Tuesday, May 22, 2012

MUSA PUBLISHING BLOG HOP!

FREE E-BOOK GIVEAWAY CONTEST: I am giving out two e-copies of my time-travel story "Killers" to two visitors who comment below.  Winners will be chosen by lot from the comments.  In order to receive an e-book, please provide an email address and the format you prefer.  Winners will be announced Tuesday.  ISBN: 978-1-61937-216-0  -  BUY LINK FOR "KILLERS": http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=267/

To get back to the blog hop: HTTP://MUSAPUBLISHINGBLOGHOP.BLOGSPOT.COM/

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Blurb from "Killers": What comes first, love or duty?  Diana, a 24th century Supervisor of time travel, learns that Dero is taking unauthorized trips into the past.  She knows she should arrest him, but she loves him too much.  Obsessed, she follows him repeatedly into the distant past to save him from the machine-like killers that police the timelines.

One day he goes too far, threatening the delicate fabric of history itself, and Diana must make a terrible decision.


 


Excerpt 
                                                                                                                                                           They look just like everybody else, except to me. Even when they move, they’re fixed islands in the sea of time, their false human faces following me even if they’re looking elsewhere. Somehow I always know their cold eyes are watching, that they don’t belong in the world I find myself in either.

In whatever time period I send myself to.

As for the current period, it’s Vienna, 1782. Time travel is an imperfect science, but the Chroneton has landed me exactly where it was supposed to: in an empty, musty alley off a busy cobblestone street near the heart of the city. Unobserved, I suppress a sneeze and venture out into the ferment of a vital land.

Men move about in white powdered wigs and fancy waistcoats, wearing tricorn hats and lace at their wrists and throats. A shopkeeper shouts, and a woman laughs. A fancy red carriage rolls past, pulled by matching bay horses. One of them snorts at me and flicks his tail as if he knows I don’t belong here.

A young woman barely thirty, I clutch the parasol I snatched from Wardrobe and try to look older so as not to attract attention. I feel swallowed up in petticoats, which makes it hard to navigate the street, and the fact that one of my heels is loose doesn’t help. The smell of the place is decidedly bad—raw sewage in a gutter, the smell of unwashed bodies beneath the perfume. I remember from my research that even higher-class people bathe only a few times a year. Hopefully, it won’t take me that long to get through decon when I return.

The odds of running into Dero are slim, and I’m even less likely to find Amadeus, the reason Dero tripped to this place and time. Vienna may not be a modern city, but it’s spacious and labyrinthine. Mozart frequented this particular quarter, which boasts high-end shops selling assorted sleaze and a perversion for every palate.

Odds, as they say, are made to be broken, and I spot Dero five minutes after I almost trip on a jagged cobblestone. Six foot three and muscular, Dero stands out in this runty, malnourished era, but he carries himself with such careless pride, he dissolves suspicion even as he encourages it. His handsome face flashes with smiles, and he laughs in a rich baritone that proclaims him to be a Lord of Earth, at home in every century. Maybe in the Pleistocene, he would strike you as being a tad out of place, but five seconds wrapped in his spell would douse all doubts, no matter how heavy.

Of course, I’ve time-tripped here instead of reporting him because I’m madly in love. Despite my secret shame, I cannot resist pursuing him into the past like a smitten bloodhound. I feel degraded by my passion, but without him life would be tedious.

NOW LET'S SEE YOUR COMMENTS! 

17 comments:

  1. Oh, man I want to read your Killers novel! I'm writing a time travel series, but it's nothing like yours. Love to see how other authors dabble in speculative fiction!

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  2. Killers is a great read. Very imaginative, with some great historical figures as characters. Good luck on the blog hop, John.

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  3. Killer cover! I already had to buy it - just wanted to follow & say hi!

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  4. Sounds like a great time travel. Congrats! Have a great weekend.

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  5. This sounds like a great read. Thank you for the lovely giveaway opportunity and for participating in this thought provoking hop! I would love a kindle copy ;)
    dz59001[at]gmail[dot]com

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  6. Love a good time travel tale. Congrats on your release, John.

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  7. Another big time travel story fan here. I geeked out whenever it was used in a story line on Enterprise and Voyager. Fun to see characters taken out of their elements.

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  8. Hi, folks, glad to see your posts. C. K., It's actually a short story, not a novel, and I'm thinking of a sequel. Thanks for the nice words and good wishes, folks.

    Hope to see more comments soon.

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  9. Sounds like a great story. LOVE the cover by the way. Have a great weekend!

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  10. What an interesting premise. I'd enjou reading it. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity. I have a Kindle so any compatible format works for me.
    catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

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  11. Killers sounds lovely. Love spanning ages through time travel happens to be one of my favorite romance plots.

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  12. Fun excerpt! Wishing you all the best.

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  13. I love time traveling stories - sounds great! Best of luck to you!

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  14. A pdf would be great. Sure looks like an intriguing story. Good luck and thanks. (dhvs01 at gmail .com)

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  15. I want to thank all fifteen folks who took the time to comment.

    As I said, "Winners" would be selected by lot. I just cut all fifteen names into strips, put them in a hat, shook it up really well, and had my wife pick two recipients with her eyes closed.

    Here they are, and kindle copies should be e-mailed within minutes:

    Catherine Lee
    Denise Z

    Thanks again!

    John Rosenman

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