The Selection on Sale

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Book promotion, book sale, indie authors, Indie Publishing, Science Fiction, SciFi, the selection, young adult

For a limited time, grab the thrilling young adult scifi adventure novel “The Selection” from author Jason J. Nugent for only .99!

 

Humans colonized the planet Kepler 186f after Earth’s near total global collapse. Soon after, supply missions ended leaving the colonists to themselves, renaming the planet Anastasia and building a new society far different than Earth’s.

As population imbalance threatened stability in the settlements, a horrific and brutal institution known as The Selection was created.

Centuries later, haunted by the screams of his dead older brother, eighteen year-old Eron fears the unknown terror waiting for him and all boys his age in The Selection. He has thirty days to survive to Victory Point and reunite with his crush Mina. He will have to endure brutal circumstances and forge unlikely alliances if he’s to survive The Selection.

Time is short. Threats are constant. Survival means life. Failure means death—or worse.

 

Between June 9th and June 11th, you can get this action-filled story for only .99! Go to mybook.to/the-selection today before time runs out!

 

Jason Nugent was born in Cleveland, OH in 1974. He moved to rural southern Illinois in 1992 and lives there today with his wife, son, and mini-zoo of three cats and two dogs.

Jason is the author of two collections of dark fiction short stories: “(Almost) Average Anthology” and “Moments of Darkness” and the young adult scifi novel “The Selection.”

Jason has written for Sum’n Unique Magazine and game missions for an independently produced video game titled “Status Quo.”

He writes regularly on his blog almostaverageblog.wordpress.com and can be found at jasonjnugent.com.

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The First Time

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Books, Fantasy, Inspiration, Science Fiction, SciFi, Writing

I was 13. Some of you might think that’s kind of young. Others might have experienced this even earlier. But I’ll never forget it, and I’d wager that’s a familiar sentiment among us all. I actually have my cousin to thank. Everyone remembers their first time…

…reading science fiction and fantasy! What? You thought I was going to say something else? Sheesh, minds out of the gutter, guys. Come on, we’re all adults here. Well, actually, my love for these genres is probably responsible for my refusal to completely grow up. And it might have made my first time doing…that other thing…take so long to ever happen.

I really want to talk about the two series that started my path into the scifi and fantasy genres. The initial books in both series were gifts from my cousin, and I devoured them, only to spend my allowance on the rest of the installments in each.

The first was the Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony. While I might have read some science fiction before this, it wasn’t science fiction aimed at an adult audience. Mostly it had been stuff like The Tripods series and A Wrinkle in Time. Anthony’s works were unknown to me, up to that point, and the content was more mature in its character complexities and plot twists than books I had read earlier. Bouncing back and forth between humanity’s oppressive future and a world of powerful magic, this series strummed all the right nerd chords that made my heart sing. I’d never read anything like it before. There were familiar themes of Good vs. Evil and the triumphant underdog that helped me make the transition to the more intricate stories I enjoyed when I was older. Although I tried out some of Piers Anthony’s other series, none brought me the same imaginative experiences as Apprentice Adept. It will always hold a place in my heart as my “first”, even if I’ve read superior works since. If I had time to go back and read the series again, 30 years later, I don’t know that they would possess the same meaning for me, so I’ll let them stand on the pedestal they’ve occupied all this time.

The Spellsinger series, by Allan Dean Foster, was my first foray into more mature fantasy. Tolkien’s beautiful prose and imagery would take me many attempts to appreciate, since I liked novels with quicker paces at that age. This series practically flew in comparison. I remember feeling that the cover was a bit silly and gave the impression that I’d be reading something like Wind in the Willows meets a Grimm’s fairy tale. What I got once I began reading was something entirely different. There were dark undertones mixed with humor. The anthropomorphic critters were far from their Disney equivalents. It’s an impressive series that spans many novels, and I read nearly all of them. The early books left the greatest impressions on me. While they weren’t as dark as the fantasy I would come to love as an adult, they were stepping stones into my Glen Cook years. They were also some of the first books to make me appreciate how difficult it would be to write a decent fantasy novel. Allan Dean Foster didn’t seem to take any shortcuts when he developed complex plots and memorable characters, and this inspired me to strive for those critical elements in my own writing, as challenging as it is. I went on to read other page-turners by Allan Dean Foster, including Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, one of my favorite Star Wars novels.

In my tenure working at various libraries, I’ve had opportunities to recommend these series to many fantasy and scifi lovers. Most people had already read them, but they always talked about them with the same kind of reverence I felt. A few were younger readers and hadn’t heard of them, even though both authors wrote prolifically. It’s easy to imagine, in today’s much expanded book market, that they were overlooked. I think it’s safe to call both series classics at this point. Maybe that makes me old, but I hope it also puts me in a good place to guide apprentice nerds on their paths to reading great science fiction and fantasy. Maybe they’ll write in these genres someday, too.

Earth 2 – Does It Hold Up?

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Reviews, Science Fiction, SciFi, TV

In 1994, I lived with a group of other college guys. They all had a lot in common with each other, but not so much with my geeky hobbies. Our shared TV was usually tuned to whichever sport was in season at the time. I gave up arguing for a chance to watch some of the programs I liked, because I was easily overruled by the majority. The exception was a two-hour block of time for a new pair of science fiction shows: Earth 2 and  Space: Above and Beyond. Since I added Earth 2 to my Netflix queue of streaming programming, I had avoided watching it. I loved it when it aired, and I was afraid it wouldn’t hold up. It became the inspiration for a new recurring feature of my blog, where I’ll watch something I enjoyed as a young adult to see if I still get that manic geek glee I experienced long ago.

Earth 2 originally intrigued me because it promised to deliver the adventure of colonizing a new planet. Certainly that wouldn’t be enough to cement my loyalty to the show, but it also boasted Clancy Brown among the cast. Antonio Sabato, Jr. and Rebecca Gayheart (you know, the Noxzema Girl!) are probably the weakest actors, but they’re buoyed by Richard Bradford and Debrah Farentino. The characters appeared to be a diverse bunch, from military to tradesmen to government officials. From the show’s previews, I knew there would be unanticipated challenges from the unfamiliar, though apparently benign, planet. I couldn’t wait to immerse myself in the trials the characters would face.

I had only a sketchy memory of the events in the show when I delved into the program again. This time, I didn’t even have to watch commercials. Straight from the beginning, I realized I was watching the show with a very different pair of eyes. The kids on the space station are plagued by immune system issues, and the new planet is seen as a medical experiment with the potential to heal them, or at least offer them a chance for survival. Watching as a father, this connected with me in a way the show couldn’t have 20 years ago. I wondered what else might be new to me when watching the show for a second time.

The tensions in the story line and among the characters all carried over very well from my previous viewing, starting with the political red tape that threatens the mission. There are obvious personality conflicts among the passengers, made even worse when the ship launches under emergency circumstances and traps unintended voyagers. Some make peace with their new roles, and some only hope to survive long  enough to return home. All of them need to travel a vast distance across the continent, where their hopes hang on a larger group due to arrive in a few months.

Malfunctioning equipment forces a crash landing, and cargo pods are jettisoned in the hope of stabilizing the craft. Soon it’s apparent that the new settlers are not the only beings to inhabit the planet. Someone, or something, even steals equipment and supplies from a cargo pod by the time the heroes find it. The planet is full of hidden dangers, all the worse because it appears to be so much like what the characters know of Earth. Help seems to come from the most threatening of their alien encounters, but perhaps the real villain is someone they almost immediately trust and welcome to their group.

Without revealing too much, the story’s protagonists seem to face one obstacle after another. Tempers flare, priorities are hotly debated, and secrets and prejudices are uncovered. Only the catastrophes remind them how much they need each other to survive. It’s a journey that I’ve enjoyed traveling for a second time. I’ve only watched three episodes, and I eagerly anticipate watching the rest. Unfortunately I know that the show only lasted one season, falling in popularity even after nominations for several awards. I’ll have to post an update once I finish all the episodes, to convey my final impressions.

The show’s creature effects didn’t age well. No surprise there. The creature make-up for the Terrians, one of the alien life forms, is still passable. It’s basically prosthetic make-up and costuming for people, and I found it to be rather impressive at the time the show first aired. Other creatures look like they move with the benefit of clunky remote controls akin to those in B-rate horror movies of the time. Still others remind me of a cut-rate attempt to duplicate Jim Henson’s better monsters and aliens. Other effects were much better, such as the space ships and gadgets.

Overall, the show holds up well after 20 plus years. Even with the occasionally laughable effects, there is enough admirable material to make it worthwhile. The plot and characters provide plenty of drama and excitement to make me grateful the show arrived on Netflix. I urge you to watch it, or watch it again, if you’re a fan of science fiction. Leave a comment to let me know if you think Earth 2 holds up.

Favorite Reads from 2015

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Benevolence Archives, Books, Fantasy, Horror, Joe Chianakas, Luther Siler, Rabbit in Red, Science Fiction, SciFi

I don’t have as much time to read as I used to, and that makes me pretty careful with my reading choices. I’m more apt to shelve or abandon a book that doesn’t seem likely to pay off, whether because I can’t get interested, the characters are weakly developed or the prose seems clunky. That said, here were some of my favorite reads from the last year. All were memorable, entertaining and compelled me to turn pages far past my bedtime.

Rabbit in Red, by Joe Chianakas, catered to both my love of horror and appreciation for original storytelling. The quick pace and suspenseful plot could have been enough to satisfy my craving for a thrilling novel. In addition, Rabbit in Red introduced protagonists with whom horror fans could easily identify. In our time of online friendships and rivalries, this novel is a modern tale that felt genuine when describing the bonds quickly formed around common interests. I enjoyed the thrills of the main plot line, but the tangible struggle of the young characters to identify their purposes and places in the world always stood out itself as an integral and equally interesting story. I’m looking forward to the second installment in the series.

The Benevolence Archives, by Luther Siler, quickly found themselves among my favorite reads of 2015. After reading the first volume, I immediately downloaded the second installment. If I tried to describe these tales in general, I would quickly run out of room. Every specific detail I mentioned would have to be expanded upon to convey all of the wahoo I felt while reading them, and somehow Siler packed all of it into two quick reads that still leave me marveling months later. I’ll generalize instead, saying that both the short stories in BA 1 and the novel in BA 2 were chock full of scifi adventure, intrigue and belly laughs. Treat yourself to all of the fun details as soon as you can.

I probably don’t need to go into detail about these bestsellers from big-name publishers, since they enjoyed the benefit of more mainstream attention. The Martian, by Andy Weir, was excellent. Its combination of science, adventure and humor will entice me to re-read it before long. The Gentleman Bastards novels, by Scott Lynch, were a breath of fresh air for me in the fantasy genre. I read all of them, one after the other, which I haven’t done in that genre since Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy. I have the highest respect for any author capable of creating truly original work in that genre, and Lynch definitely delivered.

Please feel free to leave me a comment below with some of your favorites from 2015. Great books are priceless treasures we can all share.

Best to everyone and happy reading in 2016!