IWSG & The Reader by M. Pax

It's hard to believe it's the December meeting of the IWSG, hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and yet here we are at the end of another year. If you'd like to join our monthly meetings, click here and add your name to the list. New members are always welcome! Also, be sure to check out the IWSG website, as it is a gold mine of helpful information.

Now that it's almost time to say so long to 2015 I've been reflecting a bit on the year and realize I've became stagnant professionally over the last several months. I haven't met most of the goals I set and I've also felt stuck and uninspired for a good part of this year. So I know I need to make some changes in order to shake things up and get myself back in a good writing groove.

I don't know exactly what those changes will be but I have some ideas I'm going to try. It's all a bit nerve-wracking but I also exciting because I want and need to get out of this rut I've been in for far too long now.

When I began this blog five years ago I had achieved some personal goals and wondered "What Else is Possible?" Now it seems I'm back to the question that started this whole blogging adventure.

It's been an amazing five years but I know it's time for me to make some changes and set some new goals. In other words, it's time for me to ask what else is possible again.

Today I'm also helping to spread the word about the latest release from M. Pax, The Reader. The Reader is the third book in The Rifters series, and this is a series you don't want to miss. If you haven't already delved into the Pax universe you are missing out!

The Reader info:

Links: 

 Amazon
AmazonUK / AUS / CA / DE / FR / ES / IT / NL / JP / BR / MX / IN

Bookcessories 

iBook / Nook / GooglePlay / Kobo / Smashwords / inktera / Scribd

Blurb: 

With the rift closed for the season and no more monsters to fight, Daelin Long gets bored as librarian in the podunk town of Settler, Oregon. A job interview and her brother’s arrival present a tempting opportunity to escape, until her brother and her best friend, a ghost, disappear.

While Daelin searches for them, more mysteries pile up: dead people coming back to life, portraits of the town founders replaced with strange white trees, and people on the other side of the rift returning. It’s impossible. The portal that allows monsters from other universes to come to Earth is sealed until next summer.

The Rifters, a secret group protecting our world, believe the troubles are nothing more than the tantrums of an offended ghost. Daelin disagrees. If she’s right, the evil hell-bent on destroying Earth has new technology making the rift more deadly.

Before the monster summons the next apocalypse, Daelin must find it and destroy it.

Book 3 in the Rifter series.

Need to catch up? You can read books 1 & 2 in the Rifter series for free by becoming an M. Pax Reader. ENTER MY DIMENSION

Reviews

“The world Pax creates here is like the Wild West meets Ghostbusters with some Stargate and a bit of Steampunk thrown in. Even though everything seems a bit familiar, it’s not, which is what makes it compelling.”CHOOSE YOUR OWN END

“This book catapults the reader right in mid-events and, like Daelin, one is forever trying to figure out the ins and outs of the situation. Though readers have one advantage in that we are prepared to believe. However, what in some books can be annoying, becomes an enjoyable ride, where you are constantly excited to see where the plot will take you next. I really enjoyed the slightly wacky and off center world of Settler.” AMAZON

The Rifters & The Turnagain Arm

I'm excited to be helping to spread the word today about the launch of The Rifters, the start of the new series by the super talented M. Pax. But first I wanted to share a bit of news of my own. I decided on a publication date for my Polar Night prequel The Turnagain Arm and will be releasing the novella on Kindle on October 6. My first foray into self-publishing!

Like Polar Night, the prequel takes place in Alaska and the title refers to a waterway near Anchorage called, appropriately enough, the Turnagain Arm. The story takes place in 1917 during the building of the Alaskan railroad.

The Turnagain Arm (source: Wikimedia Commons)

I am anxious to share more about the story as I get closer to the release and particularly excited to show off another amazing cover by the wonderful Michael Di Gesu. But for now I'm shining the spotlight on The Rifters!

Blurb:

The Gold Rush trickles to a fool’s quest and a string of stagecoach heists. In 1888, Earl Blacke decides to make a new start and become a better man. He escapes into the mountains, heading north. In the wilds of Oregon, a rift inside an ancient volcano opens and sends him into the future, into the present day. It also shaves forty years off his age, forty years to live over again and atone for what he’s done.

Starting over is hard to do. In current day New York, Daelin Long’s dream job at a publishing house goes the way of the dinosaurs her sister chases. With no money and nowhere else to go, Daelin accepts the librarian position in her sister’s dinky town in the middle of Oregon. Nestled inside ancient volcanic peaks, the town of Settler holds onto many secrets. Residents roam the streets with weirdly fashioned devices, and odd lights pulse in the night skies. People whisper of a phantom outlaw and start dying, murdered and missing their heads. On top of it all, Daelin’s sister is missing, and Daelin doesn’t know who to trust.

Earl knows more than he’s saying. He shares a notorious history with the phantom, one he’ll see remains buried. Keeping Daelin’s sister’s secrets is his only chance at redemption, and the only way to keep this world safe.

The Rifters is available at an introductory price. The second book in the series, The Initiate, will be available October 20, 2014. It’s up for preorder for a special price at iTunes, Amazon, and B&N. Check HERE for links. Giveaways and events are ongoing through October 31, 2014. Check HERE for details.

Links: Amazon / AmazonUK / B&N / Smashwords /Googleplay / iTunes / Other Outlets

Excerpt:

A woman in a long flowered dress hurried forward carrying a paintbrush. “Hello, hello.” She waved. “Excuse the mess. I’m renovating… again.” She laughed with little snorts, stumbling in a little circle, defying her years. She couldn’t be younger than forty. “Inside joke, man, sorry. What groovieness can I help you find? I know where everything is.” She gestured at the piles of castoff merchandise strewn about.
If not for the goose bumps on her goose bumps, Daelin would have left. “A winter coat? Earl Blacke mentioned you might have some.”
“Oh man! What a tragedy about him, huh?” She wore her amber hair in two braids, tied with twine and decorated with plastic flowers.
Tragedy? What had happened to Earl? Daelin clutched at her knotting stomach. “What do you mean?”
“There was a murder last night. Umm, wow. Didn’t you hear?” She set the paintbrush down on a plate that had been used for the purpose before. Bracelets covered her arms, clinking with her simple movements.
“In Settler?” Violent crime wasn’t what Daelin expected to hear. She didn’t know what she had expected, but not murder.
The thrift store woman leaned in closer, whispering in a conspiratorial tone. “Yeah, they’re saying Earl Blacke killed Susan Leeds. Took her head plum off, man. Only thing is…,” she glanced at the shadows then wet her lips, “her head is missing.” The soft scent of melon accompanied her words.
Earl had murdered somebody? Daelin gulped, getting a lungful of paint fumes. Right, the paint. The fumes had to be messing with her mind. “Are you serious?”

BIO:

M. Pax is author of the space adventure series The Backworlds, plus other novels and short stories. Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons  to her, and she blames Oregon, a source of endless inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers as a star guide, has a cat with a crush on Mr. Spock, and is slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. Learn more at mpaxauthor.com.