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The Mercenary Sale – Blast
SciFi Romance, Space Opera
Date Published: August 25, 2017
On Sale for $0.99 for the Blast!
She’s a prisoner of the Imperial Forces. He’s a nomad with a mercenary army. Can her desperate gamble and a fierce warrior’s love turn the tide of war and rewrite the destiny of their corner of the galaxy?
In a distant corner of the galaxy, Quadrant Five burns in the flames of a deadly war. The Budheya people are one of the worst affected.
Saakshi
Imprisoned by the Ketaari Imperial Forces, a young Budheya rebel is sent to a distant space station to work in an alehouse. For a girl who has known only hardship in her short life, things could be worse. Until an old foe walks into the alehouse.
Zoran
Zoran is Hadari’Kor – notoriously fierce mercenaries who only fight for hire. Drawn to a weary-eyed server girl, Zoran is forced to confront age-old traditions and question his role in the war.
The Rebel & The Mercenary
Alone, friendless and far from home, Saakshi makes a desperate gamble to trust an enigmatic stranger whose hot gaze haunts her dreams. The echoes of this unlikely alliance reverberate across the quadrant. As a relentless enemy hunts Saakshi, Zoran must fight with everything in his arsenal to protect her. When passion ignites amidst the embers of a smoldering war, will a warrior’s quest for justice bring a mighty Empire to its knees …
Author’s Note : A spirited and resilient girl, a fierce warrior with a mighty heart, a fiery passion that flares amidst the debris of a deadly war and a love that will alter the fate of an entire quadrant.
This is a standalone story that sets the scene for The War Chronicles – a collection of futuristic SciFi Romance & Space Opera tales with passionate love stories and swashbuckling adventure.
The book has been nominated for Ind’Tale Magazine’s 2018 RONE Award in the Sci-Fi/Time Travel category.
Excerpt
The Unta-Golar clipped away the device before sauntering over unhurriedly to stare down at Saakshi, on her knees on the station’s dirt-crusted floor. She raised pain-filled eyes to the Ketaari officer, unwilling to cower before him. He flashed her a cruel smile before swinging a meaty fist at her. Saakshi closed her eyes in defeat, her pain-wracked body unable to garner the strength to move itself clear of the inevitable blow.
The blow never landed. Instead, Saakshi heard the distinct sounds of a scuffle, followed by some heavy blows. When she dared to open her eyes moments later, the Unta-Golar lay in an awkward tangle in a corner of the alley, caged in by two adjoining walls and the massive body of the Hadari’Kor Captain. The Hadari’Kor male leaned threateningly over the Ketaari Unta-Golar, whose stocky body cowered back against the wall. The Ketaari male’s legs lay sprawled out, one heel drumming uncontrollably on the floor in distress. One of his arms lay bent at an unnatural angle, and pale blue blood seeped sluggishly from cuts to his forehead ridges and the corner of his mouth. His eyes stared wildly up at the Captain, while his good arm alternated between pounding ineffectually on the Captain’s shoulder and trying to claw away the large hand that squeezed his throat inexorably. The Captain had crowded the other male into a corner to brace himself against the wall with one hand, while his other hand, wrapped around the Unta-Golar’s throat, throttled him slowly.
That this entire scene was enacted in complete silence by participants and spectators alike made it seem almost surreal to the Budheya girl watching it play out dispassionately. Saakshi allowed herself to slowly slide down to rest on her bottom, splaying out her legs before her with palms braced against the floor to support her weight. She leaned back comfortably on her hands, content to watch the unfolding show.
Thank the Pura, he came. Better late than never, I guess.
From her position, she could clearly see every expression reflected on the Unta-Golar’s face, but not the Captain’s, whose back faced her.
“This is for using the pain implant, Ketaari murtobak” the Captain bit out in sudden fury, his words breaking the silence in the narrow alley.
He flicked off the fist pounding on his shoulder with a casual shrug as he stared down at the Unta-Golar.
“If you ever touch her again, I will personally break every bone in your body. Are we clear?” the coldly furious voice demanded of the Ketaari.
The Ketaari male stared back at him with vicious eyes, his expression uncowed. The Captain casually exerted a little more pressure around the Unta-Golar’s windpipe, and the Ketaari’s legs went limp, his face turning bloodless and pale.
“Are we clear?” the Captain repeated, more softly this time.
The Ketaari nodded, his pale eyes a tad unfocussed, though the expression on his face promised retribution. The Captain finally let go of his punishing hold on the other male’s throat, to leave the Ketaari limp and panting on the floor. The Hadari’Kor male sprang to his feet fluidly, turning his back on the male gasping for breath at his feet to stride over to Saakshi. For a moment, he gazed down at her in silence. An emotion she’d be hard-pressed to identify flashed though the tightly leashed fury on his face. The black eyes glittered with anger and something akin to regret.
“Are you hurt?” he asked gruffly.
Saakshi shook her head mutely.
“The pain implant?” he inquired, the black eyes holding her captive.
“The effect has worn off” she responded calmly.
“Come” he commanded, holding out his hand imperiously to her.
Saakshi retrieved the piece of control panel she’d used on the Ketaari to tuck it back in its usual hiding place in her boot. The black eyes watched her silently, the palm still held out to her. She allowed him to pull her up and steer her through the small crowd of spectators, a large palm at the small of her back guiding her.
They walked in silence towards his ship, stopping just once to attach the suppressor device to her bracelet to enable her to bypass the station’s exit sensors. Once they were alone in the shuttle and on their way to his docked ship, he turned to face her.
“I apologize for being late. It will not happen again.”
Her eyes snapped up to meet the regret in those dark eyes. Saakshi nodded to acknowledge his apology.
“You fight pretty well for a tiny female” he remarked approvingly after a short silence.
She managed a wan smile at the double-edged compliment.
“Who taught you …” he paused, before stating the obvious. “The rebels?”
She nodded mutely again.
“How much did you see?” she asked him.
“Enough” he gritted out, his teeth clenching.
“Didn’t they teach you when to run?” he inquired softly after a short pause.
“I was getting ready to, but he blindsided me with the pain implant.”
The Captain hit the shuttle wall with his open palm, cursing fluently and with ease in a variety of different languages.
“Son of a swine” she interjected, not wanting to be left out of the cursing party.
After an instant of stunned astonishment, his expression lightened.
“No doubt” he agreed, his dark eyes filling with soft laughter.
“Ketaari murtobak” she offered next, showing off the single word in his language she knew. She’d learnt it by paying attention to his cuss words, the ones she could decipher anyway.
“Absolutely” he gasped out, bursting into unfettered laughter. The effect was to make him look years younger without the serious and unapproachable mien he usually radiated.
“What does it mean?” she asked him, her eyes observing the laughter on his face.
“Unknown paternity” he responded, his face still lit up with amusement.
An avid reader all her life, only recently has Petra allowed her own imagination to run riot. She loves to travel, loves the outdoors and reads everything she can get her hands on, time permitting. Her taste in books is very eclectic – she tends to like stories with vivid and quirky characters that have elements of fantasy, adventure, romance and mystery interspersed together. A good book for her is one that makes the reader think long after it has been finished and set aside. And one that draws the reader back to it, again and again. To share the characters and tales that have lived in her imagination for so long is a labor of love and a lifelong dream come true for her.
Contact Links
Purchase Link
On Sale for $0.99 for the Blast!
The book has been nominated for Ind’Tale Magazine’s 2018 RONE Award in the Sci-Fi/Time Travel category.
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Save the World – GIVEAWAY BLAST
How You Can Save the World and Enter to Win a $175 Prize Pack!
“If you like action-packed adventure books that will keep you reading well into the wee hours, I would recommend The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh.”
–Jennly Reads
–Jennly Reads
To celebrate the release of my second action adventure The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh, I’m offering up my largest prize pack to date! But, first let me tell you about the book…
When it came to writing The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh, I wanted to create a story in the same vein as City of Gold, maintaining what reviewers described as “a fast-paced action adventure” that is “akin to an Indiana Jones story set in modern times.” So in this second installment, archaeologist and adventurer Matthew Connor and his two closest friends set off for Egypt to save the world. I even splashed in a bit of the police action my readers know and love.
“Why does the world need saving?” you may ask, possibly skeptical. Well, an old friend and colleague of Matthew’s has discovered ancient hieroglyphics that hint at the whereabouts of an ancient Egyptian tomb and a mysterious treasure that is said to contain the knowledge of the universe. Beyond that, it can grant humans the ability to traverse Heaven and Earth, and it bestows whoever possesses it with great wealth and wisdom. Now, imagine something like that falling into the hands of terrorists or world powers set on domination… Needless to say, it could lead to global annihilation!
My hope is that The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh will provide readers with a thrill ride that digs into the depths of human nature when one is tempted by power. But if you’re looking for a slow build, this isn’t the book for you. Readers are immediately thrown into the heat of Egypt’s Western Desert, where Matthew’s friend Alexandria Leonard is about to make a life-altering discovery.
Here’s a snippet from the prologue of The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh (Matthew Connor Adventure series):
The sun had barely broken the horizon, but Alex was wide-awake and strapped into her safety harness. She had dreamed of this moment her entire life, and now that it was becoming reality, she could hardly believe it. Here she was at the age of forty and leading her first archaeological dig in Egypt’s Western Desert. Even more incredible was the fact that she and her team were on the brink of a monumental discovery.
They had detected a manmade tunnel that ran thirty-five feet beneath the ground and over 3,600 feet to the east. Where the tunnel ended, there was in a large open space that the ground-penetrating radar couldn’t identify.
Alex stood at the opening of the hole with her site foreman, Jeff Webb; a hieroglyphics expert named Jasper Blair; and two of four laborers, Seth and Timal. They would be responsible for lowering her down.
She took a deep breath, preparing her mind for the descent and the cramped space. Her team had only dug out a well of about four feet in diameter. The position she was in when she went down would be the way she’d stay, as there would be no room to flip over.
She wiped the back of her arm across her forehead to wick away the sweat that kept dripping down her face. She pinched her eyes shut, wishing she had her favorite blue sweatband from high school, when wearing one had been all the rage—back around the time when belonging to a Tape of the Month Club was the thing to do.
She let her long, blond hair down from the ponytail she’d had it in and redid it, tighter this time, pulling it into a messy bun. Back home in northern Michigan, she rarely put her hair up, reserving that for times when she was focused on her work or studies, but in this part of the world, she often wore it up. Even a warm breeze on the back of her neck was better than none at all.
“Good thing you skipped the second course last night,” Jeff teased her.
Not that size was an issue for either of them. She was lean and athletic, and while Jeff had a solid build, he was trim with narrow shoulders.
“Same goes for you,” she tossed back with a smile. She’d known him for years and worked on several digs with him. He’d been the one who had removed two of the stone bricks from the tunnel’s ceiling to create the small opening through which they could descend. He’d been down there to set up a radio module and transmitting antenna that enabled communication between whoever was underground and whoever was on the surface.
Jeff moved behind her and tightened her harness. “Ah!” She sucked air in through gritted teeth. “Maybe just leave enough room for me to breathe.”
He loosened the restraints slightly. “Good?”
She managed to slip her fingers between the straps and her rib cage. “It’ll do.”
He turned to face her again. “Here’s your radio.” Jeff handed her an earpiece that worked with the radio he’d put in place.
“Talk into it for me,” he told her.
She tapped a button on the earpiece and said, “Hello, hello, hello.” She smirked at her mock echo.
Jeff laughed. “I heard you loud and clear. In surround sound, actually. All right, one more thing.” He popped a miner hat on her head, and she fastened the chin strap. “I think it’s best if we lower you feetfirst so that you can be positioned upright in the tunnel.” Jeff’s demeanor became serious.
Alex nodded and looked down again. It was a good thing that she wasn’t claustrophobic or afraid of being suspended by a rope and lowered helplessly into the ground. And while she might not battle with many fears, part of her was as terrified as she was excited about the prospect of setting foot where no one—besides Jeff briefly—had likely been in thousands of years. But this was just meant to be a brief look-see, and she’d be going solo. When she set out in earnest to explore the tunnel, she’d take members of her team with her.
She reached for the gold chain around her neck and pinched the tiny pendant that dangled from it. The Eye of Horus, also known as the Eye of Ra, was an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection. Out here in the desert, she needed all the help she could get. She kissed it and tucked it back beneath her shirt.
“Are you ready?” Jeff asked.
She met Jeff’s eyes and flicked on the headlamp. “I’m ready.”
Jeff pulled an LED flare from his back pocket, turned it on, and tossed it into the hole. Watching the light descend emphasized just how far down it was to the tunnel.
Once it hit the ground, Jeff rolled his hand toward Seth and Timal. “You heard her. Down she goes.”
More sweat dripped from her brow, and she wiped her forehead again. And things were just heating up out here—if you could call already being a hundred degrees “just heating up.” As it was, waves of heat were cutting through the air like ribbons on the horizon, and it was only eight o’clock in the morning.
She looked around at her crew, steadying her thoughts and locking on to her resolve to make history. Great men and women made a habit of stepping outside their comfort zones, living on the edge, and testing out unchartered waters. And she wanted to be among them, to make a difference in the world by unearthing what remained of long gone great empires. Sometimes that required delving into the unknown.
She shook her fanciful musings aside. After all, they may not have discovered anything more than an empty tunnel.
She sat on the ledge, dangling her legs inside the hole. She tugged on the rope secured to her harness, which was connected to a rigging system that Seth and Timal would use to lower her. She glanced at Seth and Timal, confident in their abilities to guide her safely down and back up again. And with one more look at Jeff, she pushed off, letting herself become suspended.
Her heart thumped against her rib cage as she was lowered. She reached out and touched the makeshift walls that her men had put in place to prevent a cave-in. Her fingertips brushed against some sand, and it was slightly cool to the touch, but the air around her was still hot. A few of the granules sprinkled down the shaft.
About six feet beneath the ground, she felt incredibly alone. Although, it was also quiet and peaceful.
As Jeff’s form continued to become smaller above her and the space she was in became more shadowed, brief apprehension lanced through her. But the allure of what lie ahead silenced her anxiety.
If you can take the heat, grab your hat and sunscreen and strap yourself in for an unforgettable adventure. Order your copy of The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh today.
Save-the-World Contest Details
What’s at stake?
$175 USD prize pack!
The winner will save the world by:
- Saying goodbye to plastic bags with an environmentally friendly grocery tote.
- By exchanging their plastic water bottles with an environmentally friendly stainless-steel water bottle.
- By foregoing the paper cup and opting for an environmentally friendly stainless-steel travel mug.
They’ll also receive:
- A premium square keychain
- A signed hardcover copy of The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh
- The ability to name a character in one of Carolyn’s upcoming books!
Contest Deadline:
Sunday, April 22nd.
How to Enter:
- Buy The Secret of the Lost Pharaohin e-book before April 22nd.
- In the Table of Contents, you’ll see a chapter entitled “SAVE THE WORLD GIVEAWAY.”
- Click the “SAVE THE WORLD GIVEAWAY” chapter link, and there you’ll find the link to the entry form.
- Complete the form by April 22nd and you’re entered.
The winner will be selected randomly on April 23rd and notified by Hibbert & Stiles Publishing via email by May 1st and contacted for their shipping information.
Share the release and contest with others by supporting Carolyn’s ThunderClap campaign found here.
Follow The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh Facebook event to keep current on the latest news, excerpts, and given more opportunities to win!
About the Matthew Connor Adventure series:
Action-adventure books for the mystery lover. Does treasure hunting excite you? What about the thought of traveling the globe and exploring remote regions to uncover legends that the world has all but forgotten? If so, strap yourself in for an adventure with modern-day archaeologist Matthew Connor and his two closest friends. Indiana Jones meets the twenty-first century.
This is the perfect book series for fans of Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, National Treasure, and The Relic Hunter.
Other Books in the Series:
Carolyn Arnold is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series and has written nearly thirty books. Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark, POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.
Connect with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online:
And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date information on release and special offers at CarolynArnold.net/Newsletters.
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Summer Prescott Giveaway – Blast
BookBrag.com $100 Amazon Giftcard Giveaway
3 ebook giveaway from Summer Prescott Books Publisher.
Those books include:
A Ryli Sinclair Mystery, Book 1
By Jenna St. James
Published: August 2017
Genre: Cozy Mystery
By Summer Prescott
Published: April 2017
Genre: Thriller
By Alex Jameson
Published: February 2017
Genre: Horror
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