now. I’m not going to look back because I don’t want to see where you’re going. This way, if someone with bad intentions against you asks me if I know where you are, I can answer honestly when I say I don’t know. But just because I don’t look back, doesn’t mean I want to see you go. I need you to understand that, Jamie Ryan. I don’t need you to over-analyze things that don’t need over-analyzing. I need you to let me go, Jamie Ryan, and I need you to know that I love you, and I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

She finally let go of my hands, gave me a slight nod, then turned and walked back to her home. I watched her, silently, keeping the promise I made so long ago to Jordan Barker and didn’t leave what was once known as Central Park until I saw, for sure, that she was safe inside.

~~~~~

 

Author Bernadette R. Giacomazzo

With an impressive list of credentials earned over the course of two decades, Bernadette R. Giacomazzo is a multi-hyphenate in the truest sense of the word: an editor, writer, photographer, publicist, and digital marketing specialist who has

demonstrated an uncanny ability to thrive in each industry with equal aplomb. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and many, many more. She served as the news editor of Go! NYC Magazine for nearly a decade, the executive editor of LatinTRENDS Magazine for five years, the eye candy editor of XXL Magazine for two years, and the editor-at-large at iOne/Zona de Sabor for two years. As a publicist, she has worked with the likes of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit record label, rapper Kool G. Rap, and various photographers, artists, and models. As a digital marketing specialist, Bernadette is Google Adwords certified, has an advanced knowledge of SEO, PPC, link-building, and other digital marketing techniques, and has worked for a variety of clients in the legal, medical, and real estate industries.

Based in New York City, Bernadette is the co-author of Swimming with Sharks: A Real World, How-To Guide to Success (and Failure) in the Business of Music (for the 21st Century), and the author of the forthcoming dystopian fiction series, The Uprising. She also contributed a story to the upcoming Beyonce Knowles tribute anthology, The King Bey Bible, which will be available in bookstores nationwide in the summer of 2018.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

 

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.