C Gockel Writes

Featured Fantasy: The Cursed Academy Books 1 – 6 by Holly Hook

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Featured Fantasy: The Cursed Academy Books 1 - 6 by Holly Hook

$1.49 as of December 4, 2023
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

The Cursed Academy Complete Series Boxset is six books of young adult magic, mythical creatures, snarky romance, and academy adventure! Binge on six full academy novels, or one complete series, for one low price! Twists and turns await. Dive into a tale of magic, myth, and chaos today!

When the Greek gods mysteriously woke twenty years ago, everyone descended from them gained special abilities. The gods opened Olympian Academy to find and teach those lucky souls how to hone their powers and succeed at life. Everyone dreams of that sacred invite.

My chances of getting a visit from a tracker are nothing. For one thing, I’m a klutz. For another, I live in a small town with no future, and I’ll just work at my grandmother’s dusty store once I graduate high school. I’d give anything to escape.

But when I accidentally summon a void that almost eats my so-called friend, my tracker finds me.

Ronin.

Insanely gorgeous, descended from Zeus, and out of my league, he sweeps me out of town to be sorted. Great, right?

But there’s a catch. Only some magical people go to Olympian Academy. Others get sent to Cursed, where the descendants of dark gods and monsters train to serve.

Guess what? I’m unlucky. Cursed Academy, here we come.

But maybe that’s not the end of it. I have a type of magic no one’s seen before, and even though Ronin goes to Olympian next door, he keeps finding me. And now he’s my tutor.

That’s a good thing, even if he teases me constantly. Someone else is trying to kidnap me for a vile plan, and maybe they’re already on campus. With nowhere else to turn, I need Ronin’s help.

Can I deal with the terrifying truth about myself and my powers?

Cursed Academy is a teen supernatural academy romance series based on the dark side of Greek mythology. It is a complete series.

Featured Science Fiction: Time Guild 1 (A Folding Space Novel) by AM Scott

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Featured Science Fiction: Time Guild 1 (A Folding Space Novel)

New Release
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The adventures of Saree, Captain Ruhger, and the crew of Lightwave Fold Transport continue!

In her newly confirmed status as Queen of Lightwave Clutch, Saree plans to train new human clock maintainers to carry on the work she started: tuning fold clocks and smoothing space. But the skills that came so naturally to her prove difficult to transfer, and progress is slow.

When a shady faction in Gov Human decides to take matters into their own hands, Saree, Ruhger and Lightwave’s crew must run for their lives—and the lives of their future children.

Dependable allies refuse to assist them. Neutral parties become adversaries. And every fold seems to drop them into a hotter system with new enemies and more conspiracies. Saree and the crew are running out of time and places to hide.

Sometimes the best defense is attack. Do they dare take the fight to their enemies? And if they do, can they possibly survive?

Featured Science Fiction: USS Lincoln Mercy Kill (USS Hamilton Book 7) by Mark Wayne McGinnis

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USS Lincoln: Mercy Kill (USS Hamilton Book 7)

FREE as or December 3, 2023
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Brace yourself for the most electrifying, adrenaline-fueled mission yet with ‘USS Lincoln — Mercy Kill’ by Mark Wayne McGinnis.

Caught in a deadly game of interstellar cat and mouse with a new and vile alien enemy, Captain Galvin Quintos will be forced to make choices no US Space Navy Captain should ever have to make — including who among those he cares most about should live or die.

A cosmic storm is coming, one that has already decimated the long-lost crew of USS Lincoln.

Has USS Adams already fallen into the same perilous trap, poised to succumb to the same fate? Has Doctor Vivian Leigh finally had enough uncertainty aboard a military warship? Is it time to bid farewell to a three-hundred-year-old ChronoBot friend? Put up the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign, grab a bag of popcorn, switch your phone to silent, and sink into that favorite chair of yours… you’re in for a long night.

And when you’re done with this book you don’t want to miss ChronoBot Chronicles coming out in August of 2023.

Featured Science Fiction: Fractured Orbits (Encoded Orbits Book 1) by Jeannette Bedard

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Featured Science Fiction: Fractured Orbits (Encoded Orbits Book 1) by Jeannette Bedard

FREE as of December 2, 2023
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She is a mutation. She is an abomination. She is a power that could change the universe – or end it. And she is only seven years old.

It’s been 250 years since we discovered the vast web of wormholes, created by an alien race, linking a series of planets. Worlds where, with a little genetic tinkering, humans could thrive. No one thought about side effects until it was too late. Now laws prevent further tampering—but not everyone follows the law. The Protectorate used their military might to enforce these laws.

For Veena, a military cipher decoder, these wars are more than her job – they’re the centre of her existence. She knows a secret: the alien race that created the wormholes may not be gone, and pose a threat.

And even worse, she knows that her own daughter is one of “the enemy”. Born with telekinetic powers, seven-year-old Molly is a mutant who must hide her true nature, or face extermination.

But when an accident reveals her child’s powers, Veena’s worst nightmare comes true. The military snatches Molly—to turn her into a weapon, and use her power to change the face of the galaxy… or destroy it.

Now, Veena is on the run, trying to save her child. Nowhere to hide, no one to trust. She can’t give up. The universe is on the brink of destruction, and it is up to her to stop it all from escalating and falling into the madness of a Fractured Orbit.

Featured Fantasy: Vampire Formula Series by P.A. Ross

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Featured Fantasy: Vampire Formula Series by P.A. Ross

FREE First in Series as of December 2, 2023 (all following books only $2.99!)
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany

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What if you could be superhuman for a night?
Take bloody revenge on those who have wronged you, with no one knowing.

That’s the tantalizing offer Jon Harper gets from Thorn, a sultry, mysterious vampire.

An injection of the vampire formula temporarily empowers him with abilities of the dark immortals. In a fury of claws and fangs, he vanquishes his enemies and discovers a forbidden love. But as he delves deeper into the world of vampires, he makes new powerful enemies and realizes the power of the night may change him forever.

With time running out, Jon must learn Thorn’s true intentions before he faces an ultimatum: Forgiveness or Vengeance, Day or Night, Human or Vampire?

With its suspenseful action, intriguing mystery, and passionate romance, fans of vampire fiction will be entranced.
A blend and twist of the vampire lore. “Let the right one in”, “Department 19,” and “Twilight”.

Download now before the price changes!

Bonus Material included:

There is also a free prequel story to download
“I Want Vengeance: Vampire Formula Book 0”
Plus the story continues in
“The Truth of Vengeance: Vampire Formula Book 2”
“The Enemies of Vengeance: Vampire Formula Book 3”
And concludes in:
“The War of Vengeance: Vampire Formula Book 4”

Book Review: Winternight Trilogy

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The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden

First Book $1.99 as of December 2, 2023

Click here for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany & Kobo, iBooks, Nook, GooglePlay

The setup:

Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.

Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.

But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed—to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

My review:

This series, this series! I picked up the first book, The Bear and the Nightingale a few years back on sale but just didn’t get around to reading it. I’m not sure how it got to the top of my Kindle TBR pile, but I’m so glad it did!

If you like Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and Spinning Silver, or her Temeraire series, I think you’ll love Winternight. Katherine Arden’s trilogy weaves Russian Folklore, Medieval History, and religious tradition into an epic saga of faith, chaos and death, and coexistence between Christianity and more ancient traditions.

I am not a fan of books that set up Christianity as an irredeemable evil–and this one didn’t. There is one man of faith who is an antagonist, but there are also men of faith who are heroes (in other words, like real life), and there are beings of the ancient traditions who are antagonists and heroes, too.

The background of the story is the days leading up to Russia’s battle with the Tatars that in many ways solidified Russia’s disparate provinces into a united country.

I highly recommend it. Although the ebooks are pricey (you can’t resell ebooks to recover some of your costs–in essence you are only leasing them for as much as you pay for them) the books themselves are widely available at libraries, and through Amazon second hand.

The first book, The Bear and the Nightingale is available at Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia (oddly, affordably priced in eBook in Australia!), Germany & Kobo, iBooks, Nook, GooglePlay