Blog Tour [Review]: Sentient by Michael Leon (plus a $20 GC giveaway)

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Today we have sci fi novel Sentient by Michael Leon! I wasn’t so sure I’d be up for this blog tour but I wanted to give this book a try. I’m glad I did because it turned out to be an exciting read!

Read more about the book below and check out my review. Also, read an excerpt and join the giveaway for a chance to win a $20 Amazon/B&N GC!

Sentient By Michael LeonAbout the Book

A century has passed and yes, the human race stumbled into evolutionary compromise. But it’s not the androids who are the victors. Post-humans have exploded into preeminence, gaining tech superiority and a tech immunity against the global environmental degradation. Humans are trivialised, a minority species, their one last significant task, restore the environmental damage they inflicted on Earth and terraform off-planets. One human and his ‘biot’ android embark on such a journey to Mars, opening the possibility for an evolutionary path back to greatness, but hostile post-human agents have infiltrated their mission.

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An intriguing and exciting sci fi thriller

It’s 2120 and of course the world has changed. Everything’s advanced, the environment on earth isn’t great, and there are less humans than post-humans or people with tech implants and biots or human-like robots. AI governs the world and the tension and politics between humans and post-humans are intense. While humans are determined to restore Earth and terraform other planets like Mars, post-humans are focused on speeding up technological change. Human scientist Dane Walker and his biot Hali leave Earth for Mars on a secret mission to bring a piece of technology vital to the terraforming project on Mars. Unfortunately, the post-humans are on to them and are hell-bent on stopping them and acquiring the technology for themselves.

This was an easy read for me because it turned out to be quite exciting. The story is fast-paced, intriguing and thought-provoking. It has all the elements of a gripping thriller – you know, secret missions, secret agents, counterintelligence, espionage, military action. Mix that with a very cool setting like space and a red dusty planet, fascinating human and non-human characters (the non-humans were my favorites, btw) and some convincing science and you’ve got a very cool and compelling story that makes you think about things like consequences, being human, how far we’d go to advance or “better” ourselves, what does “better” even mean, what we’re willing to do to change our situation and our future, and what’s out there for us as a people.

I enjoyed reading this and if you’re into sci fi and/or thrillers, you might enjoy this one, too!

Note: I received a review copy of this book as part of my participation in the tour. All opinions and views expressed here are my own.

About the Author

Sentient by Michael Leon

Michael Leon is an explorer, writer and author of the new novel, Sentient. Professionally trained in international trade, Michael has spent the last decade reading and writing SFF novels about new worlds to be explored in the future. His latest work, Sentient, imagines Earth in the year 2120. Michael has traveled extensively around Europe, walking the paths of his characters, from the famous European opera houses in Phantoms to the mountain tops of Switzerland in Emissary.

Connect with the author on his website, Twitter, Blogger, Goodreads and Amazon.

Read an excerpt from Sentient by Michael Leon

The thought of engine failure enveloped my core as we approached the fateful deceleration phase. Rationally, I knew there hadn’t been a malfunction in many years, but statistics always had outliers. I was a Martian, but this was my first Mars landing. A feeling of dread overwhelmed me as the ship accelerated toward the planet. I tried to focus on Step, who methodically adjusted the navigation system, unaffected by the looming peril. It was ironic. I was part of a resistance, demanding more humanness and less technology, but I wouldn’t have anyone else but this talented biot navigate me back to my home. Step assuredly fired the thrusters, abruptly shifting our ship from its vertical fall.

“Brace people,” he warned, as the force of the thrusters turned my world upside down. The roar screamed like a tornado, capturing me and twisting the ship as if it were lighter than a feather. Extreme G-forces turned my body inside out in one violent action. For the briefest of moments, I wished we had crashed, but the roar of the thrusters subsided as did my discomfort. I barely heard Step’s next command as the ringing in my ears slowly abated. “Welcome to Mars, Dane.”

Giveaway

Michael Leon will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the other tour stops for more chances of winning! You can find the blog tour schedule here.

Spotlight: Apophis by Raj Anand (and a $25 giveaway)

Apophis by Raj Anand tour banner

Hullo, friends! I’ve got another sci fi book for you to check out! Today we have Apophis by author Raj Anand.

This isn’t the first book with that title that I’ve encountered so I was interested. I looked up Apophis and found out that it’s the Greek name for the great demon serpent Apep in Egyptian mythology. Apophis is associated with earthquakes, thunder, darkness, storms, and death, and is sometimes linked to the god Set, also associated with chaos, disorder, storms, and darkness (source). Interesting. Also, it’s the name of near-Earth asteroid 99942, first discovered in 2004 and calculated to fly-by really close to our planet in 2029 and return years later (source). Very very interesting, right?

Anyway, this book is just as intriguing! Read more about it below, check out an excerpt and join in on all the book blast fun! Enjoy and goodluck! :)

Apophis Final CoverAbout the book

January, 2022: A dark monstrous twin-headed apparition – Apophis – feverishly races past the expanse of the Milky Way galaxy and bolts to the edge of the solar system. Recklessly accelerating, the sinister rock-dyad enters the gravitational keyhole of the blue planet and continues its resolute inebriated journey – to soon arrive with an apocalyptic impact on Earth.

December, 2012: Five sentient beings born in different cities – New York, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Azores Islands and Istanbul, discover amongst haunting memories of their phantasmal past lives, that it is their destiny to save humanity from the evil forces unleashed by the alien fiends – the Skyllats.

And now, the reincarnated 9-year-olds must rely on their shared, ancient wisdom to prepare humanity for the war across the galaxy that is imminent.

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The book is FREE November 5 to December 5.

A Note From The Author

Writing Apophis over these past five years, has been a cathartic inner-journey that rippled across my life. It extracted all of my patience, diligence and life-learnings of my past 52 years lived on this orphic blue bubble, as it floats across a conscious Universe.

Now its journey complete, it was launched a few days ago on several platforms across the world. And I am left exhausted, numbed and humbled by this Initiation.

I acknowledge that it is a book that I have NOT written, for it was willed from me – by the Universe. And now, it is like a child set free – floating away – ready to choose its own path, life-journey and future.

Where it goes from here?

It is for the Universe to decide.

I did, what was willed of me to do…

All I can promise the reader is a book imbued with a magical wisdom. A restlessly paced story that transports you across time, teamed up with five children along their phantasmal, breathtaking journeys.

These 9-year-olds the reincarnations of ancient philosophers, including Confucius, Plato, Buddha, Ptah Hotep and a mysterious another.

Happy Reading!

About the Author

Savinder Raj Anand is an architect and has been teaching Architecture & Design at various Universities in India for more than 12 years. A long-distance runner with a wanderlust to explore the world, and write stories that traverse across diverse cultures. He lives in Goa with his daughter, a dog, and two cats.

Inspired by his then 18-month-old daughter – when she quoted Socrates – while they together sat in a children’s bookstore in Bangalore (LIGHTROOM) in early January of 2015, he has completed this – his first book – as she turns 7 years old.

Connect with the author on his Website, on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Read an Excerpt

The Barred Spiral Milky Way Galaxy
At the Edge of the Solar System
January 17, 2022 (Earth Time)

A dark monstrous apparition, slingshot from across another realm, camouflaged in a jagged, charcoal black rock, adroitly surfed the gravitational waves of the universe. Feverishly racing past the expanse of the Milky Way galaxy, it bolted to the edge of the solar system and arrived from above the plane of the ecliptic – gyrating closer to the sun.

The dark fiend continued its charge forward, cutting across the path of Venus – nearly crashing onto it, before it deftly decelerated and reached a stable orbit in a retrograde rotation around the pale-yellow planet. This tenacious temporary satellite immediately scrambled to steal a fragment of the protesting planet’s enormous momentum. Catapulted along the plain of the ecliptic, recklessly accelerating at an impossible speed – it shattered, splitting into two.

The newly formed rock dyad – a small black moon orbiting a sphere of death – pulled free from Venus. It continued its inebriated journey, salivating at the opportunity to rain a resolute chaos upon an orphic azure-blue bubble still 40 million kilometers away.

Unbeknownst to the alien rock dyad, a faint sliver of gold orbited nearby. The 7.5-meter-tall and 3.2-meter wide Sentinel Space Telescope clothed in a gold foil, with a giant heat-reflector shield strung along its back; cooled to 40 degrees Kelvin by a two stage, closed cycle Stirling cryocooler. Its 0.51-meter aluminum mirror, dutifully scanned any and all Inner Earth Objects larger than 90 meters in diameter that ever dared to fly across its 200-degree angle of regard.

The Sentinel Observatory, alarmed by the presence of the ghostly twin-headed monster, recorded the black rock dyad’s trajectory, shape, size, mass, and rotational dynamics, before it urgently sent a coded message to its home base in southern Japan.

Giveaway

Raj Anand will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Get your entries in below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit the other tour stops for more chances of winning! You can find the blog tour schedule here.

Spotlight: The Rose by PD Alleva (and a $50 giveaway)

TheRose_TourBanner

Today we have dystopian sci fi thriller The Rose by author PD Alleva. I was intrigued by the blurb because, um, alien vampires!? It sounded like an interesting and unique take on different concepts and I love stuff like that. I checked out the reviews on Goodreads and they’re all pretty good so far.

Read more about the book, read an excerpt and read all the way to the end of the post to join in on all the blog tour fun! :)

The Rose by PD AllevaAbout the book

A masterful, dystopian science fiction thriller of underground genetic experiments, telepathic evil greys, mysterious rebellion, conspiracy, martial arts, and Alien Vampires.

Sandy Cox believed WW3 was over. But for those Alien Vampires, War Has Just Begun.

Forty-eight hours after a World War III treaty is signed Sandy Cox awakens in an underground compound unable to move. Tied to machines she screams for help but no one answers. At least NO ONE HUMAN.

And they’ve taken her unborn child.

Enter Phil, a rebel freedom fighter who has had more than his share of Alien Vampires. Armed with THE BLADES, a sacred alien martial art, he enters the compound on a mission to find Sandy. But as he battles his way through the compound, Phil discovers Sandy has her own agenda. Finding her stolen child is all that matters.

But the vampires have their own plan and Sandy’s baby is at the heart of their diabolical plot. Joined by a crew of rogue soldiers, they must navigate the underground compound, battling genetically mutated humans, aliens and monsters.

When battling Alien Vampires, one thing is certain…Get Ready To Bleed!

Fans of The Hunger Games, George RR Martin, VE Schwab, Star Wars and Ancient Aliens will be fascinated by this high-powered, intelligent, edge of your seat dystopian sci-fi action thriller.

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The book is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time!

About the Author

PD Alleva is an alternative fiction author. His novels cross genres, blending mystery, conspiracy, psychology, and action with horror and dystopian science fiction. Alternative fiction is PD’s attempt at describing what readers uncover in any one of his books, a new discovery towards mainstream storytelling. He’s been writing since childhood, creating and developing stories with brash and impactful concepts that he would describe are metaphors for the shifting energies that exist in the universe. PD exists inside of his own universe, working diligently on The Rose Vol. II and exceptional horror novels. Be prepared for Golem, PD’s upcoming horror thriller.

Connect with the author on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Amazon!

The Rose is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time!

Read an Excerpt

The blades were unharmed. The blades are a unique contraption with thin handles held in the palms, clamps that wrapped around the wrist and just above the elbow, connected by a thin, almost string like plastic. The metal blade descended from the handles down across the arm bone to the elbow clamp and locked into place. The metal they were made from was not of this earth and was able to collapse inside the handles and wrist clamp like tin foil crumples inside a fist. But this metal was strong and solid and unmatched to any substance on earth. The handles when pressed by the index finger would ignite the blades down the arm, locking in place. Another unique feature were the handles, fitted comfortably in the palm, when pressed with the thumbs would ignite claws of steel. A useful tool when needing to climb walls. Robyn had spent years teaching Phil the art of Kobudo Tonfa. An art he’d become supremely confident with.

Phil’s stare drifted to the full blood moon rising over the compound. Eyes wide, thinking: You know what that means. There’s more under the moon tonight than just alien vampires. And they come with teeth. The moon’s red glow crept across the landscape as Phil dipped his chin to his chest, grinding his teeth. Four simple words on the tip of his tongue…

“Get ready to bleed.”

Giveaway

PD Alleva will award one winner, chosen randomly via rafflecopter, a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit the other tour stops for more chances of winning!

You can find the list of participating blogs here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2020/08/virtual-book-tour-rose-by-pd-alleva.html

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Aries’ Red Sky by James Young

TourBanner_Aries Red Sky

Today is for sci fi! Well, on this blog anyway. I’m participating in the blog tour for Aries’ Red Sky by author James Young. I’ve read one of his books, An Unproven Concept, last year and it was pretty interesting. I’m sure this one will be, too.

Check out the book, read an excerpt and enter the blog tour giveaway for chance to win some cool goodies.

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Review of The Nights Too Dark by MH Snowy (plus a Giveaway!)

The Nights Too Dark

Yay I have something sci fi and fantasy for you today! We’re featuring The Nights Too Dark by author MH Snowy.

Read more about the book, check out my review and enter the blog tour giveaway for a chance to win a $20 Amazon/B&N gift card!

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Spotlight and Giveaway: Dark Genius by H Peter Alesso

dark genius tour banner

Today I have something sci-fi for you! We’re featuring Dark Genius by author H. Peter Alesso!

At first I wasn’t so sure about joining the book blast for this book, so I did a quick research on the author and found out that he’s a scientist and has written a few space opera/adventure books that look interesting. So I thought, okay lemme help out with this one. Also, the blurb mentions the “God particle” so that really caught my attention. Yayyy.

Read more about the book below and check out the book blast giveaway! Cheers!

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Blog Tour and Giveaway: An Unproven Concept by James Young

Today we’re featuring An Unproven Concept, a science fiction/space opera by author James Young. Last year I realized that I enjoy stories set in space so I was interested to check out this book.

Read more about the book below and check out my thoughts on the book. And, of course, enter the giveaway for a chance to win cool artwork (Sorry, US only)!

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Bookish Spotlight: Rarity From The Hollow by Robert Eggleton

Last year we featured the book Rarity from the Hollow, a unique science fiction novel  by author Robert Eggleton. The new edition was just released recently so we’re featuring it again!

I find this book really intriguing but I have yet to read it (I haven’t been reading this month gah!). According to the author the book is “not hard science fiction and includes elements of fantasy, everyday horror, a ghost – so it’s a little paranormal, true-love type romance, mystery, and adventure.” The book also addresses social issues like child abuse, domestic violence, poverty, mental health, as well as local and intergalactic economics.

Anyway, please read on to know more about the book and support this author!

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Review of The Boy Without a Heart (Defragmenting Daniel #3) by Jason Werbeloff

Aaand finally we get the last instalment of Defragmenting Daniel by wickedly imaginative author Jason Werbeloff. This trilogy is seriously super weird and seriously really good.

Read more about the book, The Boy Without a Heart, and check out my review. ;)

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