Your Weekly Speculative Fiction Update and Offers
Feb 06, 2021 9:25 pm
Hello from London,
Not for the first time, I find myself wondering how to turn the current pandemic into worthwhile speculative fiction. As I've written before, what's happening today would have made a good dystopian fiction only two short years ago. It's hard to extrapolate from here without confusing the far-fetched with the newly banal.
I'm probably thinking about this because, for the second time since this global debacle began, I find myself awaiting COVID-19 test results. Not to worry, my symptoms are (so far) so mild that I very much doubt I have Sars-Cov-19. More likely it's a mild case of the flu, or any one of the hundreds of other anonymous viruses that share our air and come and go with no more than a few days discomfort as our cardiovascular systems bear their offspring (ew!).
It's a weird blend of thoughts: Wondering at test results, hoping you haven't infected your loved ones, questioning where you caught it (probably my daughter's nursery), and knowing all along that the test result will most likely be negative and therefore completely anticlimatic. There's a brain fog that comes with being ill, but also a creativity inspired by unusual states of being. I have the beginnings of lots of ideas and no energy to write them down. A depressingly fruitless creative bonanza.
Just finding the energy to put this email together is annoyingly challenging, which is why it's two days late. (sorry).
Fortunately, other people write lots of good stuff, and you can experience some of that by following the links below, while I go looking for my missing wits.
Promotional Book Giveaways
I have two promotions for you this week, one fantasy-based and one covering both science fiction and fantasy. In both cases, my book in the promotion is the first story from the Emily Voss universe, which you have most likely already received (since you're a member of my list), but which you can always download by clicking here. If you enjoyed it, you can also find the first three books available on Amazon by clicking here. I hope you find something you enjoy in these promotions.
The Fantastic Fantasy Book Giveaway is one of the biggest I've ever seen, with a total of 79 books, prequels, etc (when I checked today) that you can download for free.
This second giveaway is the reason the last one was "one of the biggest" I'd every seen, because this one steals first place with a total of 93 free novels for you to choose from and download. I don't know why this period has such massive giveaways, perhaps there's a lot of writers who have sent the last few months of lockdown polishing their new works.
Author Spotlight
In addition to the two giveaways above, here are a couple of authors whose books I'd like to draw your attention to, in case they're your kind of fiction.
Route 666 by Sarah Johns
This is a free download of the first instalment in a new series.
Route 66. Two sisters, one hell of a road trip.
It was supposed to be a reunion celebration, two Navy Brat sisters separated by the tragedy that had led to them both becoming Gold Star widows at the same time now together again and having some well-deserved fun. Connie and Lexie’s two daughters had graduated from high school, one now off to college, the other to the Air Force Academy. There was nothing to hold them back from making the most of their time.
Route 666 is the first instalment of the Dade Sisters Adventures as they reconnect on the road trip of a lifetime. It’s an urban fantasy filled with love, laughter, and some out-of-this world goings on that neither could have imagined. Come join them for the ride, just don’t mind the rat and the chihuahua sitting in the back!
Titanlord by M.G. Darwish
Titanlord is free for subscribers to Kindle Unlimited, and for sale at $1.99 (£1.46)
A rebellion shatters as myths and legends come to life...
The Magmars rose against the Titans, casting them into myths and legends. Then the lies began, and just as they rebelled, another gave them a taste of their own medicine when he waged war on them... He was called the Red Hand.
The Red Hand was branded a traitor and an outcast, yet he possessed a deadly weapon that was rumored to rival the Titans themselves.
In frustration, the Crown grew desperate attempting to stop history from repeating, and in the process revived a secret so grand it could spell the end itself.
Of Death & Sacrifice is the first installment in the Titanlord Series, an adult epic fantasy.
Until next time...
Nick
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