C Gockel Writes

Featured Fantasy: Flame and Blade (Flame and Blade Book 1) by Meredith Hart

by

Featured Fantasy: Flame and Blade (Flame and Blade Book 1) by Meredith Hart

FREE as of April 1, 2023
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

For fans of ACOTAR and From Blood and Ash, this steamy enemies-to-lovers adventure about an outlaw wildmage trying to restore his family’s honor and the broken-hearted guard hired to escort him is impossible to put down!

Lord Vethe knows he isn’t one of the good guys.

Ever since he was old enough to control his illegal wildmage talents, Vethe has done horrible things to support his once-noble family. When his aunt hires a guard to help Vethe retrieve a long-lost contract and bring in some extra coin, Vethe expects the journey to be short and painful. He’s not expecting the guard to be a beautiful woman who looks at him like she wants to punch him.

And, if she discovers the secrets lurking in his family’s past, she just might decide to kill him.

Lyria Guardia let her family down and got her heart broken.

After she discovers her boyfriend in bed with another woman, Lyria limps back to the family and Guild she’d abandoned three years ago. Desperate to prove herself, she accepts a lowly escort mission: Drag a spoiled nobleman through the abandoned and supposedly harmless Demon Forest. But Lord Vethe, the nobleman she’s guiding, is far more infuriating and intriguing than she was expecting. Lyria doesn’t know if she can get through this entire mission without strangling him.

Or kissing him.

[Read more…]

Featured Fantasy: Demons and Darkness (Flame and Blade Book 4) by Meredith Hart

by

Featured Fantasy: Demons & Darkness (Flame and Blade Book 4) by Meredith Hart

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

The second Demon War has begun, and no one is safe.

Vethe and Lyria stand outside the gates of Ocrus Sheau, a mysterious kingdom where all wildmages are forced into slavery, hoping to unearth information that could help Prince Kyalam in his struggle against the Citadel without ending up in chains. Entering the kingdom depends on an invitation from the dangerous God-King, but escaping will prove even more treacherous.

On the banks of the Davelroth River, Gaul and Anette have just survived a demon attack, but not before the traitor who’d planned to betray them revealed the location of a secret wildmage encampment to a sinister Citadel master. Now Gaul and Anette must put aside their quarrels, and their growing attraction, in order to reach the encampment before the Citadel. But the encampment will hold dangers of its own, especially once Anette reveals her heritage.

Long-lost secrets will come to light, ancient prophecies will demand fulfillment, and the final battle for the future of humanity will begin when the Elementalist returns!

Previously published as The Elementalist, Demons and Darkness is the final book in an epic romantic fantasy adventure series. Fans of Grace Draven and Sarah J. Maas will love this story of forbidden magic, dangerous adventure, and sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance.

Featured Science Fiction: Murder on the Intergalactic Railway (The Ritchie and Fitz Sci-fi Murder Mystery Series Book 1) by Kate MacLeod

by

FREE as of March 28, 2023
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

For Murdina Ritchie, acceptance at the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy means one last chance at her dream of becoming a diplomat for the Union of Free Worlds. For Shackleton Fitz IV, it represents his last chance not to fail out of military service entirely.

Strange that fate should throw them together now, among the last group of students admitted after the start of the semester. They had once shared the strongest of friendships. But that all ended a long time ago.

But when an insufferable but politically important woman turns up murdered, the two agree to put their differences aside and work together to solve the case.
Because the murderer might strike again. But more importantly, solving a murder would just have to impress the dour colonel who clearly thinks neither of them belong at his academy.

Featured Fantasy: Shield of the Throne (The Second Son Book 3) by Ron C. Nieto

by

Featured Fantasy: Shield of the Throne (The Second Son Book 3) by Ron C. Nieto

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

To secure peace, he must first rally the kingdom for war…

The dust of betrayal has barely settled, and the threat of war from neighboring Mirdon looms larger than ever. Oren must unite the nobility of Westmere to fight the enemy and get them to trust his lead—or he might face a war within his borders and an invasion.

But snow will hold the mountain passes closed and the kingdom secure until spring. Oren has earned the respect and loyalty of unruly men before, when he served as Captain of the Mountain Guard, and he can do it again.

When he strikes a bold move against his greatest rival, Oren discovers no one is as they seem. The truth he has built his life on shatters, and in the aftermath, he needs to find answers to questions he had never asked himself. If he fails, a chain of events years in the making will drown the kingdom in fire and blood.

Alliances break, and new enemies show their hand. How will Oren protect his people when he can’t anticipate the next attack?

The Second Son is an exciting secondary world (alternate reality) medieval military non-magical fantasy series. It is advised to read the books in order.

Book Review: Captain of the Guard (The Second Son Book 1) by Ron C. Nieto

by

99¢ in US & UK as of January 18, 2024
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom (Also available at: Canada, Germany, Australia)

This was the best fantasy I read in 2022. It’s a secondary world adventure. There is no magic in this world, but there is action and adventure—some of the best hand to hand combat scenes I’ve read—adventure, realistic romance, and characters who jump off the page and are feel real. If you buy the first one you’ll want to buy the second. It’s even better than the first.

To protect the kingdom, he must prove his worth . . .

Oren Trevaine has never shaken the feeling that he’s not good enough, but he’s determined to avoid the same fate for his men. Oren’s first task as Captain of the Guard is to transform his unruly, undisciplined soldiers into a formidable army—if only they would cooperate.

But Oren will need to act fast because the snow is melting with the budding of spring. Soon, the enemy will be able to traverse the main pass through the imposing Sansford Range and his men must be ready to patrol the mountain.

When Oren rescues Lady Joan and her traveling party from a band of Mirdoni raiders, his worst fears are realized. The enemy has utilized less accessible routes to infiltrate their territory, and an attack is imminent.

Now Oren must not only think like the enemy, but he will need to be one step ahead. With the kingdom relying on him and Lady Joan promising her favor if he returns alive, Oren will need to prove to her and his men that he truly is good enough. Or at the very least, die trying . . .

Featured Sci-fi: Star Crossed by Multiple Authors

by

Star Crossed: 7 Novels of Space Exploration, Alien Races, Adventure, and Romance by Multiple Authors

FREE as of March 28, 2023
Click here for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany

Nook, iBooks, Kobo, & GooglePlay

Sci-fi to fall in love with… 

7 full-length novels that explore the future without forgetting that the most dangerous battles will always be within the human heart. Aliens, AI, cyborgs, galactic empires, space battles, and romance…you’ll find them all here, along with heroines and heroes you’ll cheer for.

Space doesn’t have to be cold! Download Star Crossed today.

About the Books:

Blood Will Tell – Christine Pope
When hacker Miala Fels makes a deal to split the hoard of a dead crime lord with the notorious mercenary Eryk Thorn, events take an unexpected turn….

Archangel Down – C. Gockel
Commander Noa Sato is arrested and interrogated for her part in the Archangel Project. A project she knows nothing about. Professor James Sinclair awakes in the snow knowing only one he must find Noa, a woman he’s never met. In the face of genocide they must hatch a daring plan with a ragtag crew to save the lives of millions—and their own. Every step of the way they are haunted by the final words of a secret transmission: The archangel is down.

Overload Flux – Carol Van Natta
Someone is stealing the vaccine for a galaxy-wide pandemic. Investigator Luka Foxe’s hidden mental talent is out of control, and security specialist Mairwen Morganthur hides a dark past. On a convoluted trail of corrupt pharma corporations, murderous mercenaries, sabotage, and deadly space battles, their only hope for survival lies in trusting one another.

Star Nomad – Lindsay Buroker
The Alliance has toppled the tyrannical empire. It should be a time for celebration, but not for fighter pilot Captain Alisa Marchenko. After barely surviving a crash in the final battle for freedom, she’s stranded on a dustball of a planet, billions of miles from her young daughter. She has no money or resources, and there are no transports heading to Perun, her former home and the last imperial stronghold.

The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy – Greta van der Rol
Thrust together in a race against time, ex-Admiral Chaka Saahren and Systems Engineer Allysha Marten, must resolve their personal differences to prevent an inter-species war.

Hurricane Moon – Alexis Glynn Latner
With Earth wracked by climate change, an ambitious private foundation launches a starship to discover a new world. The astronauts and scientists of Aeon are prepared to cope with every known outcome and every foreseeable unknown. But what they encounter on the other side of the stars is the unknown unknown.

The Key – Pauline Baird Jones
The key will unlock more than an unknown civilization; it will define who one woman will become…Elite pilot, Sara Donovan and resistance fighter, Kiernan Fyn must stop those that would use the key for their own agenda. Don’t miss out on this Independent Book Bronze Medal and Dream Realm Awards Winner!