C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Ancestral Night (White Space Book 1) by Elizabeth Bear

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Featured Sci-fi: Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear

$1.99 as of March 1, 2024
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom

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“Outstanding . . . Amid a space opera resurgence, Bear’s novel sets the bar high.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

A space salvager and her partner make the discovery of a lifetime that just might change the universe in this wild, big-ideas space opera from Hugo Award–winning author Elizabeth Bear.

Halmey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz are salvage operators, living just on the inside of the law . . . usually. Theirs is the perilous and marginal existence—with barely enough chance of striking it fantastically big—just once—to keep them coming back for more. They pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human and alien vessels. But when they make a shocking discovery about an alien species that has been long thought dead, it may be the thing that could tip the perilous peace mankind has found into full-out war.

“Bear’s ability to create breathtaking variations on ancient themes and make them new and brilliant is, perhaps, unparalleled in the genre” —Library Journal, starred review

“Offers plenty of big, bold, fascinating ideas . . . Impressive at the core.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Richly textured. . . . [T]he profound connection between man and machine at its heart will keep readers turning the pages.” —Bookpage, starred review

Featured Fantasy: A Cursed Son (Remnants of the Fallen Kingdom Book 1) by Day Leitao

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Featured Fantasy: A Cursed Son (Remnants of the Fallen Kingdom Book 1) by Day Leitao

New Release
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Romantic & sexy dreams link a false princess to a dangerous, disgraced fae prince in this fun, steamy enemies-to-lovers romantasy.

In her dreams, he envelops her in love. In real life, he imprisons her in ice.

Assassin, liar, impersonator—dreamer.

As a royal decoy, trained to replace the Krastel princess even in a political marriage, Astra’s life is not her own. With a duty like that, how can she dream about love?

And yet she knows she has a kindred soul. She can feel his presence every night, holding her in his arms, surrounding her with his warmth.

But ice-cold reality crashes in when Astra’s carriage is attacked by the Crystal Court’s disgraced prince. Banished for heinous crimes and armed with powerful stolen relics, he’s a wielder of mighty magic and can even infiltrate minds.

It turns out that he is the man in her dreams.

And this is about to get very, very awkward.

A Cursed Son is a fun, sexy, enemies-to-lovers romantic fantasy for fans of fae, elemental magic, arranged marriage, forced proximity, snarky banter, and dream connection.

Book Review: Snow Crash

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$1.99 as of February 25, 2024
Click for current price: Amazon US, Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

C’s note: I read this in college back in the 90s. It’s a great ride. Highly recommended!

Now featuring never-before-seen material, the “brilliantly realized” (The New York Times Book Review) breakthrough novel from visionary author Neal Stephenson, a modern classic that predicted the metaverse and inspired generations of Silicon Valley innovators

Hiro lives in a Los Angeles where franchises line the freeway as far as the eye can see. The only relief from the sea of logos is within the autonomous city-states, where law-abiding citizens don’t dare leave their mansions.

Hiro delivers pizza to the mansions for a living, defending his pies from marauders when necessary with a matched set of samurai swords. His home is a shared 20 X 30 U-Stor-It. He spends most of his time goggled in to the Metaverse, where his avatar is legendary.

But in the club known as The Black Sun, his fellow hackers are being felled by a weird new drug called Snow Crash that reduces them to nothing more than a jittering cloud of bad digital karma (and IRL, a vegetative state).

Investigating the Infocalypse leads Hiro all the way back to the beginning of language itself, with roots in an ancient Sumerian priesthood. He’ll be joined by Y.T., a fearless teenaged skateboard courier. Together, they must race to stop a shadowy virtual villain hell-bent on world domination.

Featured Science Fiction: The Alpha Plague by Michael Robertson

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Featured Science Fiction: The Alpha Plague by Michael Robertson

FREE as of February 25, 2024 (Book 2 only 99¢!)
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Do you have a plan for the apocalypse?

Rhys doesn’t.

But as he watches chaos spill from the Alpha tower, he knows one thing for sure …

He must get to his son before the virus does.

If you like high stakes and edge of your seat action in a post-apocalyptic world, then The Alpha Plague is for you. Get it now to join Rhys at ground zero as he tries to save his loved ones and survive a disaster that will leave the world changed forever.

Featured Sci-fi: Forward Command (Galaxy Bridge Book 1) by Daniel Gibbs & Steve Rzasa

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Featured Sci-fi: Forward Command (Galaxy Bridge Book 1) by Daniel Gibbs & Steve Rzasa

99¢ on March 2, 2024
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

An all-new galaxy. A terrifying new enemy.

Exploration of Sextans B is underway via the first stable trans-galactic wormhole in recorded history. Colonel Mateo Larra takes command of Joint Base Sagittarius Arch, the visionary new space station housing diplomats, merchants, and military personnel eager to make their mark.

But with every opportunity comes opposition.

Pirates harass travelers throughout the newly charted system. Smugglers, hauling valuable contraband, slip under the CDF’s nose. Even the League of Sol continues spy games as if the war never ended. Colonel Larra barely steps aboard the Arch before facing the most daunting challenges of his storied career.

Challenges that have only begun.

Ships vanish without a trace. The mysteries deepen when one reappears like a ghost, pristine as the day she left the shipyard—without her crew. But when the League ambassador is kidnapped, his bodyguards murdered in cold blood, Colonel Larra encounters an unimaginable horror on their doorstep.

And this time, it’s a fight the Coalition can’t win.

Featured Fantasy: To Kill a Fae by Jamie A. Waters

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Featured Fantasy: To Kill a Fae by Jamie A. Waters

FREE as of February 24, 2024
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Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

The darkness holds more than just secrets…

Marked for death, Sabine escaped from her home more than ten years ago. 

But the Wild Hunt will never give up.

It should have been easy to stay hidden. All Sabine had to do was keep her head down, avoid telling anyone about her past, and above all else — not let her glamour drop.

Even the best-laid plans eventually fall apart.

When a charismatic stranger arrives in the city, Sabine finds herself unwittingly drawn to the power she can sense hidden within him. Keeping her distance is nearly impossible, especially after a life debt is called due and she’s tasked into helping steal a rare artifact.

Sabine is the only one who can break the magical barriers protecting the item, but that means revealing the truth about her identity and exposing her darkest secrets. 

Unfortunately, the Fae aren’t the only ones hunting her.

And the most dangerous monsters aren’t always confined to the dark.

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