Book Release: Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology For Andrew Edited By Nick Wilford

Today's the release date of Overcoming Adversity, the book compilation of all the blogfest entries from the Overcoming Adversity Blogfest Nick Wilford hosted a month ago.

I should probably mention my short story's in the anthology; not only am I excited to contribute to a book created for such a good cause (see the blurb below) this is actually the first time a piece of fiction I wrote has appeared in anything other than my blog.


Here's the info for Overcoming Adversity:


Blurb:

Cover design by D.R. Cartwright; concept by Ella Wilson.

A collection of seventy moving and uplifting original pieces - real life, flash fiction, and poetry - about battling against the odds and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. The contributors include Amazon bestselling authors Alex J. Cavanaugh and Kyra Lennon, and the cream of upcoming talent.
     The anthology is part of a fundraising effort to send the editor's stepson, Andrew McNaughton, to a specialist college in England. Andrew has cerebral palsy, and is a remarkable young man with a promising future. However, the free further education options offered in his own country of Scotland will not challenge him and allow him to progress. In order to access the education he deserves, Andrew will have to pay exorbitant fees, thus creating a situation of discrimination.
     Help us get Andrew to college by buying a book that runs the full gamut of human emotions, ultimately leaving you inspired and glad to be alive. Whatever struggles you are going through, our sincere hope is that this book will help.

Purchase links:

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Adversity-Anthology-Andrew-ebook/dp/B00BM62EZA
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Adversity-Anthology-Andrew-ebook/dp/B00BM62EZA
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/290822
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17452314-overcoming-adversity

Editor Bio: Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those rare times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction. When not writing he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also co-running a campaign to get a dedicated specialist college built in Scotland. Visit him at http://nickwilford.blogspot.co.uk.









-----The Golden Eagle

The Make Believe Anthology

The Make Believe anthology is out today! The blogger heading the launch day celebration is Lynda R. Young, whose story, Birthright, is included in the collection.

About Birthright:

Christa can mask the pain and hide the scars, but running from a birthright is impossible.
   She’s tried to escape her grief by fleeing to a small town in Florida. Much to her frustration, the locals think they recognize her even though she's never been there before. To make things worse, a man named Jack spouts outrageous theories about her.
   Both spur Christa to bolt, to start fresh yet again, but there’s something about Jack that intrigues her enough to stay. The only problem? Someone else wants her to leave, and they won’t stop until she’s dead.

About the other stories:

The Amulet of Ormisez by J. Keller Ford

There is only one way to save Elton Fletcher’s brother from an insanity-ridden death. After years away from home, fighting for his people, Elton returns to discover his only sibling, Cayden, possessed by greed and malice, and responsible for malicious, unthinkable deeds. Cayden, though, isn’t the only one afflicted by the Amulet of Ormisez, and Elton finds himself in yet another battle, where the price of failure could be his own life.

Petrified by Kelly Said

A mysterious storm has replaced summer with winter, devastating crops and smothering Castle lands in snow. Prince Sterling August stands alone as a leader, lost in personal grief as well as a desire to help his people but with an inability to do either.
   The answers he needs await him, but without Lochlyn, a woman who’s just as isolated as Sterling, he’ll never see what stands before him, cloaked in illusion.

Last Winter Red by Jennifer M. Eaton

Emily is a Red, a woman whose sole purpose in life is to produce offspring. When her husband dies and leaves her childless, she risks her life and forsakes the safety of Terra—a disease-free city born after the nuclear holocaust. Beyond its boundaries, she knows, survives a man with whom she can be properly paired.
   The Outside, though, holds secrets the government struggles to keep, and what Emily discovers on her quest for a mate will change her life forever.

Escort to Insanity by J.A. Belfield

From a charity auction, to a stroll in the park, to the craziest night of her life. Nicole Harrington can’t help but wonder how a simple event went so drastically wrong.
   Of course, the male escort she booked is wholly to blame. Not only charming but shrewdly intelligent, Benjamin Gold drags Nicole into a platoon of unimaginable problems—ones from which she’ll have to find the courage just to survive.

Sacrificial Oath by Terri Rochenski

An impetuous act unwittingly makes Alesuela the fulfillment of the Sovereign’s Blood Oath to their Goddess. In five days, she’ll be forced to make the greatest choice of her life: become the virginal sacrifice already promised, or force the man she loves most to die in her place.
   With an impossible choice in front of her, she searches for ways to undo the oath, and in her quest, finds not everything in her life is as she expects.

Purchase links:
www.amazon.com
www.amazon.co.uk
Barnes & Noble
All Romance
Diesel
Books On Board


About Lynda R. Young:
Lynda R. Young lives in Sydney, Australia, with her sweetheart of a husband who is her rock, and a cat who believes world domination starts in the home. She writes speculative short stories and is currently writing novels for young adults. In her spare time she also dabbles in photography and all things creative. You can find her here: Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads


Other people spreading the word about Make Believe:






Do you know Lynda R. Young? Have you read Make Believe yet? Do you check out many anthologies?


-----The Golden Eagle

Stories for Sendai Blog Tour: J. C. Martin On The Effects of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

Today it is my honor to announce that I have a guest post by J. C. Martin, as part of the Stories for Sendai Blog Tour!

Stories for Sendai is an anthology of stories by twenty authors, and all proceeds will be donated to charity to help those affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. To find out more, go visit their site.

And now, the guest post:


I’d like to thank the Golden Eagle for hosting me up here in her aerie! If you enjoy this
post, then please follow the rest of the Stories for Sendai Blog Tour de Force: check out the schedule here!

The Golden Eagle asked me a very interesting question: how did the earthquake and tsunami
in Japan affect me personally? Well, to be perfectly honest, it didn’t—at least, not directly!

I was born in Malaysia, spending the first eighteen years of my life there, and whilst I’ve
been living in the UK for more than ten years now, my parents and most of my family are
still based in Malaysia. I am still proud to call myself a true Malaysian, one who adores
food, particularly satay and roti canai, and I feel especially patriotic whenever our legendary
badminton team kick a** in international tournaments and events!

The natural disaster that struck closest to home for me was the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004,
when an earthquake in the Indian Ocean spawned a massive tsunami that devastated the
coasts of pretty much every country in southeast Asia. While my family and friends lived far
inland, and were thankfully spared, it was still a close enough call to make me stop and think:
there were beaches I frequented as a child that were affected by the waves, and the extent and
reach of the tsunami astounded me; Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India...even places as far
away as the Maldives, Seychelles and Tanzania were affected!

The official death toll for the Boxing Day tsunami stands at over 180,000, with more than
45,000 people still missing. Nearly 1.7 million people were displaced. Not only were homes
and lives immediately destroyed, but these are all relatively poor countries that rely heavily
on the tourism industry, an industry hit hard by the tsunami. With so many livelihoods
affected, the long term effects of that natural disaster are still being felt in many of the
stricken places today.

When the earthquake and tsunami happened in 2004, I was living thousands of miles away
in London. At the time, I was still a student, relying on financial support from my parents.
I felt powerless to help. Although I gave what I could for charity, I felt my efforts were as
insignificant as a drop in the ocean.

Now, although I have zero connections with Japan, aside from a shared affinity for raw fish,
Japan is close enough to Malaysia for the aftershocks and rough waves to reach the eastern
shores of Borneo. The off-shore quake, the resulting tidal waves, the coastal destruction...it
was a haunting re-creation of the last disaster seven years ago: different place, same tragedy.

This time though, I intend to do something about it. I feel I’m in a better position to help: I’ve
just begun to pursue my writing career seriously, and I’m in the midst of building a modest
online platform. So instead of trying to act as an individual, why not try and rally aid from
my fellow bloggers worldwide?

With that in mind, Stories for Sendai was born. And with your help, we could really try and
make a difference! By buying a copy of Stories for Sendai, you’ll not only be donating to
a worthwhile cause (all proceeds from the anthology will be donated to Global Giving, a
project which disburses funds to aid and rescue efforts on the ground that needs it most),
you’ll also be getting a wonderfully designed book with 20 uplifting and inspirational stories
about the strength of the human spirit!

Also, we’re running a CONTEST! Just purchase a copy of the anthology and email us the
receipt, and you’ll be entered in a draw for uber-cool prizes, including manuscript or query
critiques! Visit the Stories for Sendai site for more details!

**********

A bit about J. C.:

Rabid writer, aspiring author. Also bookworm, kung fu fighter, teacher, gourmand, slave to three dogs, child at heart, dreamer.

********* 

Did the Japan earthquake affect you in any way, readers?


-----The Golden Eagle

Book Review: The Starry Rift: Tales of New Tomorrows

Cover of The Starry Rift

Title: The Starry Rift

Editor: Jonathan Strahan
Contributing Authors: Stephen Baxter, Cory Doctorow, Greg Egan, Jeffrey Ford, Neil Gaiman, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Ann Halam, Margo Lanagan, Kelly Link, Paul McAuley, Ian McDonald, Garth Nix, Alastair Reynolds, Tricia Sullivan, Scott Westerfeld, Walter Jon Williams

Publisher: Viking

Genre: Science Fiction/Anthology

Page Count: 525

Rating: 5 out of 5

Cover Rating: 5 out of 5. Awesome cover for this one!

Inside flap:

Truly successful science fiction does two things: it gives a credible glimpse into the future while entertaining the reader. With this in mind, noted anthologist Jonathan Strahan asked sixteen of today's most inventive, compelling writers to look past the horizon of the present day. Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfeld, and their colleagues have crafted a dazzling range of stories. Whether on spaceships, in suburbia, or in simulated gaming worlds, whether about cloning, battle tactics, or corporate politics, the stories of The Starry Rift will give every reader something to consider.

   This original anthology is crucial in reading for those who want to see where the future--and the future of science fiction--is headed.

My expectations: High. I loved Strahan's other anthologies, so I pounced on this one when I saw it in the library. (I really should go back and read The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year again.)


It exceeded my expectations!

About the book: There are some amazing authors in this book. I've read Gaiman, Lanagan, Link, McDonald, Doctorow, Westerfeld, Nix, and a few others before, and I enjoyed most of them. This book didn't disappoint, either. With different formats, completely different ideas, and a whole host of characters, I loved reading all of the stories.

1. A**-Hat Magic Spider by Scott Westerfeld

Can you imagine nearly starving yourself to go onto a ship with just one other object with you? Having to make yourself weigh nothing over a certain allotted number of grams, because of how much food and fuel you take up? That's what this boy has to do.

2. Cheats by Ann Halam

Gaming seems to be on the rise when it comes to SF. Personally, I was never a fan of it, but as long as the story is well-written and free of the usual cliches I'm fine with it. This short story isn't cliched, and the idea of "cheats" in the game I hadn't heard of before..

3. Orange by Neil Gaiman

It's 70 answers. You don't know the questions being asked, but you do know the replies. It's an interesting set up--the reader has to fill in the questions on their own.

4. The Surfer by Kelly Link

An epidemic has hit Earth. People are being quarantined, planes are grounded, parts of the world have stopped and Adorno is stuck in the middle of it.

5. Repair Kit by Stephen Baxter

Spaceships in this one. The Flying Pig is equipped with a special drive, a prototype--Paul Tielman is Captain, and he is known for being cautious when it comes to flying. But the company wants him to get into space without the precautions, a mistake that could be deadly for the crew.

6. The Dismantled Invention of Fate by Jeffrey Ford

I love this one. Parts of it sort of reminded me of Pocahontas/Avatar (I kid you not) but it's completely different in other respects--yes, there's the foreigner who falls in love with one of the people indigenous to the planet, but he thinks he accidentally killed her, and now lives alone. His life changes when a strange creature appears and stabs him.

7. Anda's Game by Cory Doctorow

A take on Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Again, it's a gaming story, this time about a girl who belongs to an elite group of gamers; she and one of her friends are sent, with the promise of a large reward, to kill everyone inside one building.

8. Sundiver Day by Kathleen Ann Goonan

Sundiver's brother has been killed in the war. She misses him terribly, as does her mother. She works for a place conducting research on cloning, being a scientific genius herself. Then something occurs to her, out of missing him so badly--what if she cloned her brother?

9. The Dust Assassin by Ian McDonald

Padmini was told by her father that she was a weapon. To be used against a rival family, she was brought up in the city, always wondering how and why she was a weapon. When her family is attacked and killed, leaving only her living, she escapes with one of her family's most trusted yts, to go into hiding, to wait until--the reason still unknown to her--she can act as the weapon she was brought up to be.

10. The Star Surgeon's Apprentice by Alastair Reynolds

Peter Vandry needs to get off Mokmer. He doesn't have enough credit though, to buy his passage--so he agrees to become an apprentice aboard the Iron Lady. The Star Surgeon, Zeal, takes care of the crew members onboard, and they are usually half-people, half-machine. When the Iron Lady gets into a fight with another ship, Peter learns something else--this isn't just a ship. It's one of the fabled and infamous pirate ships. And he can't get off.

11. An Honest Day's Work by Margo Lanagan

(This is the story I did one of my Teaser Tuesdays on.) Amarlis is a cripple, one leg withered. He can't find work very often--but when one, huge job comes along, everyone gets a spot. They're dismantling of a huge, massive, living human replica. Of course, things start to go wrong when they realize that the creature's brain wasn't completely sedated.

12. Lost Continent by Greg Egan

Ali is taken away by a man his uncle says is trustworthy. He's forced to stay under a blanket for the entire trip, while they travel through deserts and tunnels, until they accidentally crash. Ali finds himself in a strange world; apparently, in a different time, on a different continent.

13. Incomers by Paul McAuley

Strangers on the moon are rare, especially in some parts. Which is why Jack, Mark, and Sky decide to follow the man they see in the market; they think he is a spy of sorts. It all starts to go wrong when Mark decides to break into his house and find out what the man's really about.

14. Post-Ironic Stress Syndrome by Tricia Sullivan

Maja is a fighter. There's such a thing as M-space, and she uses an M-ask to access it. She can travel anywhere in the Universe with a single thought; the purpose is to fight others who are on the enemy side. Her body is programmed to reflect parts of the universe, which means, for example, that her leg may connect with a power plant, her arm to a factory, and so on. If she's injured, that place goes down. But when the fight comes, something happens--her communication is shut off, and she's suddenly feeling pain when no one's there.

15. Infestation by Garth Nix

Mechanical vampires, and their hunters. There are the freelance hunters, with their Wood-N-Death (r) weapons, their crosses, but Jay has none of that--just a scar in the shape of a cross, and a wooden weapon. He and four others are sent to a vampire lair, with ten of the creatures living inside. Their goal is to kill all of them.

16. Pinocchio by Walter Jon Williams

The pitfalls of fame and being "popular". Sanson starts out his story as a gorrillaloid, a human who's taken on the shape of a gorilla. He has a huge following of people (much like, say, Justin Bieber). When his girlfriend, Kimmie, dumps him, he's at a loss at first to think of what to do--she's now his rival. His popularity begins to slide continually, and Sanson is forced to scramble to think of something--anything--to do.

Other: Some language, b-, d-, and s-words, and violence.


I don't usually like anthologies. But sometimes anthologies can pull it off like nothing else can, and this one did that for me.

Do I recommend this book? Yes!

-----The Golden Eagle

Teaser Tuesday (9)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from the science fiction anthology The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan, with such authors as Neil Gaiman, Margo Lanagan, Kelly Link, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfeld, and Ian McDonald (those are just names I recognize off the top of my head).

I don't usually read anthologies (if I'm going to read something I usually like having a full plot) but I did enjoy reading The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2007 and the one for 2008, both of which he edited. (And I love the cover.)

The joke was that I was so quiet and so little trouble, anyone could ignore me if they chose. The joke was that, after some years of trying, of lashing out at Dochi with my crutches and being beaten for it, I would rather sit as I did know at my food, wearing a blank expression, and let the laughter pass by.

-p. 318, "An Honest Day's Work" by Margo Lanagan


(I never finished Tender Morsels, the other book she wrote--it was too graphic. Hopefully this will be better!)


What are your teasers?

-----The Golden Eagle