C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Nepenthe Rising (Stars in Shadow Book 1) by John Triptych

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Featured Sci-fi: Nepenthe Rising (Stars in Shadow Book 1) by John Triptych

99¢ as of July 14, 2025
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The most lethal pirate crew in the galaxy just met their match.

In the far future, two major factions are locked in a galactic cold war. As tensions mount between the technocratic Union and the genome-harnessing Concordance, both sides anxiously watch for a chance to conquer the other.

The Nepenthe is a pirate vessel, loyal to neither. Led by the enigmatic Captain Dangard, her rough and ready crew includes the cat-like alien Commander Creull, Zeno the immortal synthetic, the dashing Garrett Strand, and Duncan Hauk, a promising young recruit.

Hired by a cryptic employer, the crew waylays a transport ship carrying a mysterious passenger. In due time, this incident sparks the beginnings of an interstellar conflict that could threaten the state of known space.

The first of an epic new sci-fi series, Nepenthe Rising delivers what today’s fans want: detailed world-building, thrilling action, and mind-blowing adventure on a grand scale.

Featured Fantasy: Rune of Thorns (Enchanted Shadows Book 2) by Kelly N. Jane

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Featured Fantasy: Rune of Thorns (Enchanted Shadows Book 2) by Kelly N. Jane

New Release
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For readers who love epic fantasy with prophecy, fae magic, and political intrigue, where duty clashes with desire, and fate is never what it seems. Fans of Wheel of Time, The Queen’s Rising, and The Realm of the Elderlings will feel right at home.

Vengeance has its cost. Now, Rowena must pay.

Haunted by the weight of her loss, Rowena’s path to redemption is anything but clear. A web of deception tears Rowena from Bram’s side, forcing her to learn that trust is as fragile as the throne she lost. No one is beyond suspicion—not even the man who swore to stand by her.

Bram’s secret has been exposed. And now, it may cost him everything.

The governing druids summoned Bram to answer for his actions, forcing his return to a homeland he barely recognizes. What he uncovers shatters his beliefs, leaving him at a crossroads: upholding his sacred duty or following a path that risks unraveling everything he’s fighting for.

The fate of the realm hangs in the balance, but for Rowena and Bram, the most significant battle lies within. They must confront their deepest fears, challenge their loyalties, and decide whether the love they have found is worth the cost of duty.

Because saving the world may require sacrificing what they need most—each other.

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

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

FREE as of July 14, 2025
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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

Featured Sci-fi: Diplomat’s Apprentice Books 1 – 3 by LJ Dix

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Featured Sci-fi: Diplomat's Apprentice Books 1 - 3 by LJ Dix

99¢ as of July 12, 2025
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The best laid plans . . . Fall apart when family gets involved!

Anwyn’s family has always assumed that she’d follow in the footsteps of her illustrious mother and uncle as a diplomat and eventual head of state. But Anwyn is an impulsive rule-breaker, and she’s made other plans: getting off her home planet and seeing the galaxy after training as a starship pilot.

Persuaded to go with her uncle on one diplomatic mission, Anwyn arrives at a planet in the midst of a violent uprising.

Space battles, daring rescues, dramatic chases, firefights and yes, even a bit of diplomacy, all make for a more exciting trip than Anwyn could have imagined. For her uncle has a hidden past that comes to light when they run into a small, specialized band of freelance agents with their own agenda, who know her uncle far too well.

Anwyn will find unexpected allies and dangerous adversaries. But she will need to learn to think before she acts if she wants to help her uncle and survive her journey as a Diplomat’s Apprentice?

Included in this boxed set:

  1. Diplomat’s Apprentice
  2. Pilot’s Apprentice
  3. Pilot’s Quest

Grab your copy and dive into this sci-fi adventure today!

Book Review: His Majesty’s Dragon

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His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

$1.99 as of July 12, 2025
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Well, this was delightful. Recently I read a Regency Romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. The culture of Regency era Europe is so foreign, that it might as well be fantasy. There are gazillions of Regency Romances out there and I thought I might find another I liked as much quite easily. Ha, ha, ha…No.

And then I discovered His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik. I am a huge fan of her reimagined fairy tales Uprooted and Spinning Silver, and decided to give this a shot. His Majesty’s Dragon is NOT a Romance; it is better. It has the cultural voyeurism that I so enjoy with DRAGONS! Talking dragons that take the place of airplanes and join the Napoleonic Wars. The lead human character is a good guy, but a bit on the stiff side. The author writes this stiffness in a way that makes it endearing, and shows the positive attributes of that sort of character. Too often the upright individual winds up the minor antagonist in fiction. The hero always has to be the maverick.

It is a super fun book. It is the perfect thing to take your mind off things that we shall not mention it by name here, but it rhymes with “Come on Eileen.”

UPDATE: I finished the whole series, adored it, and went into a state of withdrawal afterwards. It is traditionally published and very popular…and therefore available at libraries, though the first two ebooks are reasonably priced.

Available at Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia

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Featured Fantasy: Hedgewitch for Hire by Christine Pope

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Featured Fantasy: Hedgewitch for Hire by Christine Pope

START THE SERIES FREE — Book 2 Only 99¢ & Book 3 Only $2.99
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When you pull up stakes, make sure you don’t get stabbed in the back.

Self-taught in the arcane arts, hedgewitch Selena Marx is comfortable doing divination for West Los Angeles’ anxiety-ridden housewives, lawyers, and aspiring actresses. Her biggest challenge? Avoiding Lucien Dumond, leader of the Greater Los Angeles Necromancers’ Guild, who views her as fresh meat to add to his harem of slavishly devoted groupies.

Selena’s not interested in the slimy, celebrity-schmoozing sorcerer, but nobody turns Lucien down without consequences. When he threatens to fit her with magical cement shoes and drop her off the Santa Monica Pier, Selena’s Tarot cards point her to Globe, Arizona, for a new home, a new shop, and a cursed pet cat.

Just as she’s settling in and meeting the locals — including Calvin Standingbear, hunky chief of the San Ramon Apache tribal police — Lucien tracks her down…and promptly disappears. When his body turns up on tribal lands, it’s up to Calvin to investigate. Starting with Selena.

And when one of Lucien’s acolytes is killed, traces of dark magic and cryptic warnings from the spirits send Selena and Calvin in a race against time — before a too-close-for-comfort evil cuts her own life short.

The Hedgewitch for Hire series will continue with book 2, Social Medium, releasing on March 31, 2021. The romance subplot will stretch over the entire series, while each novel will be a self-contained mystery without a cliffhanger.