Aurora Springer's Grand Master's Pawn Parts 1-3 released.

GRAND MASTER’S PAWN. Parts 1, 2 and 3 released.

Blurb

A thousand years in the future, instant travel via portals links the civilized planets. Now, portals fail at random and wars disturb the outer planets. Do the powerful Grand Masters conspire to disrupt galactic civilization? Drink tea with the White Mother Tingu, soar through the skies with dragon lord Ythris, and slip through a portal to explore another planet. Follow the adventures of Violet Hunter as she explores unknown planets, while pursuing the truth about the mysterious Grand Masters.

Violet Hunter seems an ordinary student, graduating with a master’s degree in xenobiology from the Terran Space Academy. In secret, she is a trained empath, and the unwitting catalyst of her father’s prophesy. One Grand Master took the risk and selected the girl with the star mark on her forehead. He gets more than he expected. Violet is an impudent and disobedient pawn, but her secret talents lead to successful missions. She gains new powers, strange allies and snatches clues to the identity of the Grand Masters. Violet is hurled into explosive conflicts with her adversaries, while the galaxy flies toward chaos. Will she survive the confrontation?

Excerpt:

She flipped her laser on low beam to illuminate the cave. Two large golden eyes gleamed only a few paces in front of her. As her sight adjusted to the dim light, she perceived the eyes were set on a long narrow head. The head swung from side to side in a mesmerizing motion.

Violet blinked, and the rest of the large animal became clear. His bulky body loomed above her head. He had four legs, and a long thin tail curled around his clawed feet. The beast shifted position uneasily. A great leathery wing lifted on one side, while his other wing drooped at an unnatural angle. Ythris was a dragon.

The dragon swung his great head to peer at her, perplexed by her lack of fear. Violet was fascinated. At last, she stood next to one of the fabled dragon lords of Sythos. A fleeting nudge at her collar marked the Grand Master’s interest.

“Your wing is injured,” she said, reaching out her hand in sympathy.

His head recoiled and Ythris hissed in distaste, “You are a Vron, an ugly human!” 

“Yes, I am a human. I have permission to venture onto your lands,” Violet said firmly, refusing to be overawed by the huge dragon. “Will you permit me to examine your broken wing, Ythris?”

The dragon’s luminous eyes blinked, and his head curled round to stare at the unusable wing, “I have little choice. No one else has replied to my calls for help.” His head swiveled until his long nose almost touched her face. Violet noted the curved white fangs protruding from his jaws and the flat black scales over his narrow face. He was deadly, yet she did not fear him.

“I am pleased to meet a dragon lord,” she said, emoting reassurance.

Ythris placed his clawed forelimb on her shoulder, and she stood motionless, feeling the sharp claw tips prick her skin even through the insulated suit. “You do not fear a dragon lord?” he said, emitting intense curiosity.

Violet shook her head, “No, you’re hurt and need my help. Why should I fear you?” 

“Many people fear Ythris the Black!” the dragon hissed, and swished his tail from side to side to demonstrate his ferocity.

Buy Links

Grand Master’s Pawn, part 1: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SG91AHE

Grand Master’s Pawn, part 2: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SJE7O30

Grand Master’s Pawn, part 3: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TBI638A

Expect Part 4 in a few weeks.

Bio:

After a career in science, I have achieved my life-long ambition to publish novels. My published works include science fiction and fantasy with romance and a sprinkle of humor. I was born in the UK and live in Atlanta with my husband, a dog and two cats to sit on my laptop. My hobbies, besides reading and writing, include outdoor activities like watching wildlife, hiking and canoeing. 

Media links:

Blog: http://AuroraSpringerNovels.blogspot.com/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Springer/e/B00K2C4NL8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aurora-Springer/885945434752937

Twitter: http://twitter.com/AuroraSpringer

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101087717415198221200/posts

Review of Summer of Haight '67 by Diane Sager

Today, I've Diane Sager and her fabulous book Summer of Haight '67

Space Rep: Is there a prize?

Liza: There is oh, greedy one. Diane will give a $15 Amazon or B&N Gift Card to one lucky person who enters the rafflecopter

Summer of Haight 67

by Diane Sager

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

KATHERINE RHODES has a tragic accident which sends her back in time. She wakes up as the 20 year old hippie she was back in 1967 in the Haight/Ashbury district of San Francisco. This was the period known globally as the “Summer of Love”. It’s all here, Hippies, Hells Angels, Black Panthers and the abhorrent war in Vietnam. “KATIE gets the chance to re-live this era with her friends FROG and MOONBEAM. This time she knows what to expect and tries to change things……….. Can she ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feeling dizzy, she shut her eyes and rubbed her temples for several minutes, running through the accident in her mind.  She remembered going down the embankment and hitting the tree.  She knew she had been in an ambulance and she remembered a slew of doctors surrounding her. Yet here she was sitting on a couch…somewhere familiar, a place she knew but couldn’t recall.

A brown chenille bedspread covered the couch.  There was a basic wooden coffee table, several antique lamps, one in the corner and another on an old table by a beveled window. The hardwood floor of the room was covered by an imitation Persian carpet.

The walls and even the ceilings were filled with posters; old bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Yardbirds, and even the Monkees.  Some were drug related, promoting marijuana, mushrooms and LSD.  Others were political, protesting the Vietnam War, even including a caricature of Lyndon B. Johnson dressed as John Wayne. 

On the ceiling directly above her was a poster of Clint Eastwood draped in a poncho, cigar resting on his lip. A pose from For a Few Dollars More.  She knew the film well.  Beside it were several blacklight posters, psychedelic peace symbols, a hookah smoking caterpillar, and an assortment of twirling colorful designs.

The television, an old tube model from yesteryear, was in a wooden cabinet covered by stickers: STP; two local radio stations, KLIV and KFRC; Champion spark plugs; bare feet and peace symbols of various colors. Beside that was a flower painted guitar case that leaned against the wall. Everything in the room was familiar. She knew this house. She had been here many, many times, so why couldn’t she remember whose house she was in?
  

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This very long story is a mix between exquisite detail and accuracy about the ‘hippie years’ and sloppy attention to the mystical so-called “time travel” side of the story.

My issues were it’s not a valid time travel story. Nor does the mystical actions hold up under scrutiny at the end, which disappointed me greatly.

There was also some redundancy of information told more than once in the story, so don’t be surprised when reading if you have deja vu moments where you are certain you’ve already read this before. You may have.

But despite those issues, this is a fabulous read. It is well written, unique, intriguing, with exquisite detail about the 1960-70 era, the Vietnam war, the race riots, the hippies, the Hell’s angels, the Black panthers. The author pulls you deep into her story with amazing ease.

This would have been a slam dunk 5 star novel had the mystical side of the story received equal attention. But as presently written, the logic behind the ‘mystical’ side of the story falters at the end. So I’ve no choice but to drop it  to 4 stars.

For those readers who don’t care if the ‘fantasy’ side lacks plausibility, consider this book a five star and expect to have a long and delightful read. 

For those who require the story to be plausible and logical even in paranormal plots, then you might want to stop reading at Chapter 47. This means you can thoroughly enjoy the main story. 

It’s only at the very end, during the wrap up, that matters fall apart with the plausibility on the mystical side. And if you read it really fast, perhaps you won’t even notice the fatal flaw of logic. 

AMAZON

Author Diane Sager was raised and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her awesome husband Russ, three dogs, two cats and an African grey parrot named Storm. She holds a fascination for all things macabre and has developed a deep knowledge of serial killers, vampires, zombies, the Tarot, world religions, witchcraft, horror and the occult.

However, her latest indie release, SUMMER OF HAIGHT ‘67 is none of the above albeit a little supernatural……..This story is nestled between her zombie series “EVIL VEIN” published by Permuted Press and penned under her “apocalyptic” name of D.S.Sager

A former high school teacher of emotionally disturbed and high-risk youth, Diane is now dedicated to full time writing.

Contact her at celticdi@gmail.com, @celticdi on Twitter, www.evilvein.com, Author – Diane Sager on Facebook.

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