.png)
Today on my blog I have the Brink of Distinction Trilogy tour. On my stop there is a spotlight, excerpt, guest post, and giveaway.
.jpg)
Jon Messenger (Born 1979 in London,
England) serves as an United States Army Major in the Medical Service
Corps. Since graduating from the University of Southern
California in 2002, writing Science Fiction has remained his
passion, a passion that has continued through two deployments to Iraq and a humanitarian relief mission to Haiti
Jon wrote the "Brink of Distinction" trilogy, of which "Burden
of Sisyphus" is the first book, while serving a 16-month deployment in Baghdad , Iraq
Stalker Links:
.jpg)
Stalker Links:
.jpg)
Between the alien Alliance
Recently, the Alliance Alliance
Excerpt:
Private
Hicks’ body screamed in protest as he tried to stand. His muscles ached and his lungs burned in the
planet’s thin, dust-filled air. Under
his dark armor sweat soaked through his uniform. Raising his head, he saw the looming
plateau. Nuzzled within the wedge of the
plateau’s façade there was the Terran’s dark, stone, defensive wall. Relief flooded through him. Being able to see the bristling antiaircraft
weapon platforms mounted atop the wall meant his destination was finally within
reach.
Scrambling
to his feet, despite resistant muscles, he ran the rest of the way to the
wall. He didn’t dare hope to make it
that far without being spotted by his enemies but the reprieve gave him time to
close the final twenty meters to the outpost.
Legs cramping, he limped the rest of the way to the wall. Ignoring the large, arched vehicle entrance,
whose heavy doors led straight to the courtyard between the wall and the
building set into the plateau, he staggered to the reinforced personnel
entrance to one side. Shuffling past a
set of thick windows he watched Terran soldiers within the wall move toward the
door.
Sliding
in the red sand he stopped in front of the door and pounded it with his open
hand. “Open the door!” he yelled, his
voice raspy and dry.
When
nothing happened he banged again, glancing over his shoulder in fear and
frustration.
“Open
the damn door!” he screamed, as much as his raw throat allowed, hitting the
door repeatedly.
Finally,
hesitantly, it opened.
A
blast of cool air struck him as he was pulled into the comforting
darkness. The room was cast in deep
shadows and he was momentarily blinded in the dim lighting. He shivered as someone helped him to the far
side of the narrow room, the cool air a stark contrast to the scorching heat
outside. Sliding down against the wall,
he exhaled a loud, raspy breath.
“Hicks,”
the closest soldier said.
His
head swam with exhaustion.
“What
happened out there?”
He
peered through the gloom, barely able to make out the man’s rank and name. “Alliance mercenaries. They hit us while we were on patrol.”
A
third soldier pushed past the others and bent over Hicks, who saw the officer
epaulettes on his shoulder. “Where’s the
rest of your team, Private?”
He
shook his head. “They’re all dead, Sir.”
“All
of them?” the lieutenant asked in disbelief.
“How did one group of Alliance mercenaries take out an entire patrol?”
A
soft sound echoed through the room before Hicks could reply. The thumping reverberated softly as he
clambered to his feet. Slowly, the
others heard it and the room fell to hushed silence. It was a series of soft thumps as if
something struck the compound’s outer wall repeatedly.
“What
the hell is that noise?” Lieutenant Hill asked, looking toward the thick, outer
walls.
The
sound continued unabated.
“Sir,
I’ve got a visual,” a private said, watching from the window.
The
lieutenant rushed to the window, pulling free the binoculars on his hip. In the distance, a single massive form stood
at the crest of the hill. Thick, dark
fur covered its body which ended in an elongated snout. Sharp horns jutted from its temples, curving
wickedly forward.
Lowering
his binoculars, the lieutenant turned toward the rest of the soldiers. “It looks like the Alliance found our
outpost! Let’s move, people!” As he walked back to the middle of the room
the soldiers exploded into action.
“On
your feet, soldiers!” Lieutenant Hill yelled over the din of muttered
conversation. “Grab some ammo and find a
wall to stand behind.” Turning back
toward the sturdy window he glared across the red field. “If they want to bring their fight here, they
won’t even know what hit them.”
“How
true,” Hicks rasped, as a barbed tail erupted from under the back of his
shirt. Lashing out, the tail struck the
base of Lieutenant Hill’s neck and erupted from his throat, nearly decapitating
the officer.
Hicks
extended his left hand, the fingers elongated into razor-sharp points, which he
drove into a nearby soldier’s abdomen.
The soldier stared in disbelief, as the skin on Hicks’ face melted like
wax, first running down toward his chin before being absorbed into his
oily-black skin. The face disappeared,
leaving behind a featureless black oval.
Slowly, the rest of his skin melted away until all that remained was
thick, black hide.
The
creature that impersonated Hicks swished its spiked tail back and forth and
turned toward the three remaining soldiers in the room. Eyes wide with fright, one swung his rifle
toward the creature and squeezed the trigger.
The
window exploded inward as the first round tore through the thick glass and
struck the soldier’s temple. His scalp
peeled away on the far side of his head as the high-velocity round passed
through and struck the far wall, spraying the back of the room with blood.
Book Links:
.jpg)
The Terran Empire has broken the Taisa Accord and
invaded Alliance Alliance
When everything they do proves to be not enough to stop the Empire's violent
invasion, the Alliance Alliance
.jpg)
The final confrontation between the Alien Alliance and the
Terran Empire begins in this exciting conclusion to the Brink of Distinction
trilogy.
One-by-one, the brilliant suns of Alliance
As Keryn fights for her life, the psychic Yen Xiao leads the Alliance
fleet in pursuit of the Terran Destroyers threatening the Alliance
Book Links:
Guest Post:
Was there anything that surprised you while
writing your book? If so, what was it?
The
Brink of Distinction trilogy was my first serious foray into the writing
world. I had written parts of books
previous to that, but they were half-hearted attempts and when I went back and
re-read them I realized how truly horrible they were! Those stories will NEVER see the light of day
without complete rewrites.
Because
the science fiction trilogy was my first attempt, I had no idea how other
people wrote. I didn’t have any real
techniques in mind on how to outline my story or how to write out key points
for chapters. I did know that I wanted
to have a story that evolved over the three books, though. There were things that I wanted to happen in
book 1 that seemed insignificant or even confusing but would make extreme sense
in either book 2 or 3. I mapped that
idea after Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
Most people who read that book never finish, because it’s so horribly
confusing and muddled for the first half of the story. Then, about halfway through the book, someone
dies and suddenly all of Heart of Darkness makes sense. I wanted to do that with Brink of Distinction
(though not to quite an extreme).
Unfortunately,
as I started mapping out my story, I realized that if I wrote chronologically,
book 3 would just be a wrap up of a previous plot thread, followed by a loose
transition to another wrap up of a different plot thread. It was going to be really difficult to tell
the complete story I wanted to tell in book 3 if I was doing nothing but
concluding innuendoes from the previous two books.
So
I did something wild: I wrote PURGE OF PROMETHEUS (book 3) first. I wanted to tell a strong ending to the full
story. So instead of starting plot
threads that I’d then have to conclude in book 3, I wrote the conclusions and
then just had to map out where the beginnings of the threads fit into books 1
and 2.
When
I redeployed from Iraq
So
to answer your question of “was there anything that surprised you while writing
your book?” Yes. I was surprised at how far from normal I am
as a writer. And I wouldn’t change it,
or the Brink of Distinction series, for anything.
Thank you for stopping by my blog today for the Brink of Distinction tour. I would also like to say Thank You to Jon for your guest post and Thank You to Jaidis for letting me participate in this tour. Don't forget to enter the giveaway below.
~Sabrina
No comments:
Post a Comment