C Gockel Writes

Featured Fantasy: The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig

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Featured Fantasy: The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig

$2.99 as of January 12, 2024
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An instant #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller! • Drawing on the Grimm Brothers’ dark fairytale, “Godfather Death,” this new novel from the bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows is a sweeping, fantastical saga of actions and consequences.

All gifts come with a price.

Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.

When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.

But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?

From the astonishing mind of Erin A. Craig comes the breathtaking fairy tale retelling readers have been waiting for— what does a life well-lived mean, and how do we justify the impossible choices we make for the ones we love? The Thirteenth Child is a must-read for fans of dark fairy tales, romantasy, and epic fantasy alike.

Featured Sci-fi: Neon Nights (There’s no Murder in Paradise Book 1) by Anna Mocikat

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Featured Sci-fi: Neon Nights (There's no Murder in Paradise Book 1) by Anna Mocikat

FREE as of January 12, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

There’s no murder in paradise.

Homicide detective Siro Ferreira-Nunes must solve his most challenging case.

More and more people end up dead in the “city of dreams,” an allegedly perfect society. The victims haven’t just been murdered; they’ve been also horribly mutilated and stripped of their neural implants and augmentations. This is not the work of a serial killer but the signature of crime syndicates who sell the costly augmentations on the black market.

A specialist in organized crime, detective Ferreira-Nunes is the right man for job. Partnered with the sharp-witted Kate Spader, they delve into the seedy underworld of Oldtown, the megacity’s most notorious district, where life is cheap and criminal masterminds know how to evade the all-controlling “perfect” society of Olympias.

One of the victims, a popular TV star provides a surprising clue: behind his shiny smile the actor hid a shocking double life in Oldtown’s infamous redlight district. Was the man really just a victim?

The investigation leads Siro and Kate from Oldtown’s gritty shadows to the opulent penthouses of the elite in the skyscrapers above. After the detectives barely survive an assassination attempt on their lives, the Guardian Angels, Olympias’ notorious elite cyborg enforcers enter the stage.

But can they be trusted or are they following their own agenda?

“Neon Nights” is a spin-off from the acclaimed “Behind Blue Eyes” series but can be read as a standalone—an exciting mix of cyber intrigue, sex, and danger.

For fans of “Altered Carbon” and noir detective stories!

Featured Fantasy: The Dragoneer Trilogy (Books 1 – 3) by Vickie and Danny Knestaut

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Featured Fantasy: The Dragoneer Trilogy (Books 1 - 3) by Vickie and Danny Knestaut

99¢ as of January 10, 2025 (Sale ending soon!)
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom (Full price Canada, Germany, Australia)

Start the adventure. Own the sky.

As the only child of the dragoneer, Trysten has a strong connection to the dragons of the village weyr. When her father is injured and can no longer lead the dragons into battle, he must choose his successor. Winter is waning, and the mountain passes will soon open to an enemy older than memory. Trysten wants the job, but tradition forbids women from holding the title.

When Trysten’s father chooses her childhood friend as the new dragoneer, Trysten sets aside her own ambitions in order to save the village. But the alpha dragon is not bound by tradition and has ideas of her own. Change is in the air. As old enemies develop new tactics, even older enemies once relegated to myth are beginning to stir.

It will take an equally mythical hero and her dragon to face enemy hordes in the sky, armies in the mountains, and dragon riders who become something new in death. All pale in comparison to the woman who stands against the traditions of men.

This box set contains the first three full-length novels in The Dragoneer series, and is a great place to start for those who have not yet visited the dragons of Cadwaller.

Featured Science Fiction: Negation Force by Anthony James

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Featured Science Fiction: Negation Force by Anthony James

FREE as of January 10, 2025
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Negation Force. A planet without power, locked down by an alien war fleet.

The human Confederation has known an unprecedented time of peace, unheard of in a universe where every other species is not only technologically advanced, but also incredibly hostile.

The good times are about to end.

Out on the fringes, the planet Atlantis is attacked by an alien foe remembered only by the oldest members of the Space Corps. These aliens – known as Vraxar – are abominations of flesh and metal, driven to exterminate every other life form in the universe. Now it’s humanity’s turn.

In the ruins of the Tillos military installation, Sergeant Eric McKinney is determined to fight back and find out why the Vraxar have come. Meanwhile, a response fleet is mustered with the intention of facing the enemy head-on. It’s a mission with no hope of success.

As events unfold, it becomes apparent the Vraxar have secrets which give clues to their purpose. The answers are more shocking than anyone could have imagined.

The lives of strangers are intertwined and together they must try and salvage something from this first exchange in a war that will not end until one side is utterly defeated. Luckily, the Tillos base holds secrets of its own…a warship with an exceptionally powerful Obsidiar core is contained within an underground bunker. It is the only hope for Atlantis…

Negation Force is a science fiction action and adventure book which begins The Obsidiar Fleet series.

Author’s Note: this book is set forty years after events in the Survival Wars series. There is no necessity to read the earlier books to enjoy this one.

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

Featured Fantasy: A Killer Welcome (Haunting Avery Winters Book 1) by Dionne Lister

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Featured Fantasy: A Killer Welcome (Haunting Avery Winters Book 1) by Dionne Lister

99¢ as of January 9, 2024
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Avery Winters was overjoyed to be brought back to life… unfortunately, the dead were waiting for her.

Aussie journalist Avery Winters was content—she had a caring boyfriend, great job, and supportive… okay, so her parents weren’t actually supportive, but she’d accepted she could never be the son they’d wanted seeing as how she was born a girl. Avoiding them seemed to work well, and, she reasoned, no one’s life was perfect. And that was fine, except whilst covering a news story in a storm, Avery’s cosy life disappeared in a flash. Lightning struck, stopping her heart and blowing her favourite black boots to smithereens. It was pure luck that an off-duty nurse was walking nearby.

When Avery came to in the ambulance en route to hospital, she’d thought the worst was over. She was wrong. Her lightning-induced hallucinations—there was no way they were ghosts—were impossible to hide. Her boyfriend soon left, and her boss suggested she take extended leave. Unable to cover her rent, she moved back in with her parents. And that’s when the fun really began.

Unable to cope with their insistence she was crazy, and desperate for an escape, she responded to a journalist-wanted ad… in the UK, because getting mega far away from her parents could only be a good thing. Armed with a new fear of storms, companions others couldn’t see, and the hope that leaving the stress behind would improve her mental state, she boarded a plane for London. What she didn’t count on was not being able to leave her ghosts behind… literally. Oh, and that the quaint English village she’d be living in had more skeletons in its closet than the Natural History Museum. When she stumbles upon a dead body in her rented apartment on her first day, she’s tempted to get back on the plane. But whilst it’s not a good omen, returning to her parents would be worse, so she decides to stay. Only, she’s not sure if it’s the best decision she’s ever made, or the worst.

She’s about to find out.

Featured Fantasy: City of Stairs (The Divine Cities Book 1) by Robert Jackson Bennet

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Featured Fantasy: City of Stairs (The Divine Cities Book 1) by Robert Jackson Bennet

$1.99 as of January 9, 2024
Click for current price: Amazon US, Canada, Germany (Regular price at: United Kingdom, Australia )

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An atmospheric and intrigue-filled novel of dead gods, buried histories, and a mysterious, protean city–from one of America’s most acclaimed young fantasy writers.

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself—first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it—stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy.

Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem—and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.