This weeks new release feature is from Fantasy Sci-Fi Network author, Raymond Bolton. This Indie Reader Approved and award winning author, who's had plenty of his own adventures to add fuel to his imagination, released his second book Thought Gazer on January 1st 2015. It is the first book of Awakenings prequel trilogy.
THOUGHT
GAZER
Everyone who touches you transforms you, if only a little. But if you enter their minds, think what they have thought, in effect do what they have done, how complete will that transformation be?
The warlord, Hath Kael, kidnaps Darva, an opposing warlord's sister, to force her brother to surrender. When Bedistai, from a tribe of hunters, foils the abduction and undertakes Darva's return, Kael recruits Peniff, a telepath, to locate the two. Peniff's talent makes him a fine weapon in anyone's arsenal, and Kael ensures his cooperation by holding his wife and children hostage. But Peniff, a good man, refuses to play the game and instead comes to the couple's aid. This is the story of a man, in all other ways ordinary, rising above his fears to do what is morally right. Make no mistake about it, his power is considerable. But can he rescue his family before his betrayal comes to light? Moreover, what will he become before his journey is over? Thought Gazer, the second volume of The Ydron Saga, is the first book of Awakening's prequel trilogy.
What readers are already saying about The Ydron Saga...
"An interesting combination of really creepy 'bad guys' and good guys..."
"...because the action in Raymond's novel is so fast paced and the characters so engrossing, I found myself totally immersed in the world that Raymond has created.""This was a well written sci-fi novel that left no loose ends. The story was original and plausible."
An excerpt to give
you a taste of what's in store...
To say Harad was
relentless is to understate the rage that drove him. He had pushed his party
mercilessly until eventually, one of the horses, driven to exhaustion, fell and
refused to rise. When Harad began flogging it, Peniff tore his leash from
Kord’s grasp, strode up to Harad and grabbed him by the wrist, arresting the
whip at the top of its arc. Harad turned to glare.
“You will kill it and still
it will not rise.” In a soft, but deliberate tone, Peniff went on. “In fact, if
you continue to deny the other horses rest or sleep, you will kill them all.
Then what? Do you expect us to walk all the way to danHsar?”
Harad’s face became a mask
of hate, but Peniff persisted.
“Even now, the man and the
woman are entering the prison. Do you expect that somehow they will run away
and evade us? I promise you, they will not escape any time soon. Look at your
men. Even should we stumble on the pair in the next minute, they would be too
exhausted to act.”
Harad was breathing
heavily, but he opened the fist he had formed with his free hand and lowered
it.
“We all want the same
thing,” said Peniff. “Even this poor, dumb creature wishes to rise and avoid
your wrath, but it cannot. Look at its eyes. They are filled with terror, but
the animal is spent. It can do no more and neither can we.”
Harad could not deny the
truth. The horse’s chest heaved, its mouth frothed and the whites of its eyes
showed how deeply it feared the next strike of the lash.
“Very well, Thought Gazer,”
Harad said as he looked from the horse to his men. “We will rest, even sleep if
you like, but not one minute past Jadon’s rising. I intend to arrive at the
city’s gate tomorrow.”
“And this poor beast will
carry you there, if you but allow it to sleep the night, then feed and water it
in the morning.”
As the two stood staring,
it was hard to say who was in charge: the one with the whip, or the one with
the collar around his neck.
“There are some things even
you cannot simply will into being,” said Peniff.
Harad stared a moment
longer, then threw the whip to the ground.
“Alright,” he hissed,
before returning to his normal voice. “The thought gazer has declared a
holiday. Rest, if that’s all you are good for. But I promise, in the morning we
will cover ground as we have not done for days.”
Book I of The Ydron Saga
Where Raymond finds his inspiration...
The Highwayman - Grist For
the Pen
From September 1971 through
August 1972, I hitchhiked and backpacked throughout Europe, spending days,
weeks, even months in various locales. My adventures ranged from wondrous to
perilous. Once, I lived with the owner and staff above Kipp’s, London’s sole
vegetarian restaurant, where I mingled with the likes of Warren Beatty, Julie
Christy and Marc Bolan. On another occasion, I milked cows on an Israeli kibbutz
and explored ancient Jerusalem, sleeping in the prison where Christ was held.
Some events, however, still chill me …
… like the time I hitched a
ride into Paris.
I remember little about the
young man who picked me up—longish, medium brown hair and a sparse moustache
and beard that spoke of a youth in his early twenties. It was a gray afternoon
and I was enjoying my first glimpse of the City of Lights when the rundown gray
Volvo braked hard. I tore my gaze from the architecture only to stare down the barrels
of dozens of automatic rifles, at helmeted police clad in body armor and
ballistic face masks.
I was manacled, shoved into
the caged rear seat of a police car and transported to headquarters where I was
relieved of my passport and held. With no idea why they arrested me, what they
thought I had done, who they thought I might be, I tried to explain I had met
the driver only minutes before.
Eventually, they released
me, perhaps because the one they had taken to interrogation confirmed my story.
I have no idea why we were stopped, but a client of mine living in Europe at
the time recalls that the terrorist group, Baader Meinhof, was very active then
and numerous arrests were being made throughout Europe. What else could explain
such an overwhelming show of force?
Then, in February, 1972,
there were the three Portuguese revolutionaries who drove me from Copenhagen to
Hamburg, discussing their plans to overthrow the dictator, Oliveira
Salazar. I still have the business card of the printer who invited me to visit,
should he survive the coup. On April 25, 1973, the authoritarian Estado Novo
regime did fall.
Days later, I had just
climbed from a concert cellist’s car at an autobahn restaurant near Karlsruhe.
I was sitting down to eat when a man asked if I were going to Munich. When I
replied in the affirmative, he said if I wanted a lift, to grab my food and
come with him.
During the drive, he
related how, as a hashish dealer, he gone into hiding after evading arrest two
weeks earlier. Friends had phoned that it was safe to return. At one point, the
conversation turned to black market merchandise. The most valuable thing one
could sell, he said, was an American passport. Conversation halted. We both
knew what I had. After long minutes of silence—now well after dark—he suggested
we stop somewhere—to eat, he explained. The first likely place was brightly
lit. Many parked cars. As I expected, he kept driving. The next autobahn
restaurant, however, was deserted—the perfect place for what he was planning.
Once inside, I headed for the restroom. If matters escalated, I needed to empty
my bladder. Before returning to the common area, I adjusted my sweater to
reveal the Buck knife holstered on my belt. Bigger than he and armed, I went
out to confront him. One glance, and he was once again the genial host.
I made him drop me off at
Munich’s outskirts and walked six hours until I reached the city center. At the
Hauptbahnhof—the main train station—I purchased a ticket.
These days, I write
thrillers, preferring not to live them.
About the Author...
Raymond Bolton divides his time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Portland, Oregon.
Prior to being published, he won several awards for his work. Most recently, under its
working title, Renunciation, Awakening was a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers
Association's 2013 literary competition from among hundreds of entries from the
US, the UK, Canada, Europe and Australia. It also won writerstype.com's June
2013 First Chapter competition. From April 2011, until it was disbanded in
December 2012, Raymond was an invited, featured contributor for the writers'
blog, Black Ink, White Paper.
Where
to buy
Buy links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0991347102
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