Dear ,

Alright, alright!

I admit it - I snuck in a few April Fool's pranks in my previous newsletter. That was NOT me skiing down a neck-breaking mountain ledge. I mean, I can barely get off a ski lift chair without falling flat on my face.

Also, I posted a short film of me flipping through the pages of the "MOST AMAZING, MOST INCREDIBLE BOOK I HAVE EVER READ" but then purposefully "forgot" to mention the book title. LOL!

Sorry (but not really). ;)

Come to think of it, Amazon played a nasty April Fool's prank on me as well when it unpublished five of my Ben Archer books for almost two weeks. I wouldn't even have noticed if it weren't for the fact that I suddenly lost 350 reviews. It took several days of back-and-forth emailing with Amazon Support before I figured out what had happened: when the books unpublished, the reviews that were connected to them vanished as well. It took another week for Amazon to fix the glitch. Why did this happen? No idea!

Anyway, Ben Archer is LIVE again and I'm back in business. My writing schedule took a bit of a hit, but I'm working hard to get back on track. Come to think of it, maybe you can help?

Take a quick quiz: which planet name do you prefer?

VOTE HERE

What's up in the neighbourhood?

Yesterday was Canadian Independent Bookstore Day.

My local bookstore, Western Sky Books, kindly invited me to do a book sale and signing event with other local authors. Here's a Vancouver Sun article about the event, featuring Western Sky Books at the very top:

https://vancouversun.com/

I think everyone sighed a breath of relief to be able to attend such a wonderful in-person event after two years of pandemic. The bookstore crawled with hungry bookworms and books flew off the shelf like fresh, hot buns on a Sunday morning. It was fun to see! I also got to meet local authors such as Krista Wallace and Trevor Atkins and, I admit, it felt pretty good to see all my books laid out on the table like that!

May 2022 reading list

Atlas and the Multiverse: Seeking Courage (Atlasverse Book 1) by Chandon Siman

HE MUST FIND HIS FATHER. A POWERFUL EVIL THREATENS HIS QUEST. AGAINST ALL ODDS. HE MUST WIELD A NEW POWER. WILL HE FIND HIS COURAGE AND SAVE THE MULTIVERSE?

On Atlas’s first day of middle school in Boise, Idaho, a mysterious voice lures him and then appears to him, leaving him with a single clue: Find Dr. Faraday! With the help of his foster siblings Lilou and Nico, Atlas goes on a quest into the Multiverse to discover the truth about his father’s whereabouts. Their adventure takes them to countless new realms, where they encounter various characters — some friends and some foes — and through courage, overcome a series of challenges as they race to uncover the mysteries of family, friendship, and loyalty.

Dream Watcher (Dream Runners Book 3) by Ann Hunter

Logan Kent knows too much.

He knows his idyllic life in The Capitol is a lie. He knows a secret society is pulling the strings of their puppet government. And worst of all, he knows they built their utopia upon the stolen dreams of its citizens.

When the rebel faction, Anyone, rises up against The Capitol, Logan escapes The Circle and runs away with Reina, the rebel medicine thief who helped him see behind The Capitol’s lies. But having reached Anyone's last free base in the country, Logan realizes what he knows is a weapon.

Anyone will use what Logan knows to bring The Circle to its knees. And his biological mother is at the heart of Anyone's council.

Having a choice is what Anyone has been fighting for. Why they've wanted to free others. Free agency is worth dying for; but to Logan, going back across the arid Expanse and Heartlands feels like a suicide mission.

What choice does he have other than to betray his friends and the freedom of every citizen back home?

Station Alpha: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Mystery (Miles & Breaker Book 1) by Nicole Adrianne

Two students. Twelve months. One victor.

After prodigy Jada Breaker’s best friend is murdered in a terrestrial terrorist attack, high school is the last thing on her mind. With a shocking piece of evidence in hand, she’s ready to launch her own investigation and find out the truth about her friend’s death: tragic accident, or cruel assassination?

When an unexpected competitor arrives from Earth to challenge Jada’s future and freedom, though, she’ll need an undivided mind to win the fight. If she continues her investigation, she’ll risk losing the future she’s always dreamed of. 

But if Jada fails to learn the truth before graduation, a galaxy-wide conspiracy will grow unchecked and destroy everything she’s ever known...

Outcast by Edita A. Petrick

Abandoned by frontier gods

Human tribes can be just as unforgiving as frontier gods

She’s many things. A foundling, a princess, the last of her line, the first of the nameless order. She’s an orphan and grew up in a jungle. She’s homeless because a royal palace doesn’t fit. She’s trained to be a crack trooper, but she’s an even better friend. You could spend eternity reading a list of what she is. What she’s not, is an average human. After all, she was brought up by hundreds of mothers…and they’re all frontier gods. 

Travel the invisible yet dangerous road to the Rim.

Discovering Your Neighbor by Shane Shepherd

A simple exploration of an unknown planet. What could go wrong?

Baldwin Tavares is called up by the Admiral Pitch to join in their expedition to the planet Allende 1-b, also known as Neighbor. Baldwin and his team were requested for their very specific skill set, as they are the best in their individual fields. Eager to be part of something bigger than himself, Baldwin, aka Win, convinces his team to go on the expedition. They aim to find some remnants left behind of the once inhabited planet Neighbor in the hopes of studying and preserving whatever knowledge about them that they find. 

Win begins to realize the expedition to Allende 1-B is not entirely scientific. He suspects the Pacific Ocean World Mining Organization, or POMO, have sunk deep into the pockets of the ship’s commanding officers, with the hopes of mining Allende 1-B for its rich mineral reserves as soon as they arrive. As such he immediately starts investigating the ship to confirm his suspicions. When Win finds out he was right, he races to convince the crew against any mining expeditions before it’s too late. However, little does he know something even more pressing will require his attention before he even gets the chance to tell anyone.

Starts May 2:

Starts May 4th:

All the best,

Rae Knightly

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