C Gockel Writes

Box Set Featured Science Fiction

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99¢ as of May 18, 2020
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Welcome to Space Lore, where Arthurian legend meets Star Wars. For the first time, all three Space Lore books are included in one volume.

Near the border between two kingdoms, a vessel full of innocent passengers is destroyed. While the extent of the impending retaliation is unknown, its inevitability is not. Galactic war is approaching…

In a seedy bar in a distant corner of the solar system, a knight clad entirely in green armor puts forth a grisly challenge. The only person to accept the knight’s game is a woman who spends her time drinking and thieving.

These two acts, occurring in different parts of the galaxy, both lead to the same spot: the planet that will soon fall under attack.

“Dietzel proves a master at swashbuckling space opera.” 
– Kirkus

“Nothing in this tale was disappointing, from the great world building, to the vivid battle scenes, to the depth and heart of the central characters.” 
– Amazon Top 100 Reviewer

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Box Set List Featured Science Fiction

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Winner of the 2017 Dragon Award for Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy novel!

I am Armor. I am Fury. I Will not Fail.

Soldiers of the Terran Armor Corps wage war across the stars. Wired into mechanized battle suits, they fight the terrifying battles which must be won, no matter the cost. Their deeds are legend, their reputation feared by the enemies of Earth and her allies, but how the Corps forges young men and women into mighty warriors is shrouded by mystery.

Roland Shaw lost his parents to war, he volunteers for the Armor Corps to honor their memory and discover just how far he can push himself. To succeed, he must find the iron in his heart and prove himself worthy to the Corps. For the Armor, there is no substitute for victory and to fail is to die.

Iron Dragoons is an action-packed military sci-fi novel, the first of a new series by the author of The Ember War Saga.

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Box Set List Featured Fantasy

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The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

$2.99 as of May 15, 2020 11 AM
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A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril returns to the noble household he once served as page and is named secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule. It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions.

But it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion. And only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge — an act that will mark him as a tool of the miraculous . . . and trap him in a lethal maze of demonic paradox.

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Box Set List Featured Sci-Fi

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Justin Sloan - Prime Evil

99¢ as of May 14, 2020
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These SEALs fought alongside the Marines during the bug wars. They’re the best of the best. But nothing could have prepared them for this.

Strange interference and what looks like metal pyramids draw the SEALs’ attention to the planet. Once they have their feet on the ground though, everything goes to hell.

Teammates go missing, aggressive robot animals appear, and the mystery of what awaits the SEALs inside the pyramids may destroy even the best of the best.

What mysteries of this place will the team uncover? Will they be able to maintain their camaraderie in the face of turmoil?

If they fail, future operations in the area might never stand a chance.

Prime Evil takes you on an action-packed page turner in the spirit of spooky SciFi like Event Horizon and Horizon Zero Dawn.

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And Now for Something Completely Different…

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Fallen Angel by Charlotte Louise Dolan
This book was traditionally published in 1993. It had an okay cover then. It looks like they didn’t even try to make the ebook pretty. Sigh.

A book review of Fallen Angel by Charlotte Louise Dolan.

I have no idea how I wound up picking up this book, I think I was looking for historical cross-class romance after getting hooked on Alyssa Cole’s amazing books. I think that I found it on someone’s favorites list. I am usually not a big romance reader; I like my books to have romance in them, but I usually don’t like the story to be all or mostly about the romance. (Alyssa Cole really walks the line.)

That said…this book is definitely all about the romance, but it is really funny. It’s a Regency romantic comedy. How true is it to the culture and events of the Regency period in Great Britain? I don’t know. I know more about the mores of Late Imperial China than I do about Regency England. (Had a bit of a diversion in college, it took me to Japan and got me my first real job, so I can’t feel bad about it.) Anyway, it might not be completely historically accurate, but I didn’t feel someone had taken a modern romance and given everyone silly pants and long dresses.

There are no steamy bodice ripping scenes, just one fade to black scene and it happens after the characters are married. I do admit, when I read about non-married couples having sex in historical romances my eyelid twitches: no concern about pregnancy? Really?

Both characters grow through the book, too. The hero, a definite misogynist, finds redeeming qualities in women by the end, and not just in the heroine. The heroine, something of a doormat, learns from the hero to stick up for herself. They don’t set out to change each other, but they do.

Did I mention it’s funny? Laugh out loud funny in some parts. If you need a gentle diversion from what we shall call “Come on Eileen,” this might be the book for you.

Available at Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany

Book Review : The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

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I found myself naming an alien Eric Hoffer in Admiral Wolf, and it seemed like a good time to leave a review of this book. The True Believer is a brilliant observation of the workings of mass movements: the psychology of the people who follow, the people who create the positive buzz (beware frustrated artists), and the people who fund them (beware the idle rich.)

Mr. Hoffer wrote this book after World War II, but this book is timeless. You’ll recognize the players if you are in a country that has experienced a mass movement of late. Mr. Hoffer does point out that they aren’t always bad–but they are always chaotic.

Eric Hoffer was a stevedore, and he wrote the True Believer in his spare time. The author’s biography ties in with some of the themes of the sci-fi I’m writing. Mr. Hoffer was brilliant…and he worked on a dock. He could have written this book today and self-published it, but he would never be traditionally published. He simply doesn’t have the credentials. As it was, he was noticed by President Eisenhower. I don’t believe that could happen today. If Ike mentioned this book before today’s press, they’d skewer him for praising the intellect of a man without a college diploma.

This book is one of a kind. Highly recommended.
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