Nov 21, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
The Assault: Harbingers, Cycle Two
I’m having the best evening. Seriously. The. Best. Evening.
My living room is decced for the holidays. I finagled Friday off work for a four-day weekend. I’m surrounded by three-fourths of Catford Manor. And I just finished reading a really good book.
So you know what comes next.
Sure, you do.
WHOOP! WHOOP! SPOILER ALERT!
Read no further if you don’t want to know the story.
Seriously.
Leave.
Now.
Still here?
#awesomesauce
Read on:
First, I’m glad I was slow in reading this book. It just means it will be that much sooner when I get the next Cycle. Yay, me. A lot of really fun things happened today, a lot of arrows pointing me to get back in the writing and social media games. Not like I haven’t been, but I have spent extra focus on the home and day job. Which, side note, has led to a great set up for next year. Locals, stay tuned.
Anyway. Back to it.
Pops opens the book with his character, Tank, on the edge of a fifty-story building in San Diego, looking over a terribly thick, unnatural, inhuman fog. And this fog, well, it’s not just thick. It has things- evil things- living in it. And Tank’s about to jump fifty stories off a building to . . . What? We don’t know. That’s just the prologue.
So Tank rewinds a few hours and begins to recap. He and the team were in Florida with Andi’s grandparents, preventing another supernatural event when they received plane tickets to San Diego, and invitations to a retirement party for architect Allen Krone. Even young Daniel gets to come with them. So Tank, squirmy in his tux, admires Andi and the others all dressed to the nines, and their luxury limo ride.
Outside, the fancy building is lit in a blue and green glow. Inside, Andi picks up on the patterns in the flooring, in the lighting. There are these trees-not-trees, more like glass trees, that are also lit blue. The fountain is lit blue and green. The team is greeted and directed to the row of elevators, and one opens before they even push the button. The Professor explains their invitations must have RFID chips. Don’t even get me started.
The elevator glows red, which may or may not be significant. And as the team is discussing what they should and should not do at the party, the Professor sighs and says, “Zebra.” And then he explains.
“First thing doctors learn in med school is this: When you hear the sound of hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.”
And considering I took that and turned it into how to be a zebra and not an ordinary horse, well, this book just won my heart!
They arrive on the top floor and are enjoying the spoils of basically crashing the party. While the others are trying to figure out how to act inconspicuous and what their next move is, Daniel takes the lead and pulls Mr. Krone to them. The Professor steps up and asks Krone to discuss the building models on display.
Daniel gets all the chocolate ice cream he can handle and Andi indulges in some red velvet cake. [Thanks for writing in the good food, there, Al.]
And then, rumble-rumble. I mean, hullo! It’s San Diego. There’s a good thirty-second quake happening here! Tank holds Andi and Brenda safe, and when it’s over they look for Daniel. He’s over by the bank of windows so Tank rushes to grab him in case of aftershocks. He barely glances outside when Daniel starts screaming. He takes him back to Brenda and Andi, and the Professor joins them.
Now, reader intrusion here: But the benefits of a novella is it can be read in one sitting. And this one was. Hot dog! Because, girl!, things are getting in-tense round here!
They hear a horrible scream. A man at the window has just vomited. Tank again rushes toward the windows, and the man is terrified. That’s when Tank looks. And sees . . . something. But what? It’s a living monster in the fog. This ridiculous, dense, demon-filled fog that completely covers the ground by five feet. From his perch, Tank can look down and sees this monster.
People say there ain’t no such thing as monsters, but tell that to a seal being chased by a killer whale. Monster is in the eye of the beholder, and I was seeing something monstrous.
Oh, and through this, the team has ascertained that Allen Krone is very ill, perhaps dying. Tank gets the Professor to the window, and Krone joins them. Krone doesn’t handle the view well and nearly collapses. His business partners rush to his rescue but they don’t see what he sees.
And that’s when our team know more than ever something terrible is happening.
The professor turned. “Tank. The fog is rising.”
Well, that’s where I’ll leave ya. Tank’s on a ledge about to jump into this beast. Our team is tearful, afraid. And the monsters are reaching for him.
What happens next? Get the book and find out. As always, you won’t be sorry.
With a reading lamp and protective cats,
Happy reading.
~Molly Jo
And Frankly, My Dear . . . : That’s all she wrote!
Nov 14, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
The Assault: Harbingers, Cycle Two
Well, I’m not gonna lie. I haven’t finished reading it yet. But, since I never give away the ending, I figure it’s okay to tell you what I know so far.
But first . . . MOM. STOP READING.
I’m not kidding.
Spoilers to follow.
You can revisit this post after you’ve read the book.
We good?
Okay. Carry on.
Y’all know that Andi is my favorite character of the team, right? So how giddy do I get when I get to read Angela Hunt’s contribution? Pretty. Freaking. Excited.
Books One and Two took us to the Vatican and back to Florida. Andi, as you’ll recall, was institutionalized for withdrawing. Seems those orbs the team saw in Cycle One were causing some more problems. The Gate is at it again, trying their mind control to create a collective knowledge void of any creator other than themselves. Of course, the team saves the day, and while there was never any doubt, it was still quite the nail biter.
So, now the Professor has had a change of heart and not so adverse to being part of the team (Man, you should have heard his complaints up ’til now. Oh, wait. Read the book and you will!) but once his dear Andi was in jeopardy, something inside him triggered and he realized he might not know everything, and the team might know more than he thinks.
So he rents this house in Florida. A one-month deal, just long enough, he hopes, to gather information to combat The Gate. He had also collected a damaged orb and brought it to the team for inspection. But by the time he reached the house, it had put itself back together again. I know ~ weird, right? Like the whole journey isn’t weird. But anyway . . .
Andi, as his assistant, starts to investigate and study the orb. Her contact with it resurfaces the voices, the control, from Book Two when the fungus took hold inside her. Yes, I said fungus. Read the book. Read all the books. The Professor gets her to go to a doctor where she spills her guts and he asks her to keep a daily journal. No problem.
Back at the house, packages start arriving. Boxes for the Professor. Turns out he subscribed to a clipping service, and had them print and ship every article they could find on The Gate. Turns out these boxes of documents are noncommittal. The Gate is a rumor. The Gate is from Medieval Times. The Gate is new and improved. Andi finds out The Gate is now online. Forget subtlety. They’re all about in-your-face, taking-over-the-world tactics. And they say so! But in a way that almost makes you want to know more. Of course, we know if we know more, it will be the end. Tank likens it to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Once they knew more, they knew evil. And once they knew evil, it was the end of paradise.
Brenda also gets a package. From her dear Auntie Rene: A life hammer to smash out the windshield if their car runs off a bridge. A can of shark repellent. And mosquito wipes to prevent the little buggers from biting. They laugh and Brenda sets the items on the coffee table. Immediately, young Daniel scoops them up and offers them back to her. “Keep,” he commands, in the way he has. The way that lets the team know he knows more than any of them.
And that’s where I’ve stopped reading for the night. Hey, This Girl needs sleep, too. But that’s okay. As soon as the sun comes up and I find some spare minutes, you can bet I’ll be finding out if Andi’s free of the mind-control fungus, if the orbs will leave them in peace (doubtful), and what’s significant about Auntie Rene’s interesting care package.
What are you reading this week?
TWEET THIS: #AmReading Harbingers, Cycle Two, Book Three #Infiltration @MollyJoRealy
And Frankly, My Dear . . . : That’s all she wrote!
Nov 13, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Firsts in Fiction Team
The FiF Team is at it again, folks. You won’t want to miss tomorrow’s live podcast episode as we continue our discussion on genres. This week, we’re talking mystery/police procedural, with very special guest Steven James.
Steven is a national best selling author of over thirty books including fiction and nonfiction. His Bowers Files series has been called “nailbiting,” and “psychological thrillers.”
He’s also a very talented public speaker.
I met Steven at my first Blue Ridge Conference. Anyone who has taken his classes walks away with more than information and guidance. He teaches writing in a way that lets the writer live what we learn.
Join us tomorrow evening, 6:30 PST as Steven shares his insights on writing a remarkable thriller.
Click here to join the podcast: Firsts in Fiction: Steven James.
And Frankly, My Dear . . . : That’s all she wrote!
Oct 2, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
The Assault: Harbingers, Cycle Two
Hey, hey, the gang’s all here! Oh yeah. Here we go again, another round of the team. Can you say #soexcited? I knew you could.
This week I’m reading The Revealing by Bill Myers.
Of course, there’s a few spoiler alerts here, so if you don’t want to know anything about the story, stop reading. Now. I’m serious.
But if you want to know a few things (but not the ending. Never the ending.) then continue.
Still here?
Okay then.
Read on . . .
Told from Brenda’s POV, it starts with her sketching another object–a blue velvet arm chair with peeling paint. And plane tickets for everyone to Rome where a taxi deposits them at the Vatican.
As usual, the first two pages set up the suspense, the backstory, and the characters. Professor James McKinney sent his friend, Cardinal Hartmann, the scroll that Littlefoot previously gave them. [Read Harbingers: Cycle One, Book Four.] Hartmann asks them to come speak with him personally.
Turns out the scroll has a connection to what’s known as the Spear of Destiny- the spear that pierced Christ’s side at His crucifixion. And Hartmann believes it is the team’s destiny to find the authentic spear.
They start with the catacombs where the skeletons of Capuchin Monks used to be. So very many of them. Room after room. And Andi, in her numbers-loving way [read Harbingers: Cycle One, Book Three] finds a pattern on a door. Not just a pattern. A plan. A floor plan. The floor plan to the House that haunted them in Seattle [read Harbingers: Cycle One, Book Two]. After a few more tunnels, quiet Daniel warns of people coming for them. The team is being chased and can’t find a way out until . . . Oh, no. You won’t get me to give out a spoiler alert. You’re gonna hafta read for yourself. [read Harbingers: Cycle One, Book One.]
Aside from that moment, let’s continue: Remember the eyes, or, uhm, lack of eyes back in C1B3? Guess what. Yeah. That’s right. They’re back. Or, uhm, not back, here. And so are the dropping dead birds. ReaderGirl say whhhaaat?! So our team finds themselves stranded on another beach, in the fog, looking for a rhyme or reason when they spot lights emanating out of cliff. They brave the trek around the dead birds and are soon pounding on the door of a two-story abode carved into the rock. They’re given entry by a nun, and Brenda can’t shake the feeling they’ve been there before. But of course they have. It’s the interior of the haunted house. The nun locks them in and disappears, and then . . . wait for it . . . What’s a haunted house to do? Melt. Yup. You read that right. The locked doors, the walls, the furniture, the floors . . . they all start to liquify. And our team has no where to go except up the back steps.
Of course this is just the start of all the adventures and while I want to tell you oh so much more, I really dislike giving spoilers.
So all I can tell you is it takes just one or two days to read this book, depending on your reading speed and distraction level. I read it in about four hours, including taking notes for this review.
And with the fun trouble adventures our team finds themselves in page after page-turning page, this is another book you really want.
Promise.
TWEET THIS: Eyeless birds and melting houses? Must be #Harbingers. @RealMojo68 #amreading
With a haunted house and search for destiny,
Happy reading!
~Molly Jo
And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!
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Aug 1, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @RealMojo68
INVITATION: The Harbingers, Cycle One
Sigh.
Book Four.
I’ve been both really looking forward to this, and really dreading it.
Looking forward because my good friend and faux pa (see what I did there?) Alton Gansky wrote this one.
Dreading it because I don’t have the next Cycle yet, and because, well, my good friend Alton Gansky wrote this one. I mean, what if I give a bad review? What if, out of all four books, this is the one I like the least? Can I admit such a thing publicly?
We’ll find out . . .
Book Four, The Girl, is told from Tank’s perspective. It opens with him visiting his uncle, a sheriff in a small town area of Oregon.
“To tell the truth, I had enough ‘interesting’ stuff happen to last me a lifetime,
and I had a feeling more was coming.”
In Books One through Three, Andi has been my favorite character. It must be her love of numbers and ability to see patterns in everything. Yes, Andi’s brain attracts me. I wasn’t sure Tank could win me over.
Now, I’ve read other books Al has written. I’ve heard him speak on writing. Heck, we do the bi-weekly Firsts in Fiction Podcast together. So it’s not like I’m unaware of the man’s talent. But . . . wow. I mean, within the first two pages I was hooked. How could you not be, when an elderly man speaking with an east coast accent shows Tank and his Uncle Bart, the local sheriff, mysterious tracks in the snow?
I like that Bart expects real answers from Tank, not something dumb like others do. So Bart and Tank start to follow the tracks, definite impressions of a child’s bare feet. Mr. Weldon tells them what to look for: something to see at the fence line, and something to pay attention to at the barn.
The tracks don’t stop. They don’t shift, they don’t allow for climbing a fence or going around. They just continue as if this small person walked through the fence line. And at the barn? It’s as if the roof was raised up after the person tracked over it. The path leads right up to the eaves then on the eaves/roof, then back on the ground on the other side.
A police helo verifies that two miles down, the tracks just stop in the middle of an open field.
So who is the little tracker, and where did he or she . . . or it . . . go?
After searching the snowy field and surrounding woods, Tank wonders if he should share his perspective with Uncle Bart. Tank’s been through some stuff, y’know? But he keeps it to himself. Dispatch calls them back to town–the kid is there! A young girl, barefoot and in the middle of Main Street. She won’t let anyone get near her. Bart expresses his unease, and Tank agrees without telling him why.
The crowds gather, deputies and lookieloos alike, squeezing in on the girl until Bart orders everyone to back off. he tries to approach her, but she resists. Tank watches from a distance, wanting to help but unsure what to do.
Now, it doesn’t read like much here, because I want y’all to experience it firsthand, but there’s a tension in this scene that is nothing short of a suspense movie. The girl who can’t–or won’t–talk, Deputy Wad who tries to intervene and disregard Sheriff Bart’s orders, Tank on the sidelines, and people in the mix. It’s a recipe for a blow up, yes? Of course it is. And in a flash of drama and did-I-really-just-read-that action, the girl is here, gone, Wad is sliding on the snow, and she reappears to stare at Tank and suddenly he’s holding her.
She squeezes him with hugs he interprets as answers to his questions, and nicknames her Littlefoot. Back at the Sheriff’s station, the EMTs observe her as best they can. Normal. Normal temp. Normal blood pressure. No cuts, scrapes. Nothing to indicate abuse. One of the EMTs leaves after commenting about her baby blue eyes.
Tank looks at her. And her brown eyes.
Littlefoot holds a rolled up paper, protecting it like a scroll. She won’t let anyone take it except Tank. It’s gibberish. Pictures or letters or a combination. No one know what it means.
Without instigation, Tank receives a text from Andi. The gang is arriving tomorrow to help. He’s learned not to question how they know. He’s just happy to know they’re on the way.
And it gets weird again! They go to the break room for food, Wad brings in burgers and shakes, and Littlefoot’s eyes are now hazel. Reading Girl say what?!?!
CPS takes the girl away but the next day, there she is in the middle of Main Street, still barefoot. Tank picks her up again, her small body that’s getting smaller! His spirit and energy are being sucked from him and growls are emanating from nowhere.
The gang shows up and now Tank’s dreaming about an IT Beast, but he’s not the only one. Uncle Bart dreamed it. Brenda tattooed it and sketched it. So you know the real danger’s just about to start.
Oh, peeps. How I want to share the rest of the story with you. How I want to tell y’all how it ends. But I can’t. I just can’t. You simply have to experience this adventure for yourself.
I can tell you, Littlefoot has some strange physical attributes. Like changing eye colors and physicality. But why wouldn’t she? If she were an ordinary little girl, she wouldn’t need the Harbingers, would she?
Pick up a copy and find out what happens next.
TWEET THIS: INVITATION: Harbingers, Cycle One, Book Four @RealMojo68 @altongansky #amreading #harbingers
And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!
