Tegon Maus & 'Machines of the Little People' @TegonMaus @GoddessFish #Technothriller

Today we have author Tegon Maus visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* I was raised pretty much the same as everyone else... devoted mother, strict father and all the imaginary friends I could conjure. Not that I wasn't friendly, I just wasn't "people orientated". Maybe I lived in my head way more than I should have, maybe not. I liked machines more than people, at least I did until I met my wife.
* The first thing I can remember writing was for her. For the life of me I can't remember what it was about... something about dust bunnies under the bed and monsters in my closet. It must have been pretty good because she married me shortly after that. I spent a good number of years after inventing games and prototypes for a variety of ideas before I got back to writing.
* It wasn't a deliberate conscious thought it was more of a stepping stone. My wife and I had joined a dream interpret group and we were encouraged to write down our dreams as they occurred. "Be as detailed as you can," we were told.
* I was thrilled. If there is one thing I enjoy it's making people believe me and I like to exaggerate. Not a big exaggeration or an outright lie mine you, just a little step out of sync, just enough so you couldn't be sure if it were true or not. When I write, I always write with the effort of "it could happen" very much in mind and nothing, I guarantee you, nothing, makes me happier.

A look into...

~ Blurb ~ * When Ben Harris' sister passes away, her husband, Roger Keswick, is mysteriously absent from her funeral. It's not until 6 months later that Ben is pulled back in to Roger's life, only to find that he's moved on. His new wife may be called Jessica, but she's the spitting image of Ben's sister. Things escalate when Roger claims there's a factory under his house run by little people called the Katoy. ~ Excerpt ~ * "Ben?" Audry called from the far gate.
* "Here, Audry," I said, getting to my feet.
* Roger did the same.
* By the time we made it to the front yard the police were driving away.
* Jessica and Audry approached us, each slipping an arm around Roger and me.
* "Jessica, Audry. I..." Roger stammered before he broke down into tears.
* Arm in arm we went into the house.
* "Come over here, all of you," Roger said, rushing into the living room. Opening the wall cabinet that held his computer, he flipped it on. "Let me show you. I have proof."
* The girls moved, one to each side of him and I in the center, just far enough not to interfere. The monitor hummed to life.
* Audry silently wiped tears from her face and held my hand tightly.
* Roger opened file after file until reaching one called 'Katoy.'
* Excitedly, he got up, knocking over his chair, and rushed to turn on the stereo. He adjusted it, making it a little louder than usual before righting the chair, retaking his place.
* "You must promise never to speak of this outside of these four walls," he said, covering the screen with his left hand.
* We looked at each other and vowed our oath of silence.
* "Ok, Bob," Roger said and a new image jumped to the screen.
* "Bob is your computer?" I asked a little bewildered.
* "Yeah. Cool huh?" he said, grinning, half turning to me. "I have him hooked up all over the house." Buy Machines of the Little People here... Tirgearr Publishing | Amazon | Barnes & Noble Find Tegon Maus here... Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter | Website | Shelfari | LinkedIn Thank you for joining us here today, Tegon Maus! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! Tegon Maus will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour! So be sure to leave a comment AND use the Rafflecopter below. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!

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A Look At @bevnault & 'The Kaleidoscope' @GoddessFish #Technothriller

Today we have author B.K. Nault visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* Bev's a graduate of Texas A&M University and is multi-published in both fiction and nonfiction. She's the co-author of the best selling and award winning, "Lessons from the Mountain, What I Learned from Erin Walton," with the actress Mary McDonough. A former business writer, she’s dabbled in many things from working as a theatre set dresser and props mistress to riding horses at pre-Olympic levels, judging for the Miss America/California pageants, and escorting her kids to work in Hollywood as professional extras. Married to her high school sweetheart, they've lived in two countries and 6 states, but promise they're not running from the law. A member of the RWA and ACFW, she also blogs, tweets and Pinterests when she’s not dreaming up new stories or planning a 'round the continent RV trip when said husband retires.

What are you going to tell us about today?
* My suspense, thriller story: The Kaleidoscope.
A look into the story

~ Blurb ~ * Harold Donaldson unwillingly becomes the custodian of a beautiful, handcrafted kaleidoscope that changes the viewer’s future and becomes the focus of evil operatives intent on capturing the kaleidoscope for nefarious purposes. Brilliant but socially inept, Harold has distanced himself from any connection to his dysfunctional childhood. Abandoned by a father accused of his mother’s death, Harold trusts no one until the ’scope forces him to accept a circle of friends he must rely on. To protect all their lives from imminent danger, Harold must discover the source of the ’scope’s mysterious powers. Just as he is on the verge of learning how it works and why his past connects to his future, he must face disturbing truths he’s run from all his life. ~ Excerpt ~ * She yanked off the scarf and dropped it into his lap, climbed up on the bench and began leaping from one bench to the next, her sandals slapping the concrete.
* Harold was afraid she would slip and fall, and wondered whether he should first call someone, or check her for ABC’s if she did. But she jumped lightly, a sprite among the forest of potted birds of paradise. Airway, breathing, c...what was the C for?
* “I’ve always wanted to do this! Haven’t you?” Where the benches were too far apart, Pepper scissor- kicked to the ground and danced. Harold could breathe as long as she was safely on the ground, her arms aloft, her body swaying. Then she would leap up again, the sun reflecting off bald spots between shags of spirally hair. And she laughed. Not a scary, maniacal sound, but a child-like whiffle that whisked Harold back to the elementary school when Edna Velasquez had tried to jump around the lunchroom but fell and broke her arm when she slipped in pudding. Harold was the only one Edna didn’t pester to sign her cast. Circulation. That was what C stood for.
* Pepper collapsed next to him, panting, her caramel skin aglow. She was a china doll with kewpie lips and taffy-pulled earlobes. “That felt good, Harry.” She dabbed at her upper lip with the scarf, a tiny rattle in her breath. “You should dance more. We should all dance more.”
* The warmth from her body awoke something in him that had long been dormant. Confused emotions tangled somewhere in his soul, and he met her gaze.
* “What makes you dance, Harry? What stirs your soul?”
* She’d dared to pull at the thread he’d buried underneath years of proving himself worthy, smart. Sane. “I find satisfaction in my work.”
* “And what is that? No, wait. Let me guess. You’re a Pez-head designer. No, a sign spinner for discount plastic surgeons. I could use one of those by the way.”
* He knew better than to acknowledge her cosmetic surgery remark. Honest answers to conversations beginning with “Am I pretty enough?” and “I’m thinking of getting work done” had never gone well with Georgia. “I’m a fraud investigator.” Buy The Kaleidoscope here... The Wild Rose Press | Amazon Find B.K. Nault here... Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter | Website
Thank you for joining us here today, B.K. Nault! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! B.K. Nault will award a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter! So be sure to leave a comment AND use the Rafflecopter below. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!

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A Look At Christopher Gray & 'Dark Nights' ~ @GoddessFish #SciFi

Today we have author Christopher Gray visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* Christopher A. Gray is a professional freelance writer living in Toronto. He has been a sales agent, project manager, actor, filmmaker, comedy writer & performer and world traveler.

What are you going to tell us about today?
* My story Dark Nights and its background.
* Dark Nights grew out of what was originally going to be a shorter novella about the ramifications of another planet suddenly appearing in opposite orbit to us on the other side of the sun. I might have kept the first novella as a stand-alone, but I quickly realized that there was a much bigger story here. In other words, the story couldn’t end with meeting the people from the other planet. I had to explore the political and scientific ramifications introduced by such a major event. The full-length finished book is divided into three main chapters, each titled according to the shorter planned novellas: Mercy, Revenge, and Sacrifice.
* The two scientific theories that have always fascinated me the most in my lifetime are the multiverse theory, and the concept of artificial intelligence. The idea that there may be an infinite number of universes in existence, some similar or even identical to our own, has always remained an unprovable theory. Recently there has been more and more evidence to strongly suggest that the multiverse does indeed exist.
* The other concept, artificial intelligence, is closer than ever to becoming reality. Historically, the prediction of when we might construct a true AI has always stated it as been about twenty years off, whether the question was asked fifty years ago or ten years ago. Thus, it has always remained just out of reach. Although Dark Nights takes place in the present day, in reality the most recent advancements in quantum mechanics and quantum computing may finally give the traditional prediction of “twenty years off” a schedule we can stick to.
* For the book cover I worked closely with my designer Tom Edwards to produce a cover that gave a hint of Dark Nights' key plot point of the multiverse, while at the same time remaining mysterious. Two similar planets in close proximity, with a halo that implies that one just arrived.

A look into the story

~ Blurb ~ * The machine believed it knew best how to save humanity... even if doing so meant destroying half the population.
* Astrophysicist Doug Lockwood's unusual discovery during his observation of the sun kicks off a chain of events that nobody could have foreseen. The powerful political and military influences that compete to deal with his discovery set Lockwood on a course which will carry him across worlds, and into the grasp of a formidable new intelligence bent on accomplishing its goal at any cost. With Earth itself at stake and time running out, Lockwood and his team must find a way to counter this unprecedented threat before the powerful new enemy completes its plan. Two civilizations are pitted against each other in a desperate struggle for survival. ~ Excerpt ~ * Meyer shut the door after the last person left and sat down in the nearest chair, directly across from Doug, rather than his usual spot at the head of the table. Doug waited for him to speak.
* “It’s a planet,” Meyer said finally. “And it’s in an orbit directly opposite ours, at a distance of approximately one AU.”
* Doug didn’t reply. The implications were massive, as were the questions. After a few seconds, Meyer rose from his seat and walked to the window, looking outside at the sloping volcanic Hawaiian landscape as he talked.
* “Nobody knows where it came from, but it’s there, verified by NASA.”
* “Using their STEREO satellites?”
* “Yes, a few hours ago. But you and Foley at Atacama saw it first. STEREO was trained on another star when you logged the object. It took some time to reposition STEREO’s lenses. Because of their orbital distance ahead and behind us, together they will be able to keep tabs on the object at all times. We’re expecting some images soon, which will be free of the sun’s coronal interference.”
* “So we’ll have a better view and can determine if its orbit is stable.”
* “Correct.”
* “But that doesn’t explain how it got there.”
* “Correct again. But thanks to your discovery, and your reputation, you’ve been invited to an emergency conference in Washington. You’ll be meeting your plane at Pearl Harbor in two hours. Don’t bother to pack, there’s a helicopter on its way here, courtesy of the White House Chief Science Advisor.”

Buy Dark Nights here...
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Thank you for joining us here today, Christopher Gray! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! Christopher Gray will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN GC! So be sure to leave your name and email with your comment & use the Rafflecopter to enter the contest. Visit the other tour stops (find them here: goddessfishpromotions-virtual-book-tour-dark-nights) for a greater chance of winning!

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