Dec 13, 2017
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
PROBING: Harbingers, Cycle Three
I didn’t even mind standing in line at the post office for half an hour. [Ed. Note: totally minded. But it was worth it.]
I knew what the package would be. I knew because the calendar told me it was time for the next Harbingers cycle to arrive. And the calendar is almost never wrong.
As excited as I am to share what I’ve learned so far about the team, this is the part where I tell my mom to stop reading. [Insert sad face here.] No, really. Ma. Back away from the computer. Spoilers coming. All that.
Ready?
Three.
Two.
One.
READ.
The first story in this set is Leviathan by Bill Myers. Told from the perspective of Brenda Barnick, it opens with her and Daniel (remember the quiet ten-year-old she “adopted”) on a turbulent plane, finally landing at LAX and meeting the rest of the team. Insert our peeps into a limo (with a little on-edge action due to their last adventure in The Fog) and we eavesdrop to find out they’re on their way to view a taping of Live Or Die: The Ultimate Reality.
Tank enjoys the sight of the LAX pylons: big, plastic pillars of various sizes that are lit inside with changing colors. He pulls out his phone and pans the limo then the pylons for a neat video.
So. Turns out the influential powers behind The Gate have paid handsomely to have a TV show produced, and for some reason our team is invited to the premiere. The show’s title says it all, and it ain’t no game. It’s a duel to the death on a miniature-sized Colosseum. A young man and woman have a plethora of weapons to attack each other with, and the only rule is the game doesn’t end until one of them dies.
Now, I could go on about the influences of mass media, but I think our own real-world culture is doing a fine job of that at the moment. Our team tries to talk to the producer, but he knows who lines his pockets, and it’s not the good guys. And so, “the show must go on.” Or, “Someone must die.”
Early Spoiler Alert: Tank saves the day. He’s had about enough of this bloodshed and leaps from his seat to stop the final blow. Atta boy, Tank. And with his healing touch, the wounds on the young man are almost all healed. There is no end. There is no death. And the crowd. Is. Mad.
Later, our team finds themselves in the hotel room. Oh, did I forget to mention, during their limo ride, the TV turned itself on and off, showing snippets of movies? So, now Tank (Or “Cowboy,” as Brenda calls him) is trying to watch some football here and the darned TV does the same thing. Movie. Off. Snip. Off. Soundbite. Off. Over and over and over. And the producer, Mr. Anderson [Hey, I wonder if that’s an intended reference to The Matrix?], shows up at the hotel. His cell phone keeps looping a video.
Thing is, the video is the one Tank took in the limo when the TV first started fritzing. And the video’s no longer on Tank’s cell phone. In fact, nothing’s on his phone except one message, in big red letters: Sincerely, S.
And nothing’s on the other peeps’ phones either except the same message. The phones are useless, and the movies keep cycling through.
“Everything’s a pattern. Whether it’s useful or not, there are always patterns.”
But now Andi, my girl who loves to recognize patterns, realizes something. Taking the first letter of each movie, the cycle spells out a word the producer doesn’t understand. But the Team does.
S. R. I. D. H. A. R. Remember him from Cycle One, Book One? The kid who tried to escape The Gate? Boy, this is just getting more and more interesting, isn’t it?
Wait. Forgot to mention something else. Liquid tends to vibrate around Mr. Anderson. #truestory. His Starbuck’s exploded in the TV Media room during the rehearsal. At dinner after his water sloshed out of his glass and onto the floor (but the team’s beverages were untouched). Tank’s soda bubbled up and out just before the producer showed up at the hotel.
Annnnnd I also neglected to tell you, how our team was selected to come to the viewing: Mr. Anderson’s daughter is “like best friends or something” with Helsa, whom we know as Littlefoot from Cycle One.
So our team decides it’s time to clue Anderson in on what they know. He’s not exactly thrilled with what they’re telling him. Puh-leease. Would you?
But then he proffers his own opinion: The plastic, colorful pillars Tank was so thrilled with at the airport are connected to the show. And The Gate.
Well, I’m halfway through the book now, and it’s bedtime so I guess I should leave you hanging. It’s taken me maybe two hours to read and write this and I want would like need to find out what happens before I catch my Zzz’s.
On that happy note, I bid you a fond review.
With a bookmark and a reading light,
Happy reading!
~Molly Jo
And Frankly, My Dear . . . : That’s all she wrote!
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!
Oct 9, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
The Assault: Harbingers, Cycle Two
Infestation by Frank Peretti. No less exciting than the first Harbingers books I’ve read.
Now, I know some of you won’t read past this line, but that’s okay. Because there are a few SPOILERS that follow.
So.
Now is the time to stop reading if you don’t want to know anything about the book.
Seriously.
Go away.
Or not.
Still here? Awesome sauce.
Chapter One, all of two and half pages, narrates a scientist as he makes his way through a lagoon that was previously decimated. A lone dolphin comes close, closer, and the scientist is happy, intrigued, thrilled another form of life is making its way back. Until it comes even closer. And he sees its nasty eyes oozing green goo. And as he goes to touch its side, the green goo is there, too. He retreats, tries to get a sample, but the dolphin shifts . . . and explodes green goo all over him.
Jump cut to Chapter Two. And now we’re in the head of the miserable Professor. Poor guy; all he wants is to be left alone. Because he knows whenever the Team calls it means upsetting the status quo, seeing things he’d rather not, and experiencing things he’d, well, rather not experience.
Case in point: Brenda visits the Professor to let him know Andi is in Florida. No, not with her loving grandparents. But a mental institution. They rush to her, and the Prof is staggered to see her out of touch. She responds to no one, has disconnected from humanity, and only rambles what others can’t really understand.
Of course, Cowboy (Tank) joins them. His heart belongs to Andi, but she didn’t want him to begin with, and in her new, uh, condition, she affirms that. Quite strongly.
The book continues as the Team tries to fix Andi, to find out why this is happening, and what to do about it. And, as usual, I ain’t gonna tell ya.
But I will tell you, you won’t be disappointed as you continue the adventure.
TWEET THIS: THE ASSAULT: Harbingers, Cycle Two, Book Two https://ctt.ec/K52s0+ @RealMojo68 #amreading #Harbingers
And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!
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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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