C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Blanchland Blues (The John & Alvis Sessions Book 1) by Tom Dell’Aringa

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Featured Sci-fi: Blanchland Blues (The John & Alvis Sessions Book 1) by Tom Dell'Aringa

FREE as of September 24, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

A disgraced pilot, a junkyard robot, and one runaway girl with secrets worth killing for.

Since a dishonorable discharge from the Star Corps for a rescue mission gone wrong, John MacAlister has been trying to piece together a life worth living—scraping by on less-than-legal cargo runs with a robot who never misses a chance to point out his mistakes. But no matter how close he gets, trouble always knocks him back to square one.

When his latest job crashes and burns, John winds up in a lunar cell. His only way out comes with strings attached: track down a runaway girl named Ril.

Shuffled from family to family in the colony, she’s the foster child nobody wanted—now a streetwise teenager with a secret that could topple one of the most powerful corporations in the galaxy.

To save his own skin, John should hand her over. To save his soul, he’ll have to defy everyone—especially the man who ruined him.

Featured Sci-fi: Here There Be Monsters by Rick Buchanan

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Featured Sci-fi: Here There Be Monsters by Rick Buchanan

99¢ as of September 24, 205
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

When Sam Martinez finds himself abducted by aliens, he thought he was having a bad day. When he finds himself in charge of an eccentric collection of fellow captives on a stolen spaceship, he realizes it could always get worse.

Thus begins the misadventures of Captain Martinez and the crew of the starship Schwarzenegger. Intent on finding their way back to Earth, they encounter strange new worlds, new life and new civilizations… and immediately piss them off.

Follow their journey as they navigate through bizarre alien customs, evade a crime syndicate with a score to settle, and match wits with a galactic government that refuses to recognize humanity as a sentient species.

Fans of Galaxy Quest and The Orville will love this story of a ragtag band of misfits discovering just how strange the universe really is.

Featured Fantasy: Adventures of a Vegan Vamp (Vegan Vamp Mysteries Book 1) by Cate Lawley

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FREE as of September 23, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia,

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

Undead and vegan? Not the afterlife this girl had planned.

Waking up thin is one thing. But waking up gaunt, hangry, and undead makes for a very bad day. Mallory’s killer better hide, because she’s just discovered blood, meat, and dairy don’t agree with her, and a future with no cheese is grim indeed. She’s out to find her killer…and maybe a vegan cheese that doesn’t melt her nose hairs.

Click to see how Mallory conquers a killer hunger while hunting a deadly vampire.

Featured Sci-Fantasy: Reachers Series by L.E. Fitzpatrick

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Featured Sci-fantasy: Reachers Series by L.E. Fitzpatrick

START THE SERIES FREE—Books 2 – 4 only $2.99 Each as of September 20, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Kobo, GooglePlay, Apple, Nook

Rachel’s father called it the running game. Count the exits, calculate the routes, and always be ready to run. She is a Reacher, wanted by the government and the criminal underworld for her psionic powers.

Charlie and his brother John have a reputation for accomplishing the impossible. But after losing his family, Charlie is a broken mess and John is barely keeping him afloat. In desperation, they take a job from a ruthless crime lord, only to discover the girl they are hunting is a Reacher. One of their own kind.

With the help of dangerous and dubious allies, can Rachel turn the game around and save herself?

Praise:

★★★★★ – “This dystopian, paranormal thriller provides plenty of action, mystery and entertainment with deft storytelling. Wonderfully written.

★★★★★ – “Kept me captivated and wanting more. A great read.”

Featured Sci-fi: Recursion by Blake Crouch

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Featured Sci-fi: Recursion by Blake Crouch

$2.99 US, CA, DE / Less in UK as of September 20, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany (Full-price: Australia)

Kobo, GooglePlay, Apple, Nook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of Dark Matter and the Wayward Pines trilogy comes a relentless thriller about time, identity, and memory—his most mind-boggling, irresistible work to date, and the inspiration for Shondaland’s upcoming Netflix film.

“Gloriously twisting . . . a heady campfire tale of a novel.”—The New York Times Book Review

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • NPR • BookRiot

Reality is broken.
 
At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery—and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself.
 
In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth—and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery . . . and the tools for fighting back.
 
Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy—before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos.

[Read more…]

Featured Sci-fi: The Martian by Andy Weir

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Featured Sci-fi: The Martian by Andy Weir

$2.99 as of September 18, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, Canada (Reasonably priced: United Kingdom Full-price: Germany, Australia)

Kobo, GooglePlay, Apple, Nook

A survival story for the 21st century and the international bestseller behind the major film from Ridley Scott, starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.

I’m stranded on Mars.

I have no way to communicate with Earth.

I’m in a habitat designed to last 31 days.

If the oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the hab breaches, I’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death.

So yeah. I’m screwed.