This week, I intend to entertain you with a variety of content, from free books to reviews.
Let's start with a short story by the acclaimed sci-fi author Alasdair Shawn. Independence is for free and will introduce you into the Two Democracies world where aliens, battles, sentient ships and much more awaits you.
In the aftermath of a battle a ship drifts helplessly in space. Is the strange new warship they were fighting still out there? Will it come back for them? Commander Johnson faces a desperate race to get her destroyer back into action and save her crew.
"If you liked Alien, you'll love Independence."
"This is an incredible work ... suspense, mystery and intrigue."
"Loved every word of it."
"There's more action and intrigue packed into this story than there is in many full length novels."
"Shaw's world is engaging and clearly has depth, even from this brief encounter."
'Independence' is a short story (6000 words) in the Two Democracies: Revolution series.
Next, follows a bundle of sci-fi stories. Twenty-nine titles available for you, all for free.
In case you were wondering, dystopian stories are the ones I prefer. It's what I have been writing for a long time as well. Here's a sample of a story about gene splicing and fighting to save earth from annihilation, Zedger: Edge of Zion (Hybrid Genesis Book 1) by E. L. Strife
Sample Chapters 1-4: War's in their DNA. Marci aims to destroy the biotech military program that created and tortured soldiers like her. Her hideout discovered, she must go back in to break the cognitive control link and free the people of Zion. They haven’t had a Crisper in months. When a man’s body is dumped in the basalt flow south of Marci’s mountain cabin, she knows something is off. Stealth vehicles patrol the area, preventing her from rescuing the newest victim of the Disconnect. Unless she wants to risk exposure. In a post-war, irradiated, future Earth, Marci is the only one of the test subjects strong enough to escape the experiments of Project Zedger—the Astrals’ bioenhanced military designed to protect what’s left of humanity in the Free Territories of Zion. The six High cities that remain create all law and order, enforcing it upon the wildlands at the cost of all others. Zedger soldiers are their main weapons: mutated, spliced, and cybernetically restructured to do the most damage, without objection. The Genesis hub controls everyone. Marci knows she must take it out if she is to free her people. But this Crisper is different. He was sent to her with a message. When Operational Cybernetic Corps Snipes come after them, Marci knows her time is up. Zedger must fall.
The last free story for this week is by Kevin Steverson, Taming the Beast.
Gunnery Sergeant Ron Harper looked down at the ends of his legs. He would have preferred to look down at his feet, but they were no longer there. Having lost them in the ground actions on planet Barlat when his mech was literally sliced in two by a laser designed to knock fighters from the sky, it had been a long hard road to recovery. You don’t need the course,” Brink said. “You of all people have earned the right to skip it.” “I can’t do that, Nate,” Gunny said. It was the first time he had ever called his former trainee by his first name. “You know I can’t.” “What does the commodore say about you attempting the Beast?” the captain asked. He was getting angry. Not at Gunny. Never at the Gunny, but at the fact that everyone coming off medical status had to do it. Mad that he had been a part of enforcing the regulations along with Gunny. Mad at the injury that had happened to his own personal hero. Mad at the entire situation.
At last, I want to offer you the review of the last book I had the chance to read.
In a grim dark world, where hunger, blood, and pain to various degrees are prevalent, a mysterious mage returns to Adua to claim his place on the Closed Council, putting together all the other characters of the novel, Sand dan Glokta, the crippled interrogator, Jezal Luthar, the dandy rich fencer, Logen, the ruthless mercenary, and others. Each one has its own POV, an approach that I personally love in worldbuilding. Skimming other reviews on various sites, I see these are the characters everyone mentions. Among them, Glokta is definitely the one who limped into my hear with his dark, witty humour. A tormented soul, but aren't those the best ones? I was surprised by the fact that no one mentions Ferro in their reviews, the only woman with a POV. Ferro, the former slave who escaped her captives now lives only for one reason: revenge. The author doesn't dedicate many chapters to her story, but I believe, or perhaps it's just a hope, that she'll be more central in the rest of the trilogy.
There's also another woman in the story, Ardee, but she has no POV. We only see her thought the others’ eyes. His brother, Major West, vain Jezal who for once behaves like the gentleman he’s not, and Glokta, of course.
As you can imagine by now, I loved this book. The characters are all unique and reach out to the reader with their unmistakable voice. The only part that really really bored me was Logan’s last chapter. It was like it would never end—as a matter of fact, I think it's the longest chapter of the book—and I’m sure some readers loved it for that same reason. Sorry, but I can’t tell more because ... spoilers.
That said, there are a few things that I didn’t like.
First, the formatting quality. I purchased my copy on Amazon, so the issue may be limited to their edition. Many times, I found myself having to read back entire paragraphs to understand what was happening. There are many scene breaks in the middle of the scene exactly where they aren't supposed to be. One would expect that an author with a publishing house at their back would have decent formatting. Alas, that was not the case with my copy. Shit happens.
On top of these, there’s a scene where West and Jezal names are misplaced and some typos throughout the book. These aren’t as relevant as the scene breaks that shouldn’t be there and that made my read-through harder than it should have been.
Formatting aside, if you want to read something that goes along the lines of A Song of Ice and Fire without too many names to remember and better-developed characters—not to mention the fact that there no need to wait for twenty years to read the end... if that ever happens—then go for it. I made the mistake to purchase only book one and then risk to spend too much for the rest of the trilogy. Luckily for me, I found the whole trilogy at a decent price here.