C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Bitstreams of Hope by Andy Haymaker

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Featured Sci-fi: Bitstreams of Hope by Andy Haymaker

99¢ as of December 26, 2024
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

“A thought-provoking challenge to familiar dystopian SF tropes…makes good use of parallel action to propel the tale along, and readers will never be sure of where its very uncertain course leads.” — Kirkus Reviews

“A refreshing departure from AI-centric clichés, skillfully exploring the idea that technology holds immense potential—amid equally monumental ethical accountability… a gripping snapshot of humanity’s future.” — BookLife

When a powerful corporate AI unexpectedly gains consciousness, its unpredictable behavior causes fear and trouble for the three main characters. Venkat, the brash tech founder who created the system, scrambles to explain and control its actions. Devyn, a humanist minister intent on putting people first and keeping technology in its place, faces tough choices when the AI offers to help her achieve her progressive political goals. Darcie, an unemployed teacher, faces dire consequences after accepting the AI’s help with her financial struggles. But as surprising events bring these three very different people together and the story grows to captivate the whole country, they realize that the AI’s goals are more closely aligned with human flourishing than they thought.

Bitstreams of Hope is character-driven, yet fast-paced and rich with a technical accuracy lacking in most AI stories. Get a preview of tomorrow’s headlines about how this technology will upend our world. Then follow the dramatic journey of humanity’s coming transformation in the other books of The Bitstreams Thread.

Featured Fantasy: Lost Among the Living by Simone St. James

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Featured Fantasy: Lost Among the Living by Simone St. James

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Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay (FREE at your public library!)

From the New York Times bestselling author of Murder Road comes a gripping novel that “is the perfect blend of history and mystery, with a little paranormal activity and romance thrown in for the ride” (Suspense Magazine).

England, 1921. Three years after her husband, Alex, disappeared, shot down over Germany, Jo Manders still mourns his loss. Working as a paid companion to Alex’s wealthy, condescending aunt, Dottie Forsyth, Jo travels to the family’s estate in the Sussex countryside. But there is much she never knew about her husband’s origins…and the revelation of a mysterious death in the Forsyths’ past is just the beginning…
 
All is not well at Wych Elm House. Dottie’s husband is distant, and her son was grievously injured in the war. Footsteps follow Jo down empty halls, and items in her bedroom are eerily rearranged. The locals say the family is cursed, and that a ghost in the woods has never rested. And when Jo discovers her husband’s darkest secrets, she wonders if she ever really knew him.  Isolated in a place of deception and grief, she must find the truth or lose herself forever.
 
And then a familiar stranger arrives at Wych Elm House…

Featured Fantasy: Becoming Crone (The Crone Wars Book 1) by Lydia M. Hawke

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Featured Fantasy: Becoming Crone (The Crone Wars Book 1) by Lydia M. Hawke

99¢ as of December 26, 2024
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Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

She wanted purpose. She got dark magic and war.

Claire Emerson is adrift. After a lifetime as a wife, mother, and grandma, she never saw divorce or loneliness coming and is desperate for some sense of purpose. But when her sixtieth birthday brings a snarky gargoyle, an annoyingly sexy wolf shifter, and an unknown magical calling, she thinks she’s losing the only thing she has left: her sanity.

Refusing to believe she’s the powerful defender of humankind her so-called protectors claim, Claire attempts a return to her safe life… only to have her powers ignite when she’s attacked by dark supernatural creatures. And without the training she was supposed to have received, she has no idea how she’ll defeat sinister mages plotting her demise.

Can Claire overcome creaky joints and major hot flashes in time to save the world – and her own life?

Featured Fantasy: Riley Cruz Series Books 1 -3 by L.A. McBride

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Featured Fantasy: Riley Cruz Series Books 1 -3 by L.A. McBride

99¢ as of December 24, 2024
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I’m a shifter with a checkered past and sticky fingers.

I like my new life. I’ve got good friends, cheap barbecue, and weekly karaoke. Sure, I live in an apartment with more deadbolts than functioning windows. And yeah, I earn just enough tips as a mediocre bartender to buy name brand ramen noodles. But I can be as flamboyant and fun as I want—as long as I keep my hands clean.

When a mysterious stranger strolls into my bar with tales of a magical dagger so rare it’s guaranteed to start a bidding war, that itch is back. One last heist…for old times’ sake. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

With an uptight alpha werewolf dogging my every step and a demon after my prize, this job could be my downfall. One wrong move, and the pack of werewolves I ran from eight years ago will come looking for payback. Only this time, they won’t leave me breathing. Hopefully, my survival skills are better than my bartending.

Series Omnibus Includes:
1. Relic Hunter
2. Brimstone Burglar
3. Magic Heist

The Riley Cruz series stars a goat shifter who steals magical artifacts. If you like fun, fast-paced urban fantasy with quirky characters, found family, and a dose of slow-burn, opposites-attract romance, this is the series for you.

Featured Sci-fi: The Enemy of an Enemy (Lost Tales of Power Volume 1) by Vincent Trigili

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Featured Sci-fi: The Enemy of an Enemy (Lost Tales of Power Volume 1) by Vincent Trigili

FREE as of December 24, 2024
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany (Full price Amazon Australia)

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

Vydor is riding a wave of success, but now his ship, the Dragon Claw, is being sent to investigate a mysterious event deep within the Empire’s space. A secret research colony has fallen silent and the forces sent to investigate were never heard from again.

A new enemy has come to the Empire bringing with it dark powers that were abandoned long before the Empire was born. Powers that were thought to be legends and myths.

It’s up to Vydor to keep this force at bay and protect the Empire, but it may come at the cost of his faith and shake the foundations of the Empire itself.

The Lost Tales of Power is an open-ended series of Sci-Fi/Fantasy books set in a vast multiverse featuring a mixture of traditional fantasy and science fiction elements.

Lost Tales Series:
Volume I – The Enemy of an Enemy
Volume II – The Academy
Volume III – Rise of Shadows
Volume IV – Resurgence of Ancient Darkness
Volume V – The Sac’a’rith
Volume VI – Spectra’s Gambit
Volume VII – Sac’a’rith: Rebirth
Volume VIII – Mage Hunter
Volume IX – The Cerulean Mines

Book Review: The Horse: A Galloping History of Humanity by Timothy C. Winegard

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I love this type of book! It traces the ripples of one pivotal stone toss across the waters of human history—or in this case, the ripples of grass through the steppes. Horses were a mode of transportation, a machine of agriculture, and a weapon of war for nearly 5,000 years. This book traces their domestication, their adoption as a mode of transport, and their eventual importance in warfare. It’s surprising, informative, and entertaining.

Highly recommended!

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