Title: The Moreva of Astoreth
Author: Roxanne Bland
Genre: Science Fiction
In the world-building tradition of Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey and Ursula K. LeGuin, The Moreva of Astoreth is a blend of science fiction, romance, and adventure in a unique, richly imagined imperialistic society in which gods and science are indelibly intertwined. It is the story of priestess, scientist, and healer Moreva Tehi, the spoiled, headstrong granddaughter of a powerful goddess who is temporarily exiled from Temple life in her beloved desert home to a volatile far northern corner of the planet for neglecting to perform her sacred duty, only to venture into dangerous realms of banned experimentation, spiritual rebirth, and fervent, forbidden love.

​Review: What a complex, emotional book with rich, multi-dimensional characters who stand out, and what an amazing, fascinating plot. I got totally sucked into this book, and I couldn't stop reading. It was just so exciting!

Please tell us about yourself. 

My name’s Hannah. I grew up in Cochrane, Alberta which is a small town just outside of Calgary. I’ve lived here all my life, except for when I was eight and we moved to New Zealand for two years. My family and I travel a lot and I think being exposed to all of those different cultures really impacted my writing and made me into the person I am today. I’m proud to say that I have some really amazing friends who are supportive and always let me bounce my ideas off of them. I don’t know what I would do without them. They make me laugh and so many of my character are inspired by their personalities because I truly think the world of them.
 
 
Please tell us about your book.

Quantum is written in the point of view of Clara, a nineteen-year-old who has no idea what to do with her life. Her and her boyfriend Ross decide to join the CIA and that’s really when the book starts. We jump right into Clara and Ross’ relationship and as the story unfolds we learn more and more about their back ground and what’s going on in their minds. From the start her trainers see something in Clara and they assign her as the leader of her team. Something happens on their first assignment that sends them into a downward spiral, with Clara being forced to lead her team through one of the biggest mission to hit the CIA.
 
What inspired you to write Quantum? 

I had just turned fourteen and my family decided to hike the West Coast Trail. After we were done and everyone was tired and happy to be back into civilization, my cousin and I would go down to the beach in front of the house that we had rented and would work together on building this raft. After all was said and done it ended up only being able to hold my weight so he would pull me on the raft towards this rock in the water saying that we were navy seals and that we were in North Korea, where our mission was. Fast forward from that awkward time in my life to third period social studies 10-1 with my three best friends where we were asked a simple question: what if I was in the CIA?
 
I was assigned to be in control of the not-so-legal part of things (we called it black market Prestige) and from there I started bouncing ideas off of them. It may not seem like the best process or the most efficient but that’s the awkward, teenage version of how a story comes to life: through rafts, questions, businesses, and not paying attention in class.
 
How much time per week do you spend writing/editing your work? 

I spend two to three hours a day writing, but that’s on school days where my alarm goes off at 5, I write for an hour, then I get on with my day, write at school if I can and then write before bed or after I’ve finished my homework. On the weekends I stay up until well past midnight, most nights around three, writing. It’s my passion, it’s what I love doing, and it’s what I hope I can continue to do for a long time.
 
What are you working on at the moment?

I am currently working on the third Quantum book which is so close to being done and I’m so excited about it. It is by far the best one yet. After that I think I’m going to take a bit of a break and work on some ideas I have for other books, and then pick up where I left off in Quantum. I would really like to expand into writing scripts so I’ve been working on one for a TV pilot and one day I would love to see Quantum be made into a movie. Other than that I’ve just been trying not to drown in my Bio, Chem and Physics homework.
​

About the Book

Title: Quantum
Author: Hannah Godard
Genre: Young Adult
Nothing is more glamorous than the CIA … at least for Clara. All she wants is excitement and adventure, to help people … and to be a part of something bigger than life.
At nineteen, she leaves everything she’s ever had behind to join the CIA with her boyfriend Ross. But when the agency starts to fall away like shattered glass, Clara and her team get thrown into the biggest mission ever to hit the agency. How will they deal with the pressure?
Clara has all her cards out on the table and she’s trying to keep them all in place … except she can’t hold them all down on her own. She’s trained and she’s ready … but something isn’t right. Is the real way to win the game not to play it, or is the trick not to play it for too long?

Author Bio

Hannah Godard was born and raised in the small town of Cochrane, Alberta where she is currently a grade eleven student. She continues to chase a life of creativity and imagination, creating characters to take her on adventures and maybe learn something from them along the way. She writes to tell the greatest stories that have yet to be told and create a spark in which to lighten up the world. Hannah credits her dad for teaching her everything she knows about the world, from politics to drive and perseverance. Without him, she would be a very different person.
Quantum is her first novel and the first in the Quantum series. It came to life in the same way as many other novels do, in third period Social Studies class. This class was spent with three out of four of her best friends, laughing, creating businesses, and being creative. It was the one class where she could be a kid, where people didn’t tell her words could only mean one thing, and where they could all be creative. It started as a joke, as a simple question; what if I was in the CIA? From that point on Hannah developed the character of Clara, with the help of her friends, and soon the story came to life. Each person who she knows, no matter how small, is somehow put into the novel, worked into the story line, because what they say is true: we write what we know.

Links

http://citylightspress.com/authors/hannah-godard/
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Book Excerpt
Minutes, hours, or months later, Teddy was gently shaking me awake. "Foster? Foster. We have to stop for food. We're hours away from the hotel because of the traffic, and everyone's starving. Do you need any food? Will you be okay if I leave for a sec to get something to eat, or do you want me to stay with you?"
I shifted and felt his leg under my head and his hand warm on my hair. I swam up to the light and tried to focus on his words. "No."
"No, you don't need anything, or no, you don't want me to go?"
"No, you don't need to go. Sandwiches for you guys in my bag. From the kitchen this morning. Ten of them. All kinds. In the seat behind Geth." I stopped trying to chin myself on the bottom rung of consciousness and let go.
Later. Warm breath in my ear. The bus was humming along smoothly, and that was what had awakened me. We were actually moving. I shifted a little, and felt the familiar firmness behind me, the arm around my waist, gathering me in, pulling me all the way to him. The walls of privacy I tried to put up when awake seemed to desert and betray me in sleep, as my legs were tucked intimately around his; we were fitted together as tightly as two spoons in a drawer, and I had his arm clasped firmly in my hand.
My stirring had roused him a little, and he shifted his head against mine, pulled me even closer against him, if that was possible, touched his lips to my ear. "Shh, darling, it's okay, it's only me," he whispered softly in his sleep, exhaling warm air in a puff. I drifted back to sleep, pondering what he could possibly have said that I'd misheard as "darling."
​

About the Book

Title: Living the Shallows
Author: Tani Hanes
Genre: YA Romance
Aileen Foster, a shy, 22 year old student from LA, thinks she has landed a dream job as an interpreter for some actors making a film in Japan. She gets a surprise when she arrives in Tokyo and finds out that they are UK Crush, the hottest boyband around. She has been orphaned for most of her life, and it’s a shock for her to enter their world of frank physicality. The boys come to love her, and Aileen is forced to look at her life and choices, and decide if she’s ready to be brave and start living.
 
Author Bio

My name is Tani Hanes, and I am a 51 rear old substitute teacher. Im from central California and am a recent transplant to New York City. The most important things to know about me are that I’m punctual, I love grammar and sushi, and I’m very intolerant of intolerance. The least important things to know about me are that I like to knit and I couldn’t spell “acoustic” for 40 years. I’ve wanted to write since I was ten, and I finally did it. If you want to write, don’t wait as long as I did, it’s pointless, and very frustrating!

Links

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About the Book

Title: War Town
Author: Mitch Goth
Genre: New Adult Thriller
For Olly Rourke, War Town’s opening day is a joyous occasion. He is one of a thousand people selected to be the first players in the world’s largest paintball arena. But as he soon finds out, the game he enters into is far more sinister. Two equal teams, locked in the massive arena together, and presented with an armory of real ammunition and a time bomb powerful enough to kill them all. The only way out is to eliminate the other team, by any means necessary.

Author Bio

Mitch Goth currently resides in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he attends Antioch College. When not writing, he spends his time investigating the paranormal and indulging in a good book or movie.

Links

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MitchellGothAuthor
Blog: http://mitchgoth.blogspot.com
Amazon Page

Book Excerpt

We reached the mine and stopped about two nindan from the mine entrance. I climbed out of the tank and jumped to the ground. The throng of miners clustered around the opening stared at me, expressions of disbelief on their faces. I looked around for Teger but didn’t see him. “The Laerd,” I shouted. “The Laerd!”
At that moment, Teger came running out of the mine. “Great gods—what are you doing?” he yelled. Reaching where I stood beside the tank, he stopped and glared at me.
I glared back at him. “I’m here to help you.”
“This is none of your business.”
“I’m making it my business. Have you got that blast door open yet?”
Teger shook his head. “No. It’s stuck good and tight.” Then my plan must have dawned on him. His jaw dropped. “You mean to fire a round through the blast door? Are you crazy? What if there’s more thalin gas behind it? You could blow up the entire mine!”
“Have you got a better idea?” I snapped. “If we don’t do something, those miners are dead, anyway. Now are we going to do this thing or aren’t we?”
“No, Moreva. It’s too dangerous.”
I pointed to the mine. “And you’re willing to let those hakoi die because there might be thalin gas behind the blast door? What if there’s not? How many more families do you want to visit today, Laerd?”
Teger didn’t answer. He turned and seemed to stare at the entrance.
“Well?”
Teger turned back to me. He gazed into my eyes for a full minute. “All right,” he said, sounding tired. “We’ll do it.” He called to a man standing a few šīzu away. “Ror. Berätta för gruvarbetarna att de ska komma bort från dörren. Vi kommer att försöka spränga den.” He turned to me. “I told him to tell the miners to get away from the blast door. We’re going to try and blow a hole through it.”
Ror ran into the mine and was out a few minutes later. Everyone must have heard the plan because more hakoi came scurrying out of the mine and the ones clustered at its entrance scattered.
I climbed back onto the tank and told the driver to choose the best vantage point for firing into the mine. Then I climbed down. Teger and I watched the tank float over to the mine’s huge entrance and settle into position. My hands clenched. Would this work? Or would I, as Teger said, bring the entire mine down on top of the miner’s heads?
The gunner fired.
​

About the Book

Title: The Moreva of Astoreth
Author: Roxanne Bland
Genre: Science Fiction
In the world-building tradition of Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey and Ursula K. LeGuin, The Moreva of Astoreth is a blend of science fiction, romance, and adventure in a unique, richly imagined imperialistic society in which gods and science are indelibly intertwined. It is the story of priestess, scientist, and healer Moreva Tehi, the spoiled, headstrong granddaughter of a powerful goddess who is temporarily exiled from Temple life in her beloved desert home to a volatile far northern corner of the planet for neglecting to perform her sacred duty, only to venture into dangerous realms of banned experimentation, spiritual rebirth, and fervent, forbidden love.

Author Bio

Roxanne Bland grew up in Washington, D.C., where she discovered strange and wonderful new worlds through her local public library and bookstores. These and other life experiences have convinced her that reality is highly overrated. Ms. Bland lives in Rosedale, Maryland with her Great Dane, Daisy Mae.

Links

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Roxanne2
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brlesq1/roxanne-bland-author/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Roxanne-Bland-Author-289392377750996/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoxanneBland2

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