Every once in a while, a friend updates a book they have out, and I like to try to help spread the word when that happens. Stella is a friend of mine from back in the day when I actually used to still blog a lot, and her book, ACROSS THE WIRE, has a great new cover:
Isn't that an awesome cover?
Here is the summary:
When Mia Mitchell, a hardcore but lonely former Marine, steps into an alley to pull some thugs off an unlucky foreigner, she walks into a fight she expects. What she doesn’t see coming is the foreigner making her a job offer any sane person would refuse. So, she takes it. She thinks she’s headed for some third-world country; instead she’s mysteriously transported to an Earth-like parallel world. That’s a mad left-hook.
Mia discovers a matriarchal dystopia where freedom doesn’t exist and fighting for it means execution. Lethal force bends all to the law; women fear for their families and un-wed men suffer slavery. Mia’s job is to train an underground syndicate of male freedom-fighters for a violent revolution. However, the guys don’t want a pair of X chromosomes showing them the way.
Eben, an escaped slave, is encouraged by Mia to become a leader among the men. But when he turns his quiet determination on her, it spells F.U.B.A.R. for cynical Mia. Their unexpected connection threatens more than her exit strategy; it threatens the power struggle festering with in the syndicate.
Haunted by nightmares and post-traumatic stress, unsure who to trust or how to get home, Mia struggles to stay alive as she realizes all is not what it seems.
And here is some more info about Stella:
All my life I’ve dreamed of stories or have had my nose buried in one. I live in Edmonton, Canada with my husband and my weird sense of humor.
I love old war movies, dystopian fiction, and any story with action, a good plot, and characters I'd get into a fight at the pub for. Not that I'm a brawler or anything. Unless you think that out-of-print book or vintage piece at the thrift shop is going home with you instead of me. Then, my friend, the gloves are off.
And here are some links:
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/374686
Blog: http://www.stellatelleria.com
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Across-Wire-The-Male-Amendment-ebook/dp/B00GEUMY0E/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1383603440&sr=8-22&keywords=across+the+wire
Author page on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7373984.Stella_Telleria
Goodreads page for novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18752667-across-the-wire
Showing posts with label Adult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adult. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Stella Telleria's New Title and Cover
Posted by
Matthew MacNish
at
7:00 AM
12
opinions that matter
Labels:
Adult,
Adult Sci-Fi,
Stella Telleria
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Seed, by Rob Ziegler
Seed, by Rob Ziegler, is a whirlwind of a tale. A grim, disturbing look at our potential future, it is filled with characters who confound the sensibilities when one attempts to determine who is good and who is evil.
Before I get into my review, let me go into how I discovered this book, which lies somewhat outside my normal reading habits.
At the end of October, 2011, I attended the World Fantasy Convention, in San Diego, California. It was my first (and so far only) ever writing and publishing conference, and I had the time of my life. I met Rob Ziegler, due to us having several friends in common, like Carolina Valdez Miller, and Simon Larter, among others, on Thursday of the convention, and didn't think much more of him than, "hey, here's a nice guy, who is clearly a writer, a publishing professional, or at least a fan."
Then, on Friday night, I attended the Night Shade Books party. Containing a bathtub full of beer brewed specifically for the night, which were based on books published by Night Shade, as well as a balcony mixologist, it was a blast of a shindig, and certainly left more room for breathing and plie-ing with Mercedes than the shoulder to shoulder Tor party downstairs. At the beginning of the Night Shade party, before it got too full, I discovered the dust jacket for the newest Night Shade release. It was Seed, by Rob Ziegler, and not only was the cover gorgeous, but it was blurbed by Paolo Bacigalupi, whose Ship Breaker I had enjoyed immensely earlier that year.
I didn't put the name to the face until someone re-introduced me to Rob, and I realized he was the guy I'd been hanging out with the day before.
So long story short, even though I don't often read adult Science Fiction (being a YA writer, I tend to read mostly books that are similar to the stories I write) I bought the book in the seller's pavilion the following day, but sadly never got around to getting it signed. I'll have to take care of that at some point.
So, now to my review.
This book is gritty, disturbing, and often even disgusting, in the most delicious kind of way. It takes place a couple hundred years in the future, after climate change and the collapse of society have left us at the mercy of the remnants of the bio-tech industry, known only as Satori. Part corporation, part bio-gargantuan monstrosity, Satori is a living city, a grotesque ala Tetsuo from the end of Akira, that produces the bio-engineered eponymous seed; the only crops that are hardy enough to survive in this twisted world. This entity, this character, this thing ... is the single key factor that sets this book apart from anything I have ever read. I don't want to go into too much detail, and give it all away, but this creature is so incredible, so disturbing, so raw, and so amazingly inventive, I was at once appalled, repulsed, and thrilled the moment I first discovered it on the page.
Of course, Satori, and her children, are not the only denizens of this novel. The rest of the characters may not be quite so daunting, but they are fascinating nonetheless. Brood, a migrant Latino refugee, his brother Pollo, and their adoptive father Hondo open the novel with plenty of excitement, but it's Agent Doss, and her so-called troops that carry the story through it's incredible climax.
The best thing, at least for me, about this book, is the moral ambiguity, and the disparate sense of tone. The sections that follow the protagonist, if you can call him that, are full of violence, evil, and the fatalistic finality of doing whatever it takes to survive. So the "good guy," like all of history's greatest characters, is so fully flawed and realistic that he feels nothing short of alive. By contrast, the sections that follow what can only be called the antagonist are filled with a tone of reverent grace, so much so that as a reader I could not help but feel a kind of kindred-ship for the plans of the being who ends up running Satori, for a time. He is only trying to protect the livelihood of his children, after all.
I know I'm being vague, and I don't want to say a whole lot more, but I would like to make one last point - possibly my favorite thing about this book is the ending. I was fully expecting to be left either furious or relieved by the two possible endings I foresaw, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a conclusion emerge that I never could have predicted.
This is Rob Ziegler's debut novel, so I'm looking forward to seeing more from him.
Seed is on sale at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Powell's
Indiebound
Posted by
Matthew MacNish
at
7:00 AM
13
opinions that matter
Labels:
Adult,
Carolina Valdez Miller,
Mercedes M. Yardley,
Night Shade Books,
Rob Ziegler,
Sci-Fi,
Seed,
Simon C. Larter,
WFC
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The Winds of Khalakovo
I'm over at Afterglow Book Reviews again today, writing about The Winds of Khalakovo, by Bradley P. Beaulieu. Please head over there. Thanks!
Posted by
Matthew MacNish
at
6:30 AM
8
opinions that matter
Labels:
Adult,
Adult Fantasy,
Bradley P. Beaulieu,
Epic Fantasy,
Fantasy,
High Fantasy,
Matthew MacNish
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