C Gockel Writes

Featured Science Fiction: How to Buy a Planet (The Cleremont Conjectures Book 1) by D.A. Holdsworth

by

Featured Science Fiction: How to Buy a Planet (The Cleremont Conjectures Book 1) by D.A. Holdsworth

99¢ in USA as of June 6, 2023
Click for current price: Amazon US

The Earth has been sold. What could possibly go wrong?

SHORTLISTED for The Selfies Fiction Award

FINALIST, Page Turner Awards

The location: London.
The date: Very, very soon.
Beset by multiple crises and buried under a growing mountain of debt, the leaders of the G7 have taken the only logical decision.

They’ve sold the planet.

When Toby, a penniless student, and his two new flatmates find out one morning on TV, they’re surprised to find the Earth’s new alien owners are staggeringly cute and bring the promise of a debt-free future. They’re just getting ready to celebrate along with the rest of the world, when a chance encounter with a mysterious professor reveals the truth. And there’s a glitch: the Earth is about to be destroyed.

Fresh, fun and fast-paced, How to Buy a Planet is the unforgettable tale of three students on an impossible quest to beat the system. Perfect for fans of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, or sci-fi hero, Doctor Who.

[Read more…]

Featured Fantasy: Ella’s Rise (Fairy Tale Realm Series Book 1) by Leslie Crowne

by

New Release
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

A forgotten princess, bent on vengeance. A reluctant prince, thrust into a role he never wanted. When fate brings them together, there is more at stake than either of them could imagine.

Ella’s Vow…

I was raised by a family of blacksmiths since my parents, the King and Queen of Sartoon, were killed in a coup. No one else in the kingdom knows my true identity. I may be the forgotten Princess, but once I get my revenge on the current royal family, everyone will know my name.

What I didn’t count on when I snuck into the palace was meeting Thal—he’s not what I imagined, or expected in a Prince. To avoid being arrested, I agree to his demands. But can I trust him, or is he like his despicable father, the King?
And why does my heart beat out of my chest when he’s near?

Thal’s Dilemma…

I wasn’t supposed to be the heir to the throne—I’m the second son. Now I’m being pressured to find a bride and secure the kingdom. When I catch Ella Briggs sneaking into the palace, we strike a bargain. She’ll be my decoy, so I can avoid having to dance with so many hopeful women at the upcoming ball.

But soon I’m embroiled in her plans, and falling for her. When she’s in my arms, nothing else matters. As we grow closer, the stakes get higher, for Ella has secrets that could ruin us both.

And she is not who she pretends to be.

Ella’s Rise is an Adult Fairy Tale Retelling of the timeless tale, Cinderella, with an unexpected twist.

All stories in this series are set in the enchanting world of the Fairy Tale Realm, where each kingdom has its own type of magic, and the Fairy Tales you remember are retold in an unusual way. Oh, and the romances are epic!

Featured Fantasy: Of Deeds Most Valiant (A Poisoned Saints Novel) by Sarah K. L. Wilson

by

Featured Fantasy: Of Deeds Most Valiant (A Poisoned Saints Novel) by Sarah K. L. Wilson

New Release
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Eleven paladins walk into a monastery. Only one knows it’s a trap.

When Victoriana Greenmantle is summoned to represent her paladin order in an unusual quest, the timing couldn’t be worse.

Having just witnessed the horrific death of her mentor, she is barely a paladin at all. Worse, she has a trapped demon on her hands and if anyone discovers she hasn’t quite managed to cast it out, she will be made to suffer consequences worse than death.

The summoning requires Victoriana to journey to the newly revealed Aching Monastery and there to search for and recover the fabled Cup of Tears on behalf of her order.

But her order is not the only one seeking this relic. And her rivals are stronger, smarter, more experienced and just as motivated as she is. Will this cynical paladin have the faith to find the truth?

When Adalbrand Von Menticure is summoned to the Aching Monastery he is unamused. Far from his holy work healing the sick and injured, this quest seems a waste of his time. But when the murders start and he’s thrown together unwittingly with a young female paladin who keeps breaking all the rules and drawing everyone’s ire, he is forced to confront ghosts of his past. Can he push past his guilt to accept this tempting ally?

Together, these two holy paladins may be the only ones who can discover what or who is killing their compatriots and whether the Cup of Tears is really worth the bloodshed and danger within the monastery walls before time runs out and they are trapped forever.

A complicated mission, you say? Oh, but it gets worse, because forbidden love is slowly stalking them both, complicating everything, and leaving them each more vulnerable than they can afford to be in the face of a danger worse than either of them ever imagined.

Will this pair find strength in their strict discipline and holy orders in time to escape, or will they fall before the twin dangers of a rogue killer and an attraction more deadly than the simple risk of death?

This adult romantic epic fantasy stand-alone novel features paladins in all their aspects and is perfect for lovers of T. Kingfisher, Tamsyn Muir and Danielle L. Jensen. Though this book is a part of a collection of books linked by the same world it is a complete story in itself and does not bleed out into the other books in the series.

Featured Science Fiction: The Senthien (Descendants of Earth Book 1) by Tara Jade Brown

by

Featured Science Fiction: The Senthien (Descendants of Earth Book 1) by Tara Jade Brown

99¢ as of June 2, 2023
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Kobo, GooglePlay

Five thousand years in the future, the Earth is dead. A galactic network of terraformed planets, connected by teleportation portals, is populated by the genetically improved Descendants. The original Humans, labeled dangerous and barbaric, are kept under constant surveillance.

In this seemingly peaceful society, Dora Dana Dasnan, a gifted Visionaire, serves the leading race of Descendants by reporting her Visions of the future. But when she witnesses a forbidden Vision — an intimate contact with a Human man — her very life is in danger.

She needs to escape before her masters find out, but in this disciplined and controlled society that is impossible. Just when Dora loses all hope, a teleportation error sends her to a new and astoundingly beautiful world. Soon, she meets the natives, and as she adapts to an alien culture, she also reveals a tightly kept secret of her own.

Featured Fantasy: Taxing Courtship (The Hands of Destin Book 1) by Jaycee Jarvis

by

Featured Fantasy: Taxing Courtship (The Hands of Destin Book 1) by Jaycee Jarvis

FREE as of June 4, 2023
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

In a magical realm, an enchanting Lady ensnares a virtuous tax-collector into her dangerous double life.

Lady by day, lockpick by night, Em has some serious misgivings about her latest sneak job. It stinks of espionage, and she’d be more comfortable with straightforward theft. Her intuition proves right when she is confronted by her client, a sweet and sexy mind-reading tax-collector named Quintin. The job turns sour when they are discovered by his blackmailing boss. Posing as lovers to throw off the scent, their passionate embrace haunts Em even as she returns to her brittle facade as a pampered Lady of the Realm.

This double life is further threatened when her criminal contact is thrown in the stocks, leaving her in danger of exposure, and even worse, with no way to support the temple that has been her responsibility since her mother’s death. In desperation, she seeks Quintin out and is horrified to discover he is a Hand of Destin, marked for service to the Troika by a feline familiar. Hands are loyal and true, defenders of the weak, upholders of the law, notoriously honor-bound. In short, everything that she, a willing outlaw, is not.

Despite their differences, the attraction between Em and Quintin only grows stronger, even as she seeks out new ways to earn the beans she needs for her temple. When Em’s father starts talking marriage settlements with a wealthy, but odious, suitor, Em realizes just how much Quintin means to her. But can she find a way to save her temple and still marry her poor but perfect tax collector?

Featured Science Fiction: Qualify (The Atlantis Grail Book 1) by Vera Nazarian

by

Featured Science Fiction: Qualify (The Atlantis Grail Book 1) by Vera Nazarian

FREE as of May 31, 2023
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

The Atlantis Grail has been optioned for development as a feature film series and/or TV series.

You have two options. You die, or you Qualify.

The year is 2047. An extinction-level asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, and the descendants of ancient Atlantis have returned from the stars in their silver ships to offer humanity help.

But there’s a catch.

They can only take a tiny percent of the Earth’s population back to the colony planet Atlantis. And in order to be chosen, you must be a teen, you must be bright, talented, and athletic, and you must Qualify.

Sixteen-year-old Gwenevere Lark is determined not only to Qualify but to rescue her entire family.

Because there’s a loophole.

If you are good enough to Qualify, you are eligible to compete in the brutal games of the Atlantis Grail, which grants all winners the laurels, high tech luxuries, and full privileges of Atlantis Citizenship. And if you are in the Top Ten, then all your wildest wishes are granted… Such as curing your mother’s cancer.

There is only one problem.

Gwen Lark is known as a klutz and a nerd. While she’s a hotshot in classics, history, science, and languages, the closest she’s come to sports is a backyard pool and a skateboard.

This time she is in over her head, and in for a fight of her life, against impossible odds and world-class competition—including Logan Sangre, the most amazing guy in her school, the one she’s been crushing on, and who doesn’t seem to know she exists.

Because every other teen on Earth has the same idea.

You Qualify or you die.

See all the Box Set List Featured Fantasy | See All Featured Sci-Fi