C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Artifact (Old Man’s Comeback Book 1) by John Walker

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Featured Sci-fi: Artifact—Old Man Comeback by John Walker

99¢ as of June 7, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Veteran soldier Raymond “Flip” Kinnely believed his battle days were behind him.

Now, in the quiet twilight of his life, he toils as a janitor for a powerful military contractor, far from the chaos of war. But when he arrives to find his workplace in lockdown, his routine is shattered.

An otherworldly artifact has been discovered, harbored deep in the compound. As his employers attempt to understand how it works, a mysterious prisoner stands on the verge of a brutal interrogation. Through a chance encounter, Flip hears her plea for help. Drawn to her vulnerability, he discovers she may be the only thing standing between Earth and a coming disaster.

Flip must decide: will he walk away and condemn an innocent to torture and death? Or stand against his ruthless employers?

In a moment when age and experience weigh heavily, can one former warrior summon the courage to defy the odds?

Featured Fantasy: The Power Within (Australian Supernatural: Goldfields Book 1) by Nicole R. Taylor

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Featured Fantasy: The Power Within (Australian Supernatural: Goldfields Book 1) by Nicole R. Taylor

FREE as of June 5, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, B&N, Kobo, GooglePlay

A vampire with a thirst for revenge. A witch who doesn’t know she’s a witch. In this small Australian town, darkness is waiting to rise…

When Holly Burke’s eccentric aunt dies, she’s drawn to the country town of Dunloe. The small community is haunted by its violent Gold Rush past, where deadly paranormal secrets lay as thick as gold in the hard quartz below their feet.
Oblivious to the supernatural world, Holly soon finds herself in the middle of a war for power that’s been raging for almost two centuries. A power, according to legend, her family holds the key to. The catch? She has to die.
Trapped between two warring sides—witches and vampires—Holly must unravel the secrets hidden deep within the pages of history in order to save her future.
For without the power within, she doesn’t stand a chance.

The Power Within is the first book in the Australian Supernatural: Goldfields series. Set against the backdrop of Victoria’s vibrant Gold Rush history, it tells the story of a young woman who is swept up in a struggle for power between witches and vampires that began almost 200 years ago. Mystery, murder, and magic combine in this thrilling Urban Fantasy adventure!

Featured Sci-fi: The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey (Brainship Book 1) by Anne McCaffrey

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Featured Sci-fi: The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey (Brainship Book 1) by Anne McCaffrey

$2.99 as of June 5, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom (Full-price: Canada Germany, Australia / Apple, B&N, Kobo, GooglePlay )

A Sci-fi Classic on Sale!

Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved—saved to be schooled, programmed, and implanted into the sleek titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first she had to choose a human partner—male or female—to share her exhilirating excapades in space!

Her life was to be rich and rewarding . . . resplendent with daring adventures and endless excitement, beyond the wildest dreams of mere mortals.

Gifted with the voice of an angel and being virtually indestructable, Helva XH-834 antipitated a sublime immortality.

Then one day she fell in love!

Featured Sci-fi: Colonies—the Forever World Complete Series by Ethan Rhodes

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Colonies—the Forever World Complete Series by Ethan Rhodes

99¢ as of June 5, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

A DEAD MAN’S QUEST IS NEVER OVER…
Nearly 1000 PAGES of riveting space opera with action, mystery, and everything in between!

Zane Lucas inherits more than his wildest dreams from a man he’s never met. The same week a mysterious cluster of drones appears before him during a random border patrol. Who sent them in the first place?

Earth’s alliance with the Gral is on the brink of collapse. The 43 colonies are under duress, and an unknown entity is coming for them.

His father vanished long ago in the heat of battle, and Zane can’t help but think there’s a connection. With the help of unlikely allies, a robot butler, and all the credits imaginable, Zane takes on the search for a fabled planet that might turn the tides in humanity’s favor.

Their only chance at real peace is to start a war.

Follow along with…

The Colonies: The Forever World Complete Series

Included within:

The Forever World
The Invisible Colony
The Frozen Outpost

Featured Fantasy: Soulbound (The Return of the Elves Book 1) by Bethany Adams

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Soulbound (The Return of the Elves Book 1) Kindle Edition by Bethany Adams (Author)

FREE as of June 6, 2025
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Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

A deathbed promise.

Arlyn’s quest is simple: Find her father and let him know her mother is dead. After all, Arlyn had promised her mother she’d go. The problem? Her father’s people are myths and legends, and he doesn’t even live on Earth. But despite a long journey through the mysterious mists of the Veil, finding him turns out to be the easy part.

A dream long-buried.

After five hundred years, Kai has given up on finding his soulbonded. So when he stumbles across Arlyn after returning from his latest mission and recognizes her as his mate, Kai starts their bond in haste. But he never could have imagined that his bonded is his best friend’s newfound daughter. Whoops.

A hidden conspiracy sparked to life.

Though the sight of Kai makes Arlyn’s heart pound, she isn’t sure she can forgive him for starting their bond without her permission. But her love life is the least of her problems. Her father is an elf lord, and his sudden acknowledgment of a half-human heir reignites the same conspiracy that took him away from her mother in the first place. Now Arlyn and her family must face iron wielding assassins, bigotry, and her newly awakened magical abilities if they hope to come through in one piece.

Arlyn thought she would return to Earth after meeting her father. Now she must fight to save the family she never knew she wanted.

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

Book Review: Snow Crash

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$1.99 as of June 5, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

C’s note: I read this in college back in the 90s. It’s a great ride. Highly recommended!

Now featuring never-before-seen material, the “brilliantly realized” (The New York Times Book Review) breakthrough novel from visionary author Neal Stephenson, a modern classic that predicted the metaverse and inspired generations of Silicon Valley innovators

Hiro lives in a Los Angeles where franchises line the freeway as far as the eye can see. The only relief from the sea of logos is within the autonomous city-states, where law-abiding citizens don’t dare leave their mansions.

Hiro delivers pizza to the mansions for a living, defending his pies from marauders when necessary with a matched set of samurai swords. His home is a shared 20 X 30 U-Stor-It. He spends most of his time goggled in to the Metaverse, where his avatar is legendary.

But in the club known as The Black Sun, his fellow hackers are being felled by a weird new drug called Snow Crash that reduces them to nothing more than a jittering cloud of bad digital karma (and IRL, a vegetative state).

Investigating the Infocalypse leads Hiro all the way back to the beginning of language itself, with roots in an ancient Sumerian priesthood. He’ll be joined by Y.T., a fearless teenaged skateboard courier. Together, they must race to stop a shadowy virtual villain hell-bent on world domination.