C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Echoes of Starlight (Wings of Earth Book 1) by Eric Michael Craig

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Featured Sci-fi: Echoes of Starlight (Wings of Earth Book 1) by Eric Michael Craig

FREE as of May 17, 2026
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A vanished colony. A forbidden landing,

And an impossible choice that could cost it all.

Captain Ethan Walker is just trying to haul freight, keep his ship flying, and live by the rules. But when he arrives at Starlight Colony with his cargo and two paying passengers, he finds it eerily abandoned.

No people. No remains. No explanation.

Just empty buildings and an echoing silence where one hundred thousand people should be.

Ethan is obligated to report the missing colony to authorities, and FleetCom orders him to wait for a patrol ship to confirm the discovery. Unfortunately, his shipping company demands he return his cargo safely to Earth. Immediately.

When his passengers make a reckless choice that forces his hand, Ethan must disobey everyone’s orders and risk his ship, his license, and the trust of his crew, to go down to the colony.

What he finds could change everything.

The mystery begins in Echoes of Starlight. Read it now and take your first step into the epic world of Wings of Earth. Discover a truth that will shake the stars.

Featured Sci-fi: Rath’s Deception (The Janus Group Book 1) by Piers Platt

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Featured Sci-fi: Rath's Deception (The Janus Group Book 1) by Piers Platt

FREE as of May 17, 2026
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On the cut-throat streets of Tarkis, orphaned teens like Rath end up jailed … or dead. So when the shadowy Janus Group offers Rath a chance to earn riches beyond his wildest dreams, he seizes it.

But the Janus Group is as ruthless as the elite assassins it controls. 

Rath will have to survive their grueling, off-world training, and fulfill all fifty kills in his contract before a single cent comes his way. And ending so many lives comes with a price Rath can’t anticipate.

It’ll certainly cost him what’s left of his innocence. It may well cost him his life.

Featured Fantasy: Fate of the Darkmages by Orlando A. Sanchez

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Featured Fantasy: Fate of the Darkmages by Orland A. Sanchez

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Book 2 & Book 3 only $3.99 Each
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Sometimes the safest place is in the midst of danger.

Darkmages die.

Everyone knew this.

Everyone accepted it…except her.

Meet Valentina, the last member of the Forza bloodline, a darkmage and granddaughter of Alfonse Forza—one of the most powerful and infamous Darkmages to walk the earth.

Until he disappeared without a trace.

The last known location of the Eclipse was inside the Mage Directorate Headquarters. She must now infiltrate the Directorate, locate the missing Eclipse, and somehow escape with her life.

Everything was going as planned, until her plan ran into Xander Ashford—Enforcer Xander Ashford, who has sworn to kill darkmages.

Now, Valentina must unleash her dormant darkmage powers, find and recover the Eclipse all while evading the Directorate and Inquisitor Emery, the lead mage who controls a relentless group of mage enforcers who follow only one law when it comes to darkmages.

Darkmages die.

Featured Sci-fi: Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson

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From the “finest science fiction writer now writing,” a sci-fi thriller about researchers cut off from the rest of the world while studying alien life (Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly).

Robert Charles Wilson “writes superior science fiction thrillers” (The New York Times). Now Wilson tells a gripping tale of alien contact and human love in a mysterious but hopeful universe.

At Blind Lake, a large federal research installation in northern Minnesota, scientists are using a technology they barely understand to watch everyday life in a city of lobster-like aliens upon a distant planet. They can’t contact the aliens in any way or understand their language. All they can do is watch.

Then, without warning, a military cordon is imposed on the Blind Lake site. All communication with the outside world is cut off. No one knows why.

The scientists, nevertheless, go on with their research. Among them are Marguerite Hauser and the man she recently divorced, Raymond Scutter. They continue to work together despite the tension between them. Ray believes their efforts are doomed; that the aliens will forever be an enigma.

Marguerite believes there is a commonality of sentient thought, and that our failure to understand is our own ignorance. The behavior of the alien she has been tracking seems to be developing an elusive narrative logic—and she comes to feel that the alien is somehow, impossibly, aware of the project’s observers.

But her time is running out. Ray is turning hostile, stalking her. The military cordon is tightening. Understanding had better come soon. . . .

“Wilson builds suspense superlatively well, to a resolution that packs all the emotional wallop anyone could wish.” —Booklist

Featured Fantasy: A Drizzle of Magic (The Pobyd Perfections Bakery Series Book 1) by S. Usher Evans

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Featured Fantasy: A Drizzle of Magic (The Pobyd Perfections Bakery Series Book 1) by S. Usher Evans

99¢ as of May 17, 2026
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Sweet treats, friendly service, and a proprietor who’s not afraid to be a little devious to do the right thing. Welcome to the Pobyd Perfections Bakery.

Magical baker Lillie Dean has moved to the idyllic town of Silverkeep in search of a fresh start. Magic is once again legal, and Lillie’s ready to show the world what a pobyd (a creature with a penchant for baking delicious sweets) can do unfettered. But Silverkeep is in an uproar, with the magical creatures who’d fled the queen’s reign returning to find their homes occupied by the nonmagical who’d been invited to fill the nearly-vacant town. To make matters worse, Lillie’s just received a letter threatening to reveal her mildly-villainous past if she doesn’t pack up and leave.

Lillie’s not one to blink in the face of a threat, nor is she going to take a note like that lying down. There’s an entire town full of suspects, including Julian Globe, the son of Lillie’s landlord and the owner of a rival bakery, who isn’t too pleased his father’s bankrolling his competition. But who would know about what Lillie did in Lower Pigsend, and why would they want her to leave?

[Read more…]

Featured Fantasy: Mystic Brews Mysteries by Alyn Troy

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Featured Fantasy: Mystic Brews Mysteries by Alyn Troy

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A magical café where the deceased demand answers, cats are snarky, and chickens ghostly!

When my quirky Aunt Rose asks me, an American barista, to help open a hip espresso café near the Welsh and English border, I jumped at the chance. What better way to celebrate my 36th birthday and try to ignore the second anniversary of my boyfriend’s death?

Misty Valley isn’t just your average Welsh village. This one is full of fae like pixies, orcs, and leprechauns, and now me. My special power, other than making great espresso? I can see and hear ghosts.

So, when the spirit of my ex-boyfriend Jake shows up with more than the ghostly chickens he died with (don’t ask, it’s complicated), I find out just how strange my new life in Misty Valley is.

Jake’s new ghostly friend, Sir Reginald, disappeared a year before I arrived. Now that I’m here, the deceased cricket player wants me to figure out who murdered him. And figure out why. Everyone agrees he’s the most cricket of all cricket players. Who’d want to do in a chap like him?

First I find out I’m a witch, now I have to be a supernatural detective? I’d worry about that, but my new bestie seems to be a top secret agent for the fae queen. Yeah, I told you this is a weird little village.

And, since I’m a new witch, I’ve inherited not only a wand, but also a snarky talking cat named Punkin who is addicted to coffee beans. Seems that he had an incident with too many beans and the fae queen’s ball gown. Now I’m stuck with him.

And our attempt to solve the mystery of Sir Reginald’s death, is making the killer very nervous.

My new friends and I find ourselves in hot water right away. Just locating the car wreck that killed Sir Reginald reveals an escaped infernal that wants to eat my new cat, then eat the rest of us.

Can we serve up justice before a brewing disaster boils over? Lattes and Spirits is the first book in the delightful Mystic Brews paranormal mystery series. If you like high-stakes mysteries, sassy heroines, quirky characters, and a side of spells with your cuppa joe, then you’ll love Alyn Troy’s otherworldly adventure.