Monday, January 11, 2016

A beginner's Guide to Invading Earth by Gerhard Gehrke



Gerhard Gehrke invites you to join his rafflecopter for the chance to win $10 gift card.


A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth
by Gerhard Gehrke

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GENRE: Science Fiction

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BLURB:

What would you do if you found a dead alien on a lonely highway?

Was it an accident, sabotage, or murder? And why is everyone blaming Jeff?

The extraterrestrials aren’t waiting for answers. They want revenge. And Jeff isn’t ready for company.

His only hope is an outcast mechanic from another world and a woman who might do anything to get off planet, including selling out her own kind. Jeff has to get to the bottom of why there are so many alien bodies piling up and who is really responsible.

A science fiction adventure novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Invading Earth tells the story of a reclusive ex-computer programmer who is the unwitting central figure of a plot to keep humanity from ever making first contact.

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Excerpt

“Do you believe in aliens? Jordan asked.

Outside of town and with no moon, Jeff drove with care. The road ahead curved into black beyond the pickup truck’s headlights. Some of the turns had helpful signs with black arrows on reflective yellow, but most did not.

“Like little green men with designs on our world?” Jeff said.

“More like what’s been going on in the news,” she said. “The actual sightings of extraterrestrials. That alien body in Nevada.”

“I don’t watch T.V. Heard some crazy stuff on the radio. But I don’t listen to it much, either.”

“You really are cut off, you know. Like a hermit.”

Jeff smiled. Only a couple of cars passed them, both heading the opposite way. He thought of the gangly, hairy creature he had seen, working to fix his broken spaceship, panicking at the sight of a human, and somehow knowing Jeff’s name without so much as an introduction. Had that actually happened?

“It seems like pretty big news,” Jordan said. “If it’s real, that is. So do you like keeping yourself so isolated?”

“I like to think of myself as unplugged,” Jeff said. “Maybe more people should try it. As for the aliens, there’s this old theory about hysteria. It’s happened before. A commie in every closet. Fluoride in the drinking water lets the government control the population.”




This is a complex, sometimes confusing, but generally interesting tale about….???
Well, that’s not entirely clear since the original aliens just want to invite us into their council.
Only after various gun-toting humans shoot the welcome wagon aliens on sight, while others run over them like road kill, do they become convinced we are lethal animals that lack the requirements to be considered intelligent beings.  But later you will discover the truth of what happened is far more complex.
Gerhard Gehrke has written a complicated story…sometimes too complicated, but still most enjoyable.
His descriptions of the various aliens are fabulous, and some are very creepy.
However, his use of ‘he said, she said, it said’ in certain sections became excessive and took me out of the story.

I began the story expecting a lighthearted tale, but honestly the constant violence throughout this story from Grey, Whistle and the bunnies—yes, the bunnies are terrifying creatures—stifled my desire to laugh. So I’m NOT going to call it lighthearted. However, it’s a clever story, mostly well written, with some excellent life lessons thrown in for good measure about prejudices and never relying on computers to be accurate.

So all in all, I give this a 4.5, but I have rounded down due to those annoying ‘he saids’ that ripped me from the story. But even so, it is well worth a read. 



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SALES LINKS

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Also available on iBooks

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Gerhard Gehrke studied film at San Francisco State University. He wrote and produced several shows for community television. His Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror short stories have appeared in several publications, including an Editor’s Choice-winning short story at AnotheRealm.com. A Beginner’s Guide to Invading Earth is his first novel.
You can connect with him at Gerhardgehrke.com.







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DON'T FORGET THE RAFFLECOPTER

Gerhard Gehrke will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.



12 comments:

  1. Thanks Liza for taking the time to review my book. And i almost spit coffee when I saw your warning below about spammers :)

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  2. Ooo, this sound awesome! Love that title by the way :)

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  3. What book do you want to make sure you read to your children?

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  4. I have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks for sharing it.

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  5. Thanks Karen, Mai, and Patrick for taking a look!

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  6. Fun and interesting sounding story. I enjoyed the excerpt.

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  7. This sounds like a really good book, thank you for sharing!

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