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  • Writer's pictureKeyla Damaer

Reading has never been so cool.

Updated: Apr 25, 2021

I don't think I'll ever run short of content for this newsletter, in case you were worried about it. There are so many sci-fi books out there to read, and many more to review. So, this week, I have three stories to suggest by fellow sci-fi authors, and another review from yours truly. In addition to that, some surprise content at the end. Don't miss it. Click, click, click.



 

The first news is about myself. I'm thrilled to announce that the hardcover of The Parallels is now available in Amazon.


A militia officer on the hunt for a murderer. A scientist with the key to humanity’s future. A girl in a glass tank with no memory. One seeking justice. One seeking fame. One seeking answers. With the galaxy on the brink of war, time is not on their side.


Aboard Hydra Station, Halazar vows to uncover the truth behind the murder of a friend and fellow officer. Saddled with an ambitious agent with authority over the investigation, she must choose between duty and justice.

Lanees, a human scientist, identifies a group of cells that may change the future of humanity. Her dream of fame seems to be coming true. However, her discovery draws the kind of attention that turns her life into a nightmare.

Meanwhile, in a secret lab on Rigel Prime, a human girl wakes up in a glass tank. With no idea of who or where she is, she struggles to understand her legacy in this strange, morose world.


Join them in their battle for survival.

 

Let's begin the show with acclaimed sci-fi author John Wilker and Book 1 of his space Rogue Series, The Adventures of Wil Calder.


He’s been stranded beyond the stars for years. When he buys himself a down-and-out squad, he crash-lands into a whole galaxy of trouble…


Lone human Wil Calder is bored out of his freakin’ mind. So when he gets word of a couple of criminals being hauled to a penal colony, he figures he’s got a sweet deal to offer: Join his crew and he’ll help clear their names. But he quickly finds he’s bought a black hole of misfortune with the two disgraced convicts knowing things that they shouldn’t know. Things that will get all of them killed.


Desperate for fast money to go legit, Wil takes on one last illegal job to rob a heavily guarded space station. But when the motley band stumbles across an interstellar conspiracy, the ill-equipped ship captain must decide how far he’ll fly to bring justice to his team and the rest of the universe.


Can the accidental spaceman escape a cosmos of chaos before they all go supernova?


Space Rogues: The Adventures of Wil Calder is the exciting first book in the Space Rogues space opera series. If you like fun characters, fast-paced action, and lighthearted entertainment, then you’ll love John Wilker’s science fiction caper.

Buy Space Rogues: The Adventures of Wil Calder to make infinity pay today! othe

 

Sellenria brings you a timeless quest on an alien world. Archaeologist Stenn Gremm followed the trail of an ancestor who had vanished hundreds of years ago. It lead to a world where legends came to life and ancient evils threatened everyone who lived there.

Stenn came to realize that he had more strength than he knew, and that he still needed his friends to succeed.


Join Stenn's trek to the Citadel in the desert and find out for yourself what it takes.


Get a copy of Sellenria on Amazon








 

NIGHTMARES CAN'T BE CAGED... Ghosts, wraiths, phantoms… science has just proved they are real animals from another dimension. So what better way to exploit the discovery…?

Las Vegas’ new glittering jewel is a zoo with a difference. Come face-to-face with specters; watch phantoms soar through their enclosures; or dare to walk through the banshee tunnels. The world of the supernatural has been contained so you can confront your darkest fears… It’s a popular attraction – until a radical group of animal extremists try to liberate the beasts during the unveiling of the new star exhibit: An Angel of Death… and hell is unleashed. Lowly zookeeper, Wes Talasky becomes the last line of defense. Forced to face his darkest fears so he can save the children of the woman he loves… Blending science and horror into a rip-roaring adventure!


Get a copy of Phantom Land here

 

It's with great pleasure that I finally started to read The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey.



Here's the review to book 1, Leviathan Wakes.


As a spectator of the TV series, I kind of feared to read this story. I read some reviews of Goodreads, and many spectators of the series complained about book 1 being slow and kind of boring.

Well, they were totally wrong. It took me six days to read it, but only because I was busy otherwise. I’m reading book 2 and I read 60% in two days. But I’ll get to that in another newsletter.


Aside from the prologue and the epilogue, where there are different POVs, all other chapters portray only Holden’s and Miller’s. People complained about that too. I love me some Miller. Give me some dark, sarcastic Miller every day. Can you tell he’s my favourite character? He was in the show too. Holden on the other hand ... I can’t stand him. He’s the character who does all the right things—according to him—at the wrong time, and sometimes, for the wrong reasons. At least in this book. But let’s get to the story.

We’re in the future. Humankind conquered the solar system as far as Jupiter. Ganymede, Eros, and Mars, have been colonised. People live and work in the Belt, the Belters, on space stations like Ceres. That’s where Miller lives and works. He’s a cop, divorced and kind of a failure like a man. Except that he’s not that bad. Cops work for private corporations in this world, and Miller is hired to find a girl, Julie Mao. She is a rich girl from Earth who left everything behind to fight for a right cause, but Miller will soon find out that she’s involved in something bigger than her and himself.

In the meantime, Holden witnesses the destruction of his ship, and his shipmates with other three colleagues, and from there, their journey to escape whoever wants to kill them takes them to witness more devastation and discover something ... but I can’t tell you what, or I would be spoiling everything to you, especially if you haven’t seen the series.


I give this book five stars, something I rarely do.

It’s a masterpiece of story building, with third close POV, my favourite. The characters are so real, and even more so if one imagines the actors. I must admit whoever adapted the series did a masterpiece too. I watched season 1 a couple of years ago, but I don’t recall any discrepancy.

 

As promised at the beginning, there's a last surprise. Two weeks ago, I wrote a short story for an anthology. While I was writing it, I was inspired by something I saw online, and asked my other half to help me realise it.

Most times when I write, I draw locations, bedrooms, offices, to have a feel of where my characters are. I'm talking about sketches, nothing big, complex or worth sharing. However, I had this idea to find a way to share my visualisations, and that's where my other half comes in. Enjoy this video that shows the apartment of the main character of my last short story, It Wasn't The Rain, realised through Minecraft.


 

A last surprise, for those who had the patience to scroll all the way down here. In the last three years, I have had the privilege to be a member of a group of authors called the Sci-Fi Roundtable. We mainly interact on a public Facebook group, but we also have a forum for specific activities off Facebook. Many members of this group helped me in my journey as an independent author. Some are beta readers, some have been critique partners, others have become long-standing friends. The group has a monthly newsletter, and I'm sincerely happy to share it with you. You can check it out here.

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