Planet Fen, lost colony, is now cut off permanently from the rest of the civilized worlds. Unfortunately a lot of people are cut off with it: the occupying troopers and their families, innumerable bureaucrats, scientists, technicians and even a missionary or two. They are all outnumbered and culturally swamped by the native colonists, a mixture of half converted primitives and a contingent of ferocious xenophobes who want all offworlders exterminated.
In this, the third book of the Gelen series, the bishop and the commander at Havekgerem, both have their hands full. The former must rein in a group of Faring Guards, fanatical, axe-wielding Lost Rythan exiles who are determined to protect him at all costs, while the commander tries vainly to police the region with his disgruntled troops. And in the midst of this come the Dawnstrikers, native blackshirts blindly following their charismatic leader as he hatches a plan to not only kill all foreigners but also to wipe out their rival tribe. And they almost succeed —
Excerpt:
When he saw Ella Trenre’s reaction and felt the sudden strands of patterning arising in the room, Vess wanted to draw back from what he had done. But it was too late. Maybe it had always been too late, for it was as though another hand had taken his, forcing him to pull out the scrap of skin and to give it to her. It was the first time he had felt something like this and it frightened him a little.
Rising from her place on the bench, Ella stood gripping the fragment while her eyes locked with those of her husband. Brana Fadre came over to stand behind her and, after a moment, Vess left his brother to join the group.
Daen, however, remained on the bench, Spear and Ella’s child on his lap. The little girl’s eyes were round with wonder as she let fall a piece of chiven bread onto the floor.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I always wanted to be a science fiction writer. But I had some other stuff to do first. So I raised four children and wrote articles for magazines and a few children’s books. I gardened and home-schooled the children and even spent a few years teaching in a school. Sometime during this time, my first science fiction novel, GELEN was published. And when the grandchildren started to arrive (I’ve got twenty, going on twenty-one of them so far), I helped out with them and now I’m homeschooling two of them. But I also got a lot more serious about writing those sf novels. I write what I want to read. There are whole worlds in my head and when they come out on paper, even I am surprised. Who knows where it all comes from? I read and read and digest everything from linguistics to archaeology, exobiology to military history – and then it turns into stories. So far I have five sf novels published, not counting the current one, DAWNSTRIKERS. There are more to come. I have a vision here. Some things I take for granted. The universe makes sense. People are not particularly good, but we try and most of us mean well. That there is a God and He is extremely patient. That the laws of physics, of science, hold good wherever you go. I have to follow them when I write. Stuff like that. And so the books get written and I find they are all interrelated – same milieu, same universe as it were. So far.
Karina Fabian stopped by for a visit in the Dragon’s Lair today. Unfortunately Vern was not with her and Myrria was a little disappointed. However she was willing to forgive when we learned about Karina’s new book in her Mind Over All trilogy. Myrria suggests you sit back and learn all about Hearts Over Mind, by Karina L Fabian.
Book Three of the Mind Over Trilogy
Book information:
Finally, Sachiko is marrying Joshua! But the wedding she dreamed of is turning into a nightmare. Her Japanese grandmother has bought her wedding kimono, but not only is it psych-ward pink, but it also comes with a tsunokakushi, the traditional headdress to “hide her horns of jealousy and independence.” Her stubborn independence may be all that gets her through the crazy days before the wedding. Joshua’s fame means she’s getting touted and berated as “the future Mrs. Joshaham.” Not to mention, everyone else is planning their big day but her. She copes by concentrating on her internship, yet even that goes awry when, two days before the wedding, her efforts to save a patient’s life leave him in a permanent coma. To top it off, her cousins get Joshua so drunk, he nearly drowns at his own bachelor party! Can she find the right balance of independence and humility to navigate the disasters and capture the joy of her wedding day?
Disconsolate people filled every chair and lined the walls of the waiting room. Sachiko slowed to a halt. What happened? Had there been some major accident or…
Heads turned, and she realized half the room was filled with people they’d invited to their wedding.
The bachelor party swarmed her and started jabbering in three languages. Uncle Hiro shoved his abashed sons before her, forcing them into kneeling positions. “My fool sons took me too seriously.”
“We’re so sorry. We didn’t think sake would be such bad luck for your gaijin!”
“It is if you spike it,” Shank snickered.
“It’s not their fault,” her cousin Jonny countered. He was leaning against her cousin Ray, but she couldn’t tell if he was intoxicated or too upset to stand. Probably both; he shoved away from their cousin to fall at her feet, nearly topping Masuto and Mikio. He clasped her knees, sobbing. ”It’s my fault! The whole plank thing was my idea. I almost killed your future husband!”
“That’s bullshit, Sachiko,” Joshua’s friend Carl grabbed Jonny by the shoulder and pulled him back. He had a bruise under his cheek and fury in his eyes. “We had everything under control until some idiot called the cops. Hate crimes? Do we look like racists?’
Sabrina and LaTisha had dragged Riqué to the corner and were laying into him in Spanish. He just kept shaking his head. He held a rosary in a death grip. Liz, meanwhile, had pulled her twin, Vince, aside and was giving him similar treatment in Italian, as was Lenny’s fiancé to him in English. Two of her cousins were hissing warnings not to mention that their cousin Leo might have been at the party.
Sachiko pressed a hand to her forehead. Four languages buzzed in her head, getting more meaningless even as the volume rose. The duty nurse had started to rise from her station, and two cops were heading her way.
“All right!” Sachiko snapped, and for a miracle, the group around her shut up. “Liz, Sabrina. Basta! Enough! This is a hospital. Where’s my fiancé?”
Riqué pointed at the secure doors. “That way. His parents are with him. ‘Ko, I’m sorry. Oh, God, I’m so sorry!”
It is easily available and can be purchased online from a multitude of reliable sources, but you still discount viagra pills need to go through an online consultation that double-checks whether or not you’re suited to use this drug for they can buy affordable kamagra online. The word “thoracic” means relating to the chest, and the thoracic spine is the section of the spinal column http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/06/12/hatfield-mccoy-casting-call-this-month/ generic levitra to the general health of an individual. When you are depressed or cialis generic uk anxious, it is very likely that your doctor advises you to visit a physiotherapist. Therefore, to alleviate and eliminate discomfort and body aches, these nerves must be released and freed from any form of discomfort that buy discount viagra one undergoes when they have misaligned spine, back, or neck. “Who’s sober in this group?” she demanded. Riqué raised his hand partway, but from behind the crowd, Gary said, “That’d be me, honey.”
They parted to let him through. His high-heeled sandals clacked on the tile. The gold sequins matched the eye shadow and glitter spray in his hair.
Sachiko’s mouth opened and shut, but nothing came out. Helplessly, she waved her hands, palms up, at him. What other madness had the night brought?
After Surgery:
Peter and Joseph stood behind their mother, each gripping one of her shoulders. She wished Dr. Prakash had suggested his office, where the three could huddle together on the comfortable couch while she explained. Instead, Elise was left exposed, clinging to her sons’ hands as she braced herself.
They could all see there was a dark cloud in the happy ending, and she ached at how strong the boys were trying to be. The oldest was something like seventeen. Would he curse my name if his college fund goes to ICU bills?
She couldn’t think about that now. At least the waiting area was quiet and empty except for a nurse fiddling with a bouquet of roses while yawing her way through the last of the shift, and some guy pacing in the corner while talking on his cell phone. She took a calming breath without letting it show.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, Elise.” As gently as she could, she explained the complications, the coma, the chances of his recovering either partially or fully.
Elise closed her eyes, digesting the information. When she opened them, she gave Sachiko a sad but hopeful smile. “We believe in miracles. You’ve given him that chance. Thank you. Can we see him?”
Sachiko watched as the duty nurse led them away, and as soon as they were down the hall and Chris had headed off to change, she slumped forward, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes to push back tears of stress and exhaustion. Had she made room for a miracle or just set that poor family up for years of pain?
If she could, she’d just go home and sleep until the wedding.
She heard the squeak of rubber soles on the tile, and then a nurse tapped her arm. “Um, Dr. Luchese? I’m sorry, but it’s just… There’s a man who’s been waiting for you for the past hour and a half…”
Sachiko looked up to see Gary, the personal assistant and Do-Fer for Chipotle, hang up his phone. He tapped his wrist at her and pointed at the TV. The news was showing someone’s cell phone footage of her fiancé playing the hotel’s piano, his dreadlocks bouncing as he poured all his emotions into the song. Even unaware, that man knew how to play to the cameras.
Cameras!
The interview!
Bio:
By day, Karina is a mild-mannered reviewer of business software and services for TopTenReviews.com. After hours, she’s a psychic intent on saving the world; a snarky dragon who thinks he saves the world all-too regularly, a zombie exterminator who just wants her world clear of undead vermin, and nuns whose callings have taken them off our world. Needless to say, her imagination is vast, her stories legion, and her brain crowded. When she’s not converting her wild tales to stories, she’s enjoying time with her husband, Rob, their four kids, and their two dogs.