sci-fi

THE GREAT GALAXIES BUNDLE

/ Dani Hoots Author / Leave a comment

THE GREAT GALAXIES BUNDLE

The Great Galaxies Adventure SF Bundle – Curated by Kevin J. Anderson

“It’s that time of year to sit back on the beach, pick up a good book—or a whole bundle of them!—and travel across time and space.

I’ve curated 14 Adventure Science Fiction books for a mind-bending reading roller-coaster ride across the galaxy. Name your own price, and get them all.

Grab your copy here!

In this Great Galaxies StoryBundle, you’ll get a brand-new exclusive novel by legendary SF master Alan Dean Foster, Prodigals—not yet released to the general public! Nexus is the first novel featuring the cosmic superhero by comics master Mike Baron, and Dr. Alien by Rajnar Vajra pits a human psychologist against an incomprehensible alien mindset to avert a galactic war.

The beautiful anthology, Last Cities of Earth—created by fan-favorite artist Jeff Sturgeon—contains 14 stories set in a fabulous post-apocalyptic future, written by David Gerrold, Mike Resnick, Brenda Cooper, Jody Lynn Nye, Steven L. Sears, Cat Rambo, and others, each accompanied by a full-color painting by Sturgeon. And who doesn’t like cats? Space cats? Mary Turzillo has an entire collection of her Cosmic Cats and Fantastic Furballs. For more great stories, Writers of the Future, volume 31, contains the best short fiction from the winners and finalists of one of the most respected writing contests in the genre.

Zeroland by Ryan Winters features a deadly post-apocalyptic America, where a man has been murdered at a research facility in the Arctic Circle and a deadly alien creature is on the loose. And for something a little lighter, Winston Chase and the Alpha Machine by William Van Winkle, offers a YA SF adventure in which Winston realizes that the school bully isn’t the biggest thing he needs to worry about—waking up to being a half-alien freak is worse.

Revenge, the first book in the City of Kaus series by Dani Hoots, is a swashbuckling LGBTQ+ sci-fi Western you won’t want to miss. In Day 9 by Robert Jeschonek, a genius builds a machine to bring mankind closer to God, another genius builds a cathedral with a mind of its own, and three searchers race a serial killer to find the man with the key to salvation.

Starhelm Epsilon by David Viergutz follows a plucky crew consisting of a Han Solo-like mech pilot thrust into a galactic war between three competing factions. And John Wilker delivers in the same genre with Any Job Will Do, where the unification wars happened a while ago, and Jax’s parents fought for the losing side. Now he takes the jobs he can get—smuggling, bounty hunting, hauling cargo. If it pays, he’ll do it.

Wisecracking star-sailor Gus Johansson’s beach-bum retirement suddenly goes from boring to blazing when he pulls a 1400-year-old robot and a sentient spaceship from the sea in Corvus Ascending. Soon, Gus and his crew of misfits are in the fight of their lives against an old enemy.

And finally, rounding out the star-spanning 14 books, Debunked by Dito Abbott launches the Terravenum Chronicles, a wild adventure of explorers and curses, ancient prophecies, sarcastic swords of legend, and mutant slime beasts.

That should be enough to keep your imagination busy throughout the dullest vacation.” –Kevin J. Anderson

* * *

Grab your copy here!

* * *

For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.

  • Corvus Ascending by Dale Sale
  • Any Job Will Do by John Wilker
  • Cosmic Cats & Fantastic Furballs by Mary A. Turzillo
  • Winston Chase and the Alpha Machine by William Van Winkle

Grab your copy here!

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus ten more books for a total of 14!

  • Day 9 by Robert Jeschonek
  • Debunked by Dito Abbott
  • Starhelm Epsilon by David Viergutz
  • City of Kaus #1: Revenge by Dani Hoots
  • Zeroland by Ryan Winters
  • Writers of the Future: Volume 31 edited by David Farland
  • Prodigals by Alan Dean Foster
  • Jeff Sturgeon’s Last Cities of Earth edited by Jennifer Brozek
  • Nexus by Mike Baron
  • Dr. Alien by Rajnar Vajra

This bundle is available only for a limited time via here. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub, .mobi) for all books!

It’s also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.

Grab your copy here!

Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.

  • Get quality reads: We’ve chosen works from excellent authors to bundle together in one convenient package.
  • Pay what you want (minimum $5): You decide how much these fantastic books are worth. If you can only spare a little, that’s fine! You’ll still get access to a batch of exceptional titles.
  • Support authors who support DRM-free books: StoryBundle is a platform for authors to get exposure for their works, both for the titles featured in the bundle and for the rest of their catalog. Supporting authors who let you read their books on any device you want—restriction free—will show everyone there’s nothing wrong with ditching DRM.
  • Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to the Challenge Center for Space Education!
  • Receive extra books: If you beat the bonus price, you’ll get the bonus books!

StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.

For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, tweet us at @storybundle and like us on Facebook. For press inquiries, please email press@storybundle.com.

Grab your copy here!

*reposting this blog post from Kevin J Anderson’s post on Story Bundle*

Book Review of Omnihumans by Tom Leveen

/ Dani Hoots Author / Leave a comment

pro_pbid_4609934

Title: Omnihumans

Author: Tom Leveen

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

Amazon/Barnes&Noble

Back cover:

He’ll sacrifice anything to save these children. . . except being human.

The world became aware of them sixty years ago: people with remarkable physical and sometimes psychic powers, often with terrifying deformities. Most folks call them deviants; deevs for short. Rejecting the slur, they call themselves omnihumans.
Manic is a federal officer tasked with taking down allegedly dangerous deevs. He loves his job, and he’s damn good at it. He’d wipe ’em all off the face of the earth if he could, because he believes every deev out there is a threat to mankind, just by their very existence. Not everyone agrees with him, though, including his only child—a naïve college girl who has devoted her life to protecting the civil rights of those very same deviants that he hauls in off the streets.
When his daughter’s tuition funds suddenly run out, Manic accepts a high-paying, off-the-books gig assassinating individual deevs. But after learning a deviant he’s killed was hunting down gangsters trafficking in the minds and bodies of human children, Manic decides to inherit the deviant’s quest.
Manic’s identity and clarity of purpose are thrown into chaos when he uncovers the concrete labyrinth where the gangsters are doing their dirty work. There, he finds a vigilante deviant who’s also trying to destroy the organization. Manic discovers deevs may be more human than not, as it becomes irrevocably clear that rescuing these most innocent of humans may not only cost Manic his life . . . but his humanity . . .

This book reminded me a lot of the show Heroes and the X-Men, but if it was told in the perspective of those who were hunting the mutants. The press portrays these omnihumans as being dangerous, and Manic really could use the money for his daughter’s tuition. And at the same time, he would be keeping the city safe, right?

Right?

Leveen does a great job portraying the mental process of reasoning out what is right and wrong for someone in this possession. Manic wants to do what is right, but how does one know what is right? At the same time, Malakai, an omnihuman, is trying to save someone child from a human trafficking wring. What will happen when these two go head to head? Will Manic be faced with the realization that maybe these omnihumans aren’t as dangerous as they are? Or will he follow orders?

This is a great military sci-fi for anyone who loves this aspect of X-Men. I highly recommend to fans of this genre!

~Dani

Free stories on Wattpad and Tapas!

/ Dani Hoots Author / Leave a comment

Hi everyone!

I decided to write a story for Wattpad and Tapas. Please check it out and follow it! I will also be posting another book I am working on next month on Wattpad and Tapas so be sure to follow me to get updated!

Blindfolded Thriller Kindle Cover-2

Book Blurb:
It has been five years since Elvira “Ellie” Ryder was betrayed by her best friend, and watched as her home was leveled by invaders from a different Zone. Now sworn to seek revenge on him, Ellie has teamed up with her old friend Zach to find their long lost friend. As they search for him, the are up against the hatred of their kind, secrets that they never knew about their people, and what really happened the day of the attack.

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/2188650…
Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/CityofKaus

Book Review of Gunsligner Girl by Lyndsay Ely

/ Dani Hoots Author / Leave a comment

61ujmmer1il._sx331_bo1204203200_

 

Gunslinger Girl

Author: Lyndsay Ely

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

 

Buy Here

Back cover:

James Patterson presents a bold new heroine — a cross between Katniss Everdeen and Annie Oakley: Serendipity Jones, the fastest sharpshooter in tomorrow’s West.

Seventeen-year-old Serendipity “Pity” Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She’s been offered a life of fame and fortune in Cessation, a glittering city where lawlessness is a way of life. But the price she pays for her freedom may be too great . . .

In this extraordinary debut from Lyndsay Ely, the West is once again wild after a Second Civil War fractures the U.S. into a broken, dangerous land. Pity’s struggle against the dark and twisted underbelly of a corrupt city will haunt you long after the final bullet is shot.

I am so in love with this book! YA SFF Westerns is apparently a genre I need more of as I realized my favorite anime is Trigun and I am in love with K. Lynn Smith’s graphic novel Plume, which will be getting a review shortly as well. I really loved the character in this book, Pity Jones, who just wanted to get out of her small abusive farming community and see the world, and more importantly, to be free.

giphy

The characters in this book are all spectacular and I loved how Ely weaved together her city and her community. It has great world building, great tech ideas for post war, and brings on enough mystery to keep me wanting more.

tumblr_inline_n90jxo5nzy1s6nw8r

It is rare for me to want to reread something, but this is definitely a book I want to read again, and wish for another book that I know won’t be coming 😦 It wraps up well, leaving your imagination to fill in the future.

A definite recommendation from me! Check this book out!

~Dani

Anime Review of RobiHachi

/ Dani Hoots Author / Leave a comment

1959740_English_ShowDetailHeaderDesktop_fe3294a8-cb6a-e911-8175-020165574d09

Series: RobiHachi

English Producing Company: Funimation

Stream on: Funimation/Hulu

Genre: Sci-fi/Comedy/Action&Adventure

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

Description:

Down-on-his-luck Robby Yarge is about to go from deep trouble to deep space! After a second encounter with Hatchi Kita ends with him on the run, Robby decides to make for Isekandar, a planet that promises happiness. But when he finds Hatchi stowed away on his ship, the two will make the journey across the stars together! Can these total opposites survive a trek through space?

I picked up this anime because I like watching comedies while working and because it was also sci-fi. It’s sometimes hard to find a comical sci-fi series that has a pretty cool plot at the same time. This series, I found out, is loosely based on the story Tōkaidōchū Hizakurigewhich is written in the early 1800s. I thought it was really cool to have a sci-fi series based on an old story, like Treasure Planet. It inspires me to take an old fairy tale and make it futuristic, but I’m not sure which one I would want to write about…

In this series, my favorite character is Robby. He is gambler and keeps losing money, but when he can’t pay back Yang, he decides to try his luck with Isekandar. He learns many lessons on the way, as any good character should. Yang is after him the entire way and I love how Yang is so obsessed with Robby. In the English dub, the way he says “Robby” is priceless. I keep trying to practice it but haven’t quite got it down. But the entire story is all the pit stops they take before getting to Isekandar. All the planets are unique and interesting, and I liked how they included a little nod to another anime, but I won’t spoil which one it is.

yang-robihachi-wallpaper

Hachi is also a great character who evolves throughout the story. We find out more and more about him and I think he had pretty good development. At first I didn’t care for him but by the end I liked him a lot.  The stupid stuff the two of them get into, and how each one reacts to it, is pretty entertaining.

5cc1e3d9aba93c06a426fe73

So all in all, I recommend this anime if you are a fan of silly but great sci-fi, especially anything based on historic tales. If you watch it, let me know what you think in the comments!

~Dani

 

Review of Shift by M.A. George

/ Dani Hoots Author / Leave a comment

51tauhxkjel-_sx326_bo1204203200_

Title: Shift

Author: M.A. George

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 4/5

Amazon/Goodreads/Kobo‘

Backcover:

Seventeen-year-old Perry Teasdale is a dreamer.

She’s not the kind of dreamer who waltzes through fields of wildflowers, twirling her skirts in a starry-eyed daze; or the kind who aspires to be the biggest rock star the world has ever known (not that she’d complain, if that accidentally happened). She’s the kind of dreamer who can’t get a decent night’s rest, because her sleep is flooded with scenes from other worlds–ones that seem as real as life itself.

Mind-blowing dreams may sound like loads of fun, but when they start to bleed into Perry’s waking hours–confusing the line between dream and reality, and keeping her in a sleep-deprived fog no amount of caffeine can cure–Perry’s not exactly thrilled.

Try as she might to shake the dreams from her mind, they keep gaining speed, growing ever more vivid and intense…until that hazy boundary between real and imaginary fades away, and Perry is forced to consider the impossible: Her dreams seem real, because they are.

When disaster strikes, sending Perry’s newfound normalcy into a tailspin, she takes the only logical path left: a whirlwind tour of the multiverse, scouring an ever-growing assortment of alternate realities for the missing piece–the missing person–to put her life together again.

Along the way, Perry enlists the help of an ancient wise woman (who may be a tad homicidal); a nerdy-in-all-the-right-ways mathematician (who knows all of Perry’s secrets, even before introducing himself); and a sword (because you can never go wrong with a sword).

At times hilarious–at times heartbreaking–Shift is sure to be, well, one of those two things.

Review:

*I received this book from Netgalley. My review is completely my own opinions and thoughts.*

I found this book to be very enjoyable. It had a mic of adventure, romance, violence, and mystery. It took me a little bit to understand what was going on, which is why I gave it a 4 instead of 5 as it was confusing as they jumped into different timelines. Once I got the hang of it though I accepted it would take me a second to figure out where they were. I think having a thing saying where they were would have been a little better, like a captain’s log.

What I enjoyed most about this series were the characters. They were all well-rounded, individual, and I could easily tell them apart. My favorite character was Max as he was adorable, geeky, and a gentleman. I don’t want to give spoilers about him but I really liked his development and wish I could learn a bit more about him. I loved the timeline his “primary” is from though.

As for the main character, Perry, I liked her but sometimes I was like OMG shut up and pay attention to the *can’t say or it’s a spoil*. But again, that was her personality and the author stayed true to that. I just know people like that and I sometimes want to put my hand over their mouth so I can hear what the other person is saying.

The different world were awesome and I enjoyed how the author designed them and how Perry could transport and figure things out in each scape. I wanted to be able to travel just like that, it would be so cool! This made the book be one of my favorite worlds I would want to live in, as long as I was a shifter with Max.

To conclude, I loved this book but the beginning was sort of confusing. I enjoyed the characters and the ending made me cry almost. Everyone who loves sci-fi should check out this book!