#BlogTour Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin.

About the Author

Jo Harkin studied English Literature at university. She daydreamed her way through various jobs in her twenties before giving in and becoming a full-time writer. She published four real-world literary fiction novels under a pseudonym, before deciding to follow her passion and move into speculative fiction. Her focus is ‘what if’ stories with an emphasis on human lives. She lives in Berkshire.

About the book

Across the world, thousands of people are shocked to receive an email telling them that they once chose to have a traumatic memory removed. Now they are being given the chance to get that memory back.

For Mei, William, Oscar and Finn there is a piece missing, but they’re not sure what. And each of them must decide if the truth is worth the pain, or better left unknown.

For Noor, who works at the memory clinic Nepenthe, the process of reinstating their patients’ memories begins to shake the moral foundations of her world. As she delves deeper into the programme, she will have to risk everything to uncover the true human cost of this miraculous technology.

An exploration of secrets, grief, identity and belonging – of the stories we tell ourselves, and come to rely on, Tell Me An Ending is a sharp, dark and devastating novel about the power and danger of memory.

Review

I thought this was a fascinating concept and there are so many places to take it. The entire premise is a tightrope of black, white and fuzzy areas of boundary crossing. Is it a good thing? Does it create worse scenarios than the bad memories it purports to erase. Is the erasing or extraction merely a band-aid that in actual fact becomes a timebomb? A bomb that can cause mental health, general health issues, the breakdown of relationships and mistrust in self.

Imagine getting a letter telling yourself you had made the choice to erase a memory, however you have no actual memory of doing so, which of course makes it a Schrödinger’s Cat situation. Do you retrieve to find out what it is, and end up with a memory you would rather not have. Or live with the niggle that you have experienced something worrying enough you felt the need to erase it.

I am legit interested in which decision people would make if this were the future. I think I would need to know, then probably ask for it to be taken again, thereby creating an endless repetitive loop of actions and behaviour. What if it was used against your will – a Big Brother tool, the possibilities are endless.

Told through multiple character narratives, who all have something in common, the fact that they have had a memory removed and know about it or did it and wanted to remain oblivious to that decision. Of course there is also the aspect of them being consciously or subconsciously aware of this fact. The subconscious element of the story is quite fascinating. Are our brains hardwired to restore information it thinks is relative and pertinent to our wellbeing and survival? An innate response to flight or fight?

Which memory would you pick, if any at all? Would you choose to erase pain or a secret, but what if that put you at risk at a later date. This a self induced black hole moment, the ethics and moral aspect of this story are intricate. I can’t wait to discuss this book with fellow readers. It’s absolutely fascinating, and a great story to boot. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Buy Tell Me An Ending at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Hutchinson Heinemann pub date 12th May 2022 | Hardback | eBook | Audio | £12.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Ruabon: Lost Tales of Solace by Karl Drinkwater

 It’s my turn on the BlogTour Ruabon: Lost Tales of Solace by Karl Drinkwater.

About the Author

Karl Drinkwater writes thrilling SF, suspenseful horror, and contemporary literary fiction. Whichever you pick you’ll find interesting and authentic characters, clever and compelling plots, and believable worlds.

Karl has lived in many places but now calls Scotland his home. He’s an ex-librarian with degrees in English, Classics, and Information Science. He also studied astrophysics for a year at university, surprising himself by winning a prize for “Outstanding Performance”.

When he isn’t writing he loves guitars, exercise, computer and board games, nature, and vegan cake. Not necessarily in that order. Click here to subscribe to his newsletter

Follow @karldrinkwater on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, on Facebook, on Instagram, Visit karldrinkwater.uk  

About the book

Welcome to Tecant. Nothing ever happens here. Until today.

Ruabon Nadarl is just another low-ranking member of the scan crew, slaving away for the UFS which “liberated” his homeworld. To help pass the time during long shifts he builds secret personalities into the robots he controls. Despite his ingenuity, the UFS offers few opportunities for a better life.

Then Ruabon detects an intruder on the surface of a vital communications tower. He could just report it and let the deadly UFS commandos take over, while Ruabon returns to obscurity. Or he could break UFS laws and try to capture the intruder himself. For the UFS, only the outcome matters, not the method. If his custom-programmed drones can save the day, he’ll be a hero. And if he fails, he’ll be dead.

Review

This is the fourth book in the Lost Tales of Solace series. The books can all be read as standalone novels and yet they all connect on different levels. The same universe and systems viewed through the lens of individual characters and their experiences.

Interesting how the two parallels of the series, the technical and the human side, sort of come together in the character of Ruabon. He finds it difficult to connect to his colleagues and human counterparts. Instead he finds comfort in his drones, and creates a pseudo barrier of social interaction and connection  between himself and the inanimate objects by injecting them with their own personalities. He is very much the reluctant protagonist of this story. 

This story links into the Big Brotheresque nature of the surveillance noted throughout the series. In fact the planet itself, Tecant, is the link in the network of The Cordon. It’s what makes the planet so important.

The speculative nature of this genre bending and mixing series is intriguing, the creativity and vision is extraordinary. Interestingly the books have a variation when it comes to their centre of gravity, which swings between human element and inanimate object element. This time I took a moment to wonder about the greater picture, which possibly either goes undiscovered in the vast creativity of the plot or only exists in the perception of my own frame of reference.

Are there correlations to be drawn between the our reliance on and the advancement of AI,  the egotistical assumption that we are the only life, the surveillance we allow to dominate and control our lives  – on a more base note the relationships that bind, support and keep us going. Solace – the gift that keeps on giving.

Buy Ruabon: Lost Tales of Solace at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎ Organic Apocalypse pub date 1 July 2021. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Clarissa by Karl Drinkwater

 It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Clarissa: Lost Tales of Solace by Karl Drinkwater.

About the Author

Karl Drinkwater writes thrilling SF, suspenseful horror, and contemporary literary fiction. Whichever you pick you’ll find interesting and authentic characters, clever and compelling plots, and believable worlds.

Karl has lived in many places but now calls Scotland his home. He’s an ex-librarian with degrees in English, Classics, and Information Science. He also studied astrophysics for a year at university, surprising himself by winning a prize for “Outstanding Performance”.

When he isn’t writing he loves guitars, exercise, computer and board games, nature, and vegan cake. Not necessarily in that order. Click here to subscribe to his newsletter

Follow @karldrinkwater on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, on Facebook, on Instagram, Visit karldrinkwater.uk  

About the book

If you’re reading this: HELP! I’ve been kidnapped. Me and my big sister stayed together after our parents died. We weren’t bothering anybody. But some mean government agents came anyway, and split us up. Now I’m a prisoner on this spaceship. The agents won’t even say where we’re going. I hate them.

And things have started to get a bit weird. Nullspace is supposed to be empty, but when I look out of the skywindows I can see … something. Out there. And I think it wants to get in here. With us. My name is Clarissa. I am ten years old. And they will all be sorry when my big sister comes to rescue me.

Review

This is the third book in the Lost Tales of Solace series, but it is part of the bigger Solace universe – pun fully intended. It’s a bit like solitary planets having their own stories and yet being connected by the fact they are all part of one universe. For readers who have read the rest of or part of this series they will recognise the connection for instance between Clarissa and her sister Opal, who is featured in previous novels.

What begins as a story that seems to be one of a young girl being kidnapped and separated from her sister, soon wanders into an entirely different realm of fear and uncertainty. Clarissa doesn’t know why she has been kidnapped and her two guards play good cop and bad cop, but she knows enough not to let them know certain things. Like the fact she can see things they can’t or what they perceive to be innocent objects are actually a way to facilitate communication. They clearly can’t see what is coming straight at them – but Clarissa can.

It’s speculative science-fiction that really does veer off into worlds, scenarios and experiences previously unknown. The melding of genres, possible storylines, of science, space, travel and the unknown, then pushing the boundaries to see where it takes both the readers and the author – trademark Drinkwater. 

The result is an individual experience each time. As if the challenge were to envision and give the reader a different perspective each time. Not of the same scenarios or the characters, but of the speculative nature of the unknown. Definitely a series I would recommend, perhaps more so because you just never know where the story will take you each time. It’s creative and visionary.

Buy Clarissa at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Organic Apocalypse pub date 1 Jun. 2021. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey

 It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey.

About the Author

Catriona Silvey was born in Glasgow and grew up in Perthshire and Derbyshire, which left her with a strange accent and a distrust of flat places. She overcame the latter to do a BA in English at Cambridge, and spent the next few years there working in scientific publishing. After that she did a PhD in language evolution, in the hope of finding out where all these words came from in the first place.

Following stints in Edinburgh and Chicago, she returned to Cambridge, where she lives with her husband and a very peculiar cat. When she’s not working as a researcher studying meaning in language, she writes. Her short stories have been performed at the Edinburgh Literary Festival and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. Follow @silveycat on Twitter, Visit catrionasilvey.com

About the book

Thora and Santi have met before… Under the clocktower in central Cologne, with nothing but the stars above and their futures ahead.

They will meet again… They don’t know it yet, but they’ll meet again: in numerous lives they will become friends, colleagues, lovers, enemies – meeting over and over for the first time, every time; each coming to know every version of the other.

But as they’re endlessly drawn together and the lines between their different lives begin to blur, they are faced with one question: why? They must discover the truth of their strange attachment before this, and all their lives, are lost forever. 

Review

What’s interesting is the fact both Santi and Thora give themselves and readers the connection and the same clue in every scenario that eventually leads to the solution and conclusion of this story. Not necessarily one you filter out, perhaps because it becomes one of the features on a loop, which makes the two characters identifiable to each other and to us.

The inter-personal relationships change, the power structure and the hierarchy between the two of them. One of the constants is the place, Cologne, which is woven cleverly into the fabric of each loop. Are they loops though or are they glimpses of parallel timelines, reincarnations or jumps in time. Are Santi and Thora trapped in a ever repeating cycle where one of them knows what the inevitable conclusion is and the other is determined to try over and over again.

What sets this apart from other books with a similar premise is the way Silvey creates this visceral connection to the place, much like historical fiction, and the speculative nature of their meetings, all of which culminates in a fascinating ending.

I enjoyed the way the two characters are fused together like soulmates who are destined to repeat the same unfulfilling ending, and yet at the same time are on two different paths. One believes every path is set in stone by a higher power and the other believes the opposite, and yet in a bizarre way Thora also acts as if everything is preordained.

It’s a fascinating and often emotional read, and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

Buy Meet Me in Another Life at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Harper Voyager pub date 8th July 2021 | Hardback | Ebook | Audio | £14.99. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at catrionasilvey.com/books

#BlogTour I Lost My Compass at the Bermuda Triangle and Dream Five by Clara L. Molina

It’s my turn on the BlogTour I Lost My Compass at the Bermuda Triangle and Dream Five by Clara L. Molina.

About the Author

Clara L Molina writes Science Fiction books most of the time, dabbles in comic drawings occasionally, and writes to laugh at herself all the time. She has a computer science degree, but has been a lifelong writer. She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas, and enjoys fresh air and days where her hair is not frizzy.

Follow @BoxaEl on Twitter, Visit elboxa.com 

About the book

Sophia Lorenzo awoke with no memory or identity and given a mission to murder a mysterious man named Murich Rhys. What will she do? There’s only one way to find out as she heads to his castle and embarks on a long and arduous journey to complete a task she does not want. 

Can she battle the scorching heat of the desert? What lies in the wake and maze of the forest? Can she escape from the Snow Dwellers and the inhabitants of the contentious city of Absolute Zero? 

She heads to the castle to discover who she is and why she was given this task. The truth is just as crazy as her mission. Sophia Lorenzo finds her compass on the Bermuda Triangle and Dream Five.

Review

Sophia Lorenzo awakens with no memory in the Cursed City. A city where messages drop from the sky. I wondered of there were shades of an abstract Dorothy on her way to the Emerald City being spoken to from above by the wizard.

It’s a short read, around 136 pages. It’s a speculative read with elements of sci-fi and dystopian genres. It reads a little bit like a series of short excerpts. Now and again the speculative nature is replaced with doubt about the nature of her reality. About her conscious state and subconscious meanderings.

At times it felt as if the structure of the sentences was slightly off and the in general the story seemed a little disjointed at times. Not always unusual when it comes to speculative fiction – the very nature of the genre allows for a crossing of boundaries and breaking of established rules.

There are some intriguing ideas and plenty of creativity. Perhaps less trying to outsmart the reader and a bit more clarity to ensure readership.

Buy I Lost My Compass at the Bermuda Triangle at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Mindworm by David Pollard

Yesterday it was my turn on the BlogTour Mindworm by David Pollard. Unfortunately I was unable to post, but I am making up for it now.

About the Author

After more than forty years of paid employment David Pollard retired to glorious Hereford and immersed himself in the theatrical activities of the county. He is currently Chair of Hereford County Drama Festival.

David  sees himself as a teller of tales – he is a playwright, author of short stories and novels. He has a preference for dark and dystopian material. He is also an actor and theatrical director. Among the many authors admired by David is Robert Louis Stevenson – for his website David adopted the appellation Tuistala – Samoan for ‘Teller of Tales’ which the Samoan people called RLS.

Several of David’s plays have been published by Lazybee Scripts – one of which ‘Aspects of a Betrayal’ was shortlisted for the Kenneth Branagh prize at the Windsor Fringe Festival.

David has two works published on KDP/Amazon: ‘His Cat and Other Strange Tales’ – a collection of macabre short stories, ‘The Alienation of Ludovic Weiss’ – a psychological thriller. A third book ‘Mindworm ‘ is scheduled for publication in September 2020

When not writing, directing or acting David runs a podcast platform for the streaming of radio plays and short story readings – Hand to Mouth Sound Theatre. For relaxation David reads voraciously with a liking for history and thriller fiction. He also enjoys country walks of the strolling variety.

Follow @dpollardauthor on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit thetusitala.co.uk, Buy Mindworm

About the book

The placid life of a college librarian is plunged into a desperate fight for survival  when he witnesses the death of his only friend. Suddenly he is forced to confront disturbing changes in his nature and appetites and their consequences. Suspected of murder and pursued by an implacable police detective he runs – but is he running from the law or from himself?

Review

A rather unassuming librarian ends up being hounded by a police officer who thinks he has caught the scent of a very clever and elusive killer. The bookworm seems to be attracting death. People conveniently just popping their clogs in his vicinity.

I kind of enjoyed the way the main character sways between benevolence and self-interest. The person who is merely doing someone a gracious favour and the flipside is him being consumed by lack of control and a selfish craving. The hunger is stronger than the human inside. Hmm the human inside?

A good person with urges he can’t control, but wishes he could, or is it just a predator in denial? That aspect of this speculative read, which dapples in magical realism, actually presents an interesting idea or dilemma. Kill because you think you’re helping or kill because you can’t control the urge to do so.

Also the suggestion that to be free may come with a healthy helping of karma. 

It’s a short read, novella length. Enough to give readers a sense of style and creativity of the author. It questions the boundaries of good and evil, and whether it depends on who determines what that means. Pollard also plays, towards the end, with the idea that the cosmic energy you give out or take will eventually want a repayment of some kind or pay it forward.

Some interesting ideas here and I also enjoyed the way the librarian remained in non-descriptive status until a certain point, so the reader makes assumptions perhaps and is then surprised with whom they are confronted with. Making the aspect of hunger, need, selfishness and yet simultaneously the need to belong and be a part of something bigger a fight within the main character – at first the faceless and then the almost non-descriptive.

Buy Mindworm at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour iRemember by S.V. Bekvalac

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour iRemember by S.V. Bekvalac.

For a limited time, iRemember will be available for only 99p.

About the Author

SV Bekvalac was born in 1987 in Croatia, in what was then Yugoslavia, but grew up in London.

She studied German and Russian at Oxford, and went to film school in Prague. After almost becoming a film-maker and then an academic, researching cities and films, she found herself writing fiction about cities instead. She started off with screenplays and short stories, but they got longer and longer. iRremember is her first novel.

She has lived in cities all over Europe. Now she lives in London, or in one of her own imaginary cities.

Follow @sandra_bek @EyeAndLightning on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Buy iRemember

About the book

The city of iRemember shimmers in the desert haze, watched over by the Bureau, a government agency that maintains control through memory surveillance and little pink pills made from the narcotic plant Tranquelle.

It looks like an oasis under its geodesic dome, but the city is under siege. ‘Off-Gridder’ insurgents are fighting to be forgotten.

Bureau Inspector Icara Swansong is on a mission to neutralise the threat. Her investigation leads her into iRemember’s secret underbelly, where she finds herself a fugitive from the very system she had vowed to protect. She has to learn new rules: trust no one. Behind every purple Tranquelle stalk lurk double-agents.

A sci-fi noir with a psychedelic twist, iRemember explores the power the past holds over us and the fragility of everything: what is, what once was, and what will be.

Review

Off-Gridders – the rebels, the anarchists and those who want to stay way under the invasive radar of the powers that be. The people determined to stop their every thought, but especially their bad thoughts from being uploaded and stored on government servers. Then they sit and wait until the need arises to use them.

Lucien Ffogg is part of the resistance, well technically it’s more about profit and less about fighting for the cause, but perhaps somewhere in that grumpy stubborn brain there lives a tiny rebel. The last thing Lucien wants or needs is a government official turning up to put the entire compound he is tasked with maintaining, a Memory Processing Plant in the middle of a desert, to put him and the site under scrutiny.

Inspector Icara Swansong knows deep down in her bones that Ffogg – double ff and double gg – is up to something. She just hasn’t been able to find out what and where, aside from the clear signs of neglect and age that is.

It becomes a battle of minds, although it’s interesting that neither of the characters evokes super negative emotions, perhaps because it is easy to understand both views.

It’s speculative sci-fi with a dystopian flair.

Bekvalac pits the two main characters against each other in a cat and mouse game of deception and revelations. A game that leads them to a surprising escalation and an endgame neither of them expects.

The world-building is extensive and intricate, and the premise is intriguing. Being held hostage by your own thoughts and memories, something you are unable to control and yet others want to use them to control you. Quite a read.

Buy iRemember at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Lightning Books; pub date 30 Mar. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Helene: Lost Tales of Solace by Karl Drinkwater

Today its my turn on the BlogTour Helene: Lost Tales of Solace by Karl Drinkwater.

About the Author

Karl Drinkwater is originally from Manchester but lived in Wales for twenty years, and now calls Scotland his home. He’s a full-time author, edits fiction for other writers, and was a professional librarian for over twenty-five years. He has degrees in English, Classics, and Information Science.

He writes in multiple genres: his aim is always just to tell a good story. Among his books you’ll find elements of literary and contemporary fiction, gritty urban, horror, suspense, paranormal, thriller, sci-fi, romance, social commentary, and more. The end result is interesting and authentic characters, clever and compelling plots, and believable worlds.

When he isn’t writing he loves exercise, guitars, computer and board games, the natural environment, animals, social justice, cake, and zombies. Not necessarily in that order.

Follow @karldrinkwater on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, on Facebook, on Instagram, Visit karldrinkwater.uk, Buy Helene

About the book

Dr Helene Vermalle is shaping the conscience of a goddess-level AI. As a leading civilian expert in Emergent AI Socialisation, she has been invited to assist in a secret military project.

Her role? Helping ViraUHX, the most advanced AI in the universe, to pass through four theoretical development stages. But it’s not easy training a mind that surpasses her in raw intellect. And the developing AI is capable of killing her with a single tantrum.

On top of this, she must prove her loyalty to the oppressive government hovering over her shoulder. They want a weapon. She wants to instil an overriding sense of morality. Can she teach the AI right and wrong without being categorised as disloyal?

Lost Tales of Solace are short side-stories set in the Lost Solace universe.

Review

The Lost Tales of Solace are short stories set in the Lost Solace universe, this one occurs just before the events of the first novel in the series, Lost Solace.

Helene finds herself surprised by ViraUHX, who has been expanding her own horizons, despite the fact it shouldn’t even be possible. In fact Vira has thought a lot about what she can, can’t do and what she should keep secret, and therein lies the crux of the matter. The AI shouldn’t have the ability to hide, to think, to joke and go beyond the programming.

This is speculative science-fiction that wants to expand horizons and question evolution, especially when it comes to technology. Drinkwater draws you in with the debate of morality. When it comes to AI when does their right to existence start or even their right to have rights? When you create something that is supposed to not only be equal, but surpass human capabilities, and to do so the AI has to be given certain aspects or elements that are incorporated into humankind – where does AI stop and evolved humankind begin?

Or is that exactly what an evolved humankind is going to look like – an human enhanced with AI or vice versa? See what I mean about the dialogue and the author creating a conversation. The topic is really interesting, which when driven by a fictional scenario is even more so.

Buy Helene (Lost Tales of Solace #1) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.  Publisher: Organic Apocalypse; pub date 3 Oct. 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at books2read.

The Red Book by Davide Cortellucci

The Red Book by Davide Cortellucci is speculative fiction that bends the boundaries of what we think is possible and we are capable of.

About the Author

Davide Cortellucci is a writer and the author of The Red Book. He has spent the last few years working on an unnamed trilogy, friendly referred by him as Little Yellow Rubber Duck. The Red Book is the first book in the trilogy. He was born on the 25th of July 1978 in Belgium, to Italian immigrant parents. He grew up in Belgium, Italy, and in London, UK.

Davide has done several jobs, from waiter to inventories, from sound engineering in shows to events manager, and many more. Davide is a college dropout with a couple of creative writing courses on his back. He has spent many years travelling around Europe, learning about cultures, and keeping an interest in the power of the mind. Davide loves writing stories that awaken the epic feeling within the reader. He now lives in South East London with his partner, he’s curious about life, and he also makes a great pasta sauce.

Follow Davide Cortellucci on Goodreads, on Instagram, on Facebook, Buy The Red Book

About the book

Martin is a young man living in London. His life is suddenly turned upside-down by the death of his best friend, Sofia. He’s destroyed and feels lost. After a few days, he is given a small red book and he decides to go on a solo trip through Europe. In the journey, he meets Chuck, a big and funny young American-Canadian man, and they decide to stick together for the rest of the trip.

Martin experiences strange and terrible events during the trip, and the idea in him that he possesses mental abilities above the ordinary strengths. He starts to link similarities with the story written in the book, and he discovers a hidden message inside it, which takes him to the author of the book, Caesar.

Martin learns that Caesar and Akiko, her daughter, are part of a group of people with out-of-the-ordinary mental capabilities, and he joins them to learn how to handle the powers of thoughts and he discovers how his mind can produce and modify the structure of matter.

Suddenly, the Sinisters, a group of extremely dangerous individuals, capable to induce psychological fear into people and of obliterating matter, appears on his path.

Review

Martin is just a young man living in London with a brilliant best friend and great family. When his friend dies suddenly Martin feels desolate and as if he has lost his place in the world. He can’t see the meaning in life – in his life, so he just ups and leaves to explore the world and find himself again.

Not long into his journey some chance encounters change the way he perceives the world, himself and others. He experiences love at first sight, he meets a travelling companion, and he is given a handwritten journal that changes everything.

One could argue that the traumatic event makes Martin more open and vulnerable to suggestion. If he were to read something mind-boggling and unbelievable, the odds are that he would be more likely to believe it. Enter the unbelievable power of the mind stage left.

Martin starts to believe that he has the mental capabilities to make things happen, think things into existence and when he finds out he is only one of many others, every action and reaction seems to link together to make one complete picture.

‘Your thoughts have been contaminated’ – now that sentence threw a spanner in the works for me. It shrieks of cult manipulation and good old tin foil hat conspiracy theories. On some level, despite the whole good and evil aspect of the story, this made both groups equal. Suspicion, competitiveness, the need to control and manipulate – they have all of these things in common.

It is speculative fiction that bends the boundaries of what we think is possible and we are capable of. It’s all about the power of suggestion and thought. Or is it?

Buy The Red Book on Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Independently published 9 Sept. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Something to Tell You by David Edwards

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Something to Tell You by David Edwards. It’s a smorgasbord of speculative fiction, science fiction, philosophy and theology.

About the Author

David Edwards previously published two anti-romance books under the pseudonym of Jack George Edmunson. He then published the historical novel, The Ebb & Flow, before moving over to children’s fiction with The Black Hand Gang. He currently lives in Switzerland. For more information visit davidedwardsauthor.com.

Follow @edwardsauthor on Twitter, on Facebook, on Goodreads, on LinkedIn, Buy Something to Tell You 

About the book

Something to Tell You follows the two families of Bert Leinster and his best friend Sam Murray, as the earth comes under bombardment by a Higgs Boson particle storm. The Central Control of the World council insists that survival depends on living underground, protected by The Envelope. As CCOW persuades humankind to hide in the Deeps, Bert cannot challenge CCOW nor comprehend why people cannot see the truth behind the lies.

Everything changes when he meets Her. Lily, a plant who becomes his enemy in the battle to save humankind, to save you… although 99.9% of you is empty space. Do you deserve saving?

Review

Speculative fiction can often be a marmite kind of read. It depends on how much a reader is willing to ride with the author whilst they bend boundaries, re-imagine the known norm and spread tentacles into every area of the universe and beyond. Expect your grey cells to be bounced around like flubber on a freefall from space in this read.

In essence it’s an end of the world scenario from the point of view of Bert, his family and friends. The way those who control the world, or rather those who own the media, manipulate the people in an attempt to console and defraud. To what end? To lead the flock like lambs to the inevitable slaughter.

Positive and negative – good and evil – god and the devil. All of these are two sides of the same coin. Energy and reactions equal the actions of both good and evil. God and the devil co-exist in some screwed up semblance of what we regard largely as life. To kill one is to automatically also extinguish the other and we are destined to repeat this cycle ad infinitum.

It’s a smorgasbord of speculative fiction, science fiction, philosophy and theology.

One could argue that less is often more and that clarification is better than an assumption of understanding. It depends on what you want to impart, how you do that and whether or not you are interested in the emotional resonance.

I can imagine quite a few readers walking away from this read and asking themselves, especially after reading the ending, what was the intention and/or what did I take away from this read.

For me it was the sense of powerlessness, because fate is dictated by an ever-turning and self- regenerating cycle, This also means we are programmed, whether by scientific fact or theological premise to make the same choices. mistakes or take certain paths over and over again – fifth, sixth or seventh world..

Buy Something to Tell You at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published in hardcover and ebook formats by troubadour Publishing in May 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Troubadour. Buy at WHSmith. Barnes & Noble.